Calgary - Edmonton Corridor High Speed Rail Gets A Boost

[Nehkara]

Premier Backs Train

A multibillion-dollar, high-speed rail link between Calgary and Edmonton took a forceful step forward Thursday after Premier Ed Stelmach threw his support behind the idea.

"We have to. We have no choice. It will reduce emissions and it's visionary. Now is the time to prepare because we have the options available to purchase land," Stelmach said.

"It's part of planning for the future -- there's no doubt about it -- as the province of Alberta continues to grow and we see more people move to Edmonton, Calgary and, of course, the Highway 2 corridor," he added.

It is a great idea and it is necessary.

I hope it happens sooner rather than later.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Send that thing right up to Fort McMurray and then past it to the Oilsands!

Great idea, with the amount of traffic between Edmonton and Calgary each day, a train is a solid move. Fact is, if someone needs to make a day trip up to Edmonton from Calgary and doesn't want to drive, taking a plane is brutal since you land in Leduc International.

[Cliche]

Lyle Lanley: Well, sir, there's nothing on earth
Like a genuine,
Bona fide,
Electrified,
Six-car
Monorail!
What'd I say?

Ned Flanders: Monorail!

Lyle Lanley: What's it called?

Patty+Selma: Monorail!

Lyle Lanley: That's right! Monorail!

[crowd chants `Monorail' softly and rhythmically]

Miss Hoover: I hear those things are awfully loud...

Lyle Lanley: It glides as softly as a cloud.

Apu: Is there a chance the track could bend?

Lyle Lanley: Not on your life, my Hindu friend.

Barney: What about us brain-dead slobs?

Lyle Lanley: You'll be given cushy jobs.

Abe: Were you sent here by the devil?

Lyle Lanley: No, good sir, I'm on the level.

Wiggum: The ring came off my pudding can.

Lyle Lanley: Take my pen knife, my good man.

I swear it's Springfield's only choice...
Throw up your hands and raise your voice!

All: Monorail!

Lyle Lanley: What's it called?

All: Monorail!

Lyle Lanley: Once again...

All: Monorail!

Marge: But Main Street's still all cracked and broken...

Bart: Sorry, Mom, the mob has spoken!

All: Monorail!
Monorail!
Monorail!

[big finish]

Monorail!

Homer: Mono... D'oh!

[Azure]

This is a great idea.

Especially if they can reduce to the travel time. Many people would go for this, instead of driving back and forth. And the gas price makes it an even better idea.

[J pold]

I wouldn’t get speeding tickets this way…300 dollars speeding tickets

[Azure]

You must have been going 160 or something, because nobody follows the speed limit on that highway.

[firebug]

Sorry everyone.

Wonderful idea, however this has white elephant stamped all over it.

The economics of these things are just atrocious.

Best regards,

Bug

[ZDogg]

Works for me. People are calling for an extra lane on Hwy 2. This could delay that big time. Since the government has so much money right now and building construction projects in this market is not a good investment they need to use that money to buy the appropriate land and get working on the train when the majority of the ring roads are complete. I just wish the plan was for it to come all the way down to Lethbridge... Doh.

[J pold]

Originally Posted by Azure

You must have been going 160 or something, because nobody follows the speed limit on that highway.

151 therefore...I was going OVER 40 km over the speed limit so I mine as well had been going 160

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by firebug

Sorry everyone.

Wonderful idea, however this has white elephant stamped all over it.

The economics of these things are just atrocious.

Best regards,

Bug

Agreed - this has NovaTel or MagCan written all over this as Taxpaper boondoggle.

For those that are old enough here to remember the old Edmonton Dayliner Via train, there are an awful lot of level grade crossing between here and Edmonpuke. Said crossings created a lot of accidents. Imagine the cost of building overpasses and what not.

Problem is, most trips aren't to the Edmonton core. We've established that Edmonton has no real downtown, so most trips from Calgary to there are probably to visit non central areas or outlying manufacturing facilities which would require renting a car or something. Most oilfield guys I know already have cars/trucks and would sooner hop in their own vehicle and just drive an extra 30-45 minutes than deal with the hassle of schedules and renting cars afterwards.

Subsidized air travel would probably a cheaper way to achieve the same result.

A real rail link to Ft Mac is a whole other animal though.... lets focus on that 1st rather than this glitz and glam Edmonton Calgary rail link.

[octothorp]

There are few things I'd like to see more than a prairie high-speed-rail network, but there are so many potential pitfalls to a project like this... I like the idea of the government beginning to buy land now, gradually invest in a complete corridor, and then build the rail system when the economics make sense, which will happen sometime in the next 50 years.

[Resolute 14]

Count me in the group that doesnt see the value in such a train.

Maybe Bronconnier should attach a bunch of conditions on granting permission for the province to build the line within the city. Would be funny if this thing ended up running fro Airdrie to Leduc.

[Bobblehead]

Really, aren't there scoolls begging for maintenance that could use money like this? Wouldn't some affordable housing be a better use of some of these funds.

I'm not against the project, but it seems to me like a "nice to have" when there are plenty of "needed yesterday" type of projects.

But if this is a case where they are getting the groundwork laid but no real money is spent yet, then I am all for forward thinking. We need more of that. Just as long as kids aren't going to school in leaky classrooms and low income workers aren't on the street just so an oil executive can get to Edmonton a bit quicker.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

...Most oilfield guys I know already have cars/trucks and would sooner hop in their own vehicle and just drive an extra 30-45 minutes than deal with the hassle of schedules and renting cars afterwards...

With a high speed train though, we are talking about a substantial reduction in travel time. Potentially, such a trip from downtown Calgary to downtown Edmonton could be completed in under and hour. If Edmonton actually had a functional metro-train system, this would be a fantastic idea.

[brownstown24]

If anyone has travelled at all in Europe they would certainly understand the value of rail travel and just how far behind our public transportation infrastructure is in Canada. It is time to get this done.

[peter12]

How about splitting the money between Edmonton and Calgary and, investing in real public transit for both cities first?

Cutting back on car travel within both cities would take pressure off of road infrastructure and cut back on CO2 emissions in a far more effective manner than a Calgary-Edmonton "monorail" link.

[ken0042]

For those quoting Europe and Japan, keep in mind our train will be subject to a limit of 200 km/h- simply due to the gaps in the tracks for expansion and contraction.

But the one "pro" arguement I heard the other day made a lot of sense; it will be cheaper to build this line than to widen highway 2.

[McG]

since i travel back and forth at least once per week...this would be an outstanding idea.

there are many, many upsides to this project.

the downside that i see is the infrastructure; the cost and the lack of connections.

imagine if this thing could go downtown to downton? wow.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

Agreed - this has NovaTel or MagCan written all over this as Taxpaper boondoggle.

The flip side of the NovaTel 'boondoggle' is that it attracted hundreds of highly-trained technology personnel into Calgary which is the precurser of the wireless cluster in the city today. Without that 'boondoggle' Calgary arguably with have a fraction of the wireless and GPS firms it does today.

On the rail link idea, put me down as undecided, perhaps they should consider opening the Edmonton City Centre Airport to Calgary flights.

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by McG

since i travel back and forth at least once per week...this would be an outstanding idea.

there are many, many upsides to this project.

the downside that i see is the infrastructure; the cost and the lack of connections.

imagine if this thing could go downtown to downton? wow.

Well that's the plan. There is land bought for the project in both downtowns... so yeah. Apparently it would stop in Red Deer only.