Quote:
Originally Posted by someone123
The Vancouver-Seattle train is just sad. Slow, crappy schedule, unreliable. Connects the downtowns of two large metro areas that are less than 250 km apart, runs along a route similar to I-5 which is very congested. Emblematic of how crappy rail service is in North America. It also shows how transportation policies focused on highway development have failed since sprawl suburbs can crop up to congest practically any size of highway which is then very challenging and expensive to add capacity to. Too much highway, not enough rail.
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A problem with the rail network in the Vancouver area is that all CN, VIA and Amtrak traffic must use the New Westminster bridge over the Fraser River. It’s a single track swing bridge, and from my observations, the bridge is open to let ships pass a fairly significant amount of the time. It is possibly one of the worst bottlenecks in Western Canada’s rail network, and has basically not been upgraded since 1904.
Fun fact: Prior to the opening of the Patullo Bridge in the 1930s, the New Westminster bridge was also used by non-rail traffic. There was a second deck above the railway tracks that was used by automobiles, horse-drawn vehicles, and pedestrians.