Interesting development on the Ottawa location
“The CEO of Alto, the Crown corporation in charge of the proposed Toronto-Quebec City high-speed rail line, says a station in the heart of downtown Ottawa is simply not feasible.”
Fortunately Alto HSR is not going to go through these communities, unless the southern corridor between Smiths Falls and Peterborough is chosen.
In several places, speeds of 300km/h or more are mentioned.
How fast is it worth driving on a 600km stretch from Toronto to Montreal?
Hi y'all !
I made an essay about this subject. This is my first time doing something like this and i would honestly love to have feedbacks. Even brutal ones will do :)
What Japan Knows About High-Speed Rail That Canada Should Learn
Hello everyone. I like trains and travel constantly from Ottawa to Toronto, I would love to use this new train and would often. But im having a hard time understanding the reason why we are building it now.
I hear things like, emissions, economy, connectivity etc..
but from an economic perspective this seems not optimal especially with our deficits. 90b for something that alto thinks will bring in 100b over 40 years, that won't come close to covering costs. And I onow public transit always runs at a loss, I get that. But if this money was spent on money making projects that the crown could hold like rail and port infrastructure, that would boost our economy much higher $ for $.
Emissions, if i calculate emmisions savings by cost if project then it comes out to 1800$ per ton. Green energy projects across the country would be much cheaper to reduce emissions or better local transit.
Connectivity, I think it wins here but is it optimal, would better local public transit infrastructure spread throughout the country would help more people.
I just dont see the reason why this is important especially now during these trying times. It seems like alto isn't optimal and tackling the issues it hopes to fix. I get that us sexy and a big national (regional) project that will benefit generations but im not sure its better than alternatives. We dont have infinite money, should it not be spent more wisely?
This was recently posted on their website and noted by CBC Radio this morning. Unfortunately the “straight line, minimal curves” required by HSR means they can’t always follow existing corridors. Hydro lines sometimes have sharp corners, or traverse deep valleys or high hills.
“Alto began the development of the high-speed rail project by first identifying a wide corridor under study and conducting consultations early in the process. We are now working to identify a narrower rail route that minimizes impacts on property owners, communities, agricultural operations, and the environment, while meeting high-speed rail technical and safety requirements.
Wherever possible, we seek to use or be adjacent to existing transportation and utility corridors to reduce the deed to acquire private property. Despite our best efforts, property acquisitions will still be necessary.
Our commitment is to engage with owners directly, respectfully, and at every stage, and to work toward fair outcomes that reflect the full impact over time on the property and its specific circumstances. Each property will be assessed based on its individual situation, including the needs of owners, and, where applicable, tenants and agricultural operations.
Anyone else see this great article? The resident who commented makes some nice points but in particular they make an (I thought) excellent comparison to the St. Lawrence Seaway.
I knew almost nothing about it, much less that it was a massive infrastructure project with some pretty serious disruptions/side effects that are now considered (mostly) worth it thanks to the compounding benefits over time.
Project promoter Alto expects to make an announcement this autumn setting out more precise details of the high speed rail corridor planned to link Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montréal, Laval, Trois-Rivières and Québec City.
This follows the completion on April 24 of what Alto says is one of the most extensive public consultation initiatives ever conducted in Canada. It expects to publish a report in June detailing its key findings and insights as it moves from corridor-level analysis to a more defined alignment.
‘We made a deliberate choice to engage early, and we used the past 100 days to listen to communities to better understand their realities’, Alto President & CEO Martin Imbleau said on April 27. ‘We value the significant number of people who took the time to share their views and suggestions with us, as well as their criticisms and concerns. All of this feedback will help us find the right balance to design a project that reduces impacts on communities while delivering lasting benefits across the entire corridor.’
The three-month consultation included 26 in-person open house events, 10 virtual sessions, 32 stakeholder roundtables and speaking to more than 10 000 people in rural and urban communities across Ontario and Quebec. The consultation portal recorded 324 026 unique visits, 24 142 questionnaires were completed and an interactive map collected 19 903 comments. Exit surveys from the open houses show that 70% of attendees were satisfied with the information they received.
Broader community engagement work with Indigenous communities, provinces, municipalities and special interest groups is ongoing.
Ottawa’s main business and tourism organizations want to see high-speed rail bring passengers to a station in the downtown core, saying it “deserves to arrive in the heart of Ottawa.”
