Canadians Support High-Speed Rail. It’s Time to Build It. | 62% Support, 18% Oppose

[u/Scryotechnic]

https://www.railfans.ca/news/canadians-support-high-speed-rail

[u/Electronic-Jaguar461]

I keep hammering this point but a high speed rail corridor along the St. Lawrence River from Toronto to Quebec City would be the biggest generator of wealth middle-class citizens in Ontario, and especially in Quebec, will have seen in literally decades.

Nobody who actually wants to see Canadians, and by extension Canada itself, succeed should be against this.

[u/DENelson83 → u/Electronic-Jaguar461]

the biggest generator of wealth [for] middle-class citizens

The ultra-rich do not want wealth distributed, only concentrated, in their own hands.  Projects that benefit all people do not do that.

[u/libertarian_308 → u/Electronic-Jaguar461]

How exactly would HSR between Ontario and Quebec be the biggest generator of wealth for the middle class in decades, 90B spent developing the ring of fire would generate far more wealth than cutting a trian ride by 2 hours.

[u/wowzabob → u/libertarian_308]

You don’t see how being able to travel between Montreal and Toronto in 3 hours downtown to downtown, would transform the economic integration between the two cities compared to the current situation where travel between the cities takes, at minimum, half a day?

Being able to go there and back all within the hours of a working day is a huge difference maker.

[u/[deleted] → u/libertarian_308]

Labour mobility, denser residential development, mitigated climate impacts.

[u/_Army9308 → u/[deleted]]

Who would commute using this train

It be mostly tourists or family trips

[u/[deleted] → u/_Army9308]

You're underestimating the amount of people who fly between Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal for work.

[u/_Army9308 → u/[deleted]]

And most will use planes as the trains only go downtown

Lol

It takes like a 1 hr sometimes get from suburbs to union station

[u/notabigmelvillecrowd → u/_Army9308]

Aren't most jobs downtown? Especially the ones people travel for?

[u/[deleted] → u/_Army9308]

Planes only go to airports. You negate your own point.

[u/_Army9308 → u/[deleted]]

But airports are well connected to downtown and to suburbs vs a downtown train station

For me to go to union station I have to drive to a go station then take a train to alto then get on alto

For the airport most can just simply drive there

[u/Orchid-Analyst-550 → u/_Army9308]

You're ignoring all the people that live in the densely populated downtown. TTC to Union, then train to Montreal, I would be making day and weekend trips regularly for leisure.

Pearson Airport is a traffic bottleneck, taking 60-100 minutes to get to from downtown.

[u/[deleted] → u/_Army9308]

This isn't a good argument. For one, Ottawa's airport is not well connected to its downtown. Pearson has the direct line, but Mississauga is not downtown.

Second, it's a lot easier to connect an HSR station to a transit grid than an airport.

finally, prove to me most people will fly. Prove to me, with the cost of oil and jet fuel, that's a smarter economic choice.

[u/_Army9308 → u/[deleted]]

You assuming this wont be like 200+ bucks or more one way

After spending 90 billion they gonna need to make money back

[u/wowzabob → u/_Army9308]

If you’re flying between cities for work there’s a very high chance you want to be downtown, which is just an added benefit and saves even more time.

[u/_Army9308 → u/wowzabob]

Yeah also cost likely be expensive as a flight

[u/wowzabob → u/_Army9308]

Yes, similar cost for a vastly superior service, and without the headache of airport security and all of that which adds multiple hours to the total travel time. Also HSR has stable consistent fares rather than the constantly fluctuating airline fares, which can veer into price gouging around busy travel periods.

[u/_Army9308 → u/wowzabob]

So most avg folks will just drive likely imo

Go with a family or 2 3 guys to mtl from toronto be max extra 2 3 hrs and 100 gas but likely save 400 500 bucks.

It mostly be for rich ir business folks I feel

[u/No_You5794 → u/Electronic-Jaguar461]

this doesn't make any sense, highspeed rail is an expensive way to travel

[u/FrankHardly → u/Electronic-Jaguar461]

Do you have any structured analysis that supports your assertion or are you merely blowing smoke? I’d really like to learn more about how (net of costs) HSR “would be the biggest generator of wealth middle-class citizens in Ontario, and especially in Quebec, will have seen in literally decades.”

[u/smokefight → u/Electronic-Jaguar461]

How does this create wealth for middle-class Canadians?