3104 replies to this topic

[tedward]

OMG NEWS ALERT!!!!!!

Rail lines require maintenance!!!!!! 

Who ever imagined this was needed?

</sarcasm>

I have seen some dumb things printed in the paper but this is right up at the top of the list. Yeah, if you abandon rail lines for years they need repair and here's a tip: they also require upgrading generally at least every century or so to keep up with changing technology.

[RFS]

Yeah that's kind of like the "we can't possibly expand the malahat, it goes through a mountain, its literally impossible" argument

[Jacques Cadé]

In defence of the TC's running the letter and the photo, it is worth keeping track of just how much the railbed has deteriorated in the eight years since the E&N stopped running. The next provincial study, due in December, should give us a much better idea of how much the repairs will cost, hopefully section by section.

 

The writer repeats the suggestion, constantly made up and down the route, that the E&N get turned into a trail. I'd like to see a study of how much THAT would cost. Removing all the rails and ties, rebuilding the railbed and paving it won't be cheap either. Governments like the cheapest option of all, which is letting the whole thing rot.

[tedward]

The writer repeats the suggestion, constantly made up and down the route, that the E&N get turned into a trail. I'd like to see a study of how much THAT would cost. 

 

Well to start with, it would "cost" some of the land which would be returned to First Nations in the event the rail line is forever decommissioned.

[Victoria Watcher]

At the Cascadia Rail Summit, enthusiasm to build a bullet train capable of going from Seattle to Portland — or to Vancouver — in one hour rubbed against an anti-tax message from the passage of Washington Initiative 976.

 

After bemoaning that the state's highways, bridges, ferries and rail cars "are on a glide path to failure," Washington Department of Transportation Secretary Roger Millar laid out the case for building an ultra-high-speed railway on dedicated track.

 

"As we regroup here in Washington state and think about investing $50 billion [US] in ultra-high-speed rail," Millar said, "Do you think we'll ever get to a place where highway expansion keeps up with economic expansion and population? It will not happen. It cannot happen."

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...5356535?cmp=rss

[Brantastic]

I’m pretty damn excited at the prospect. I understand a bullet train from Las Vegas to Victorville (outer fringe of Greater LA) was just approved. I’ve been travelling Europe by train for the last 6 weeks and it’s just so good. Paris to Bordeaux (590 km) in just over two hours. Quiet, smooth, affordable.

[Jackerbie]

I’m pretty damn excited at the prospect. I understand a bullet train from Las Vegas to Victorville (outer fringe of Greater LA) was just approved. I’ve been travelling Europe by train for the last 6 weeks and it’s just so good. Paris to Bordeaux (590 km) in just over two hours. Quiet, smooth, affordable.

 

That lines makes very little sense, and I see that Virgin is behind it. VIctorville may be in Greater LA, but it's like having the northern terminus of the Cascadia high speed train in Hope or Chilliwack instead of Vancouver.

[Victoria Watcher]

if you can shoot someone to vegas in 75 minutes plus make the train ride super fun and awesome maybe it works.

 

 

 

After initial studies for the bullet train, XpressWest revealed that Las Vegas is the sixth most visited city in the country and that 40% of those people travel to or from Southern California.

 

So far, travel details have not been confirmed, but for now a single trip is expected to cost around $60, while a round trip could cost travelers approximately $90 per person.

 

https://www.nbclosan...-559376961.html

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 November 2019 - 08:49 AM.

[Jackerbie]

if you can shoot someone to vegas in 75 minutes plus make the train ride super fun and awesome maybe it works.

 

 

 

 

https://www.nbclosan...-559376961.html

 

The issue isn't the train or its speed, the issue is the terminus. If you're going to Vegas, first you have to get to Victorville, which is 84 miles from downtown LA. That's an hour and a half driving or three to four hours on public transit according to Google. Your 75 minute train ride just doubled or tripled in duration with the commute included. Keep in mind that Victorville is already about 1/3rd of the way to Vegas from LA, and the worst of the driving is between LA and Victorville.

[Nparker]

if you can shoot someone to vegas in 75 minutes plus make the train ride super fun and awesome maybe it works...

I think this was tried in 1979 and lasted for less than 10 hours. 

 

https://youtu.be/gUERtAe73NI

[Victoria Watcher]

1976 in the midwest too.

 

https://youtu.be/5qPAOarQxaU

[Brantastic]

That lines makes very little sense, and I see that Virgin is behind it. VIctorville may be in Greater LA, but it's like having the northern terminus of the Cascadia high speed train in Hope or Chilliwack instead of Vancouver.

I totally agree that the train would be a far greater success if it actually connected the downtown cores of LA and Las Vegas. I guess it just comes down to the cost of land in the desert vs. the substantial cost through Greater LA. Overall I think the project's cost is supposed to be a tiny fraction of either the Cascadia route or the proposed SF-LA route and I hope it gets extended into downtown LA. The ease of connectivity between city centres and time savings is really what makes it work in Europe.

[Victoria Watcher]

[Victoria Watcher]

Over $1.3 billion to get commuter rail going.


https://www.vicnews....-back-on-track/

The third phase would support even higher freight and passenger volumes and is optimal for the implementation of a commuter rail service, which has its own costs. This phase, including the costs of the two previous phases, would bring the total to $728,778,304.

Implementing commuter rail service would add an additional estimated $595,029,867. It would involve work such as signalling upgrades, land acquisition, a maintenance facility and phased improvements on the Victoria to Langford corridor.

[Nparker]

Might as well be $1.3 trillion. No one's going to be shelling out more than $1 billion to revive rail service on Vancouver Island.

[Mike K.]

Good lord, eh?

We might as well call this thing the Pipe Dream Express.

[RFS]

The first phase includes costs to upgrade infrastructure to re-establish freight and passenger service of about two to four passenger trains per day and two to four freight trains per day. This phase is estimated to cost $326,448,391

^ so only 300m for basically what we had before. What if we opened up huge swaths of land all along the route and sold to developers to fund the train?

[Victoria Watcher]

it could be done.  almost all the corridor is 100 feet wide.

 

that's 36 million square feet from here to nanaimo.

 

at $75/foot that's $2.7B.  if the railway needs 50% then there is your $1.35B.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 April 2020 - 05:30 PM.

[Mike K.]

What exactly would we need to “freight?”

Coal? Gas? Sulphuric acid? A shipment of Nanaimo Bars? Like c’mon, this isn’t 1930.

[Victoria Watcher]

What exactly would we need to “freight?”

 

nothing really.

 

some people like to think we should send bulk/heating oil and gasoline and propane by rail to save a malahat crash.  but if we do that we need to build storage for it here.  who wants a tank farm?!  esquimalt?  view royal?  vic west?  come on.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 April 2020 - 05:37 PM.