[lrt's friend]

Whereas the European Union has been reducing border controls within the Union, security along the Canada-U.S. border has been substantially increased to the point that it is now affecting North American business competitiveness. A Windsor-Detroit rail link would be a natural given that this is busiest border crossing point between Canada and the U.S. and with high speed rail again being studied on the Canadian side. I just can see the border security issue killing the whole idea with the liklihood of lengthy custom delays destroying any benefits from such a project. Somehow there needs to be a much better way of maintaining security while allowing for the freer movement of goods and people across the border. As it stands and this is not being widely publicized, increased border security has caused dramatic decreases in cross-border tourism over the last number of years. There is a lot of face saving going on with only part of the facts being presented regarding the actual impact of increased border security.

Unfortunately, the 'longest undefended border in the world' is no longer a valid statement.

I haven't travelled in Europe lately, but even a number of years ago, custom agents would be on moving trains and this was between Switzerland and Italy with Switzerland not being an European Union country and you would go through an airport style customs checks upon arrival when travelling on the Eurostar train between London and Brussels. I wouldn't doubt that there is no custom checking now on trains travelling between many EU countries, with the only customs checking done upon first arrival in the EU.