Not good enough. I'm just going to dismiss that as your opinion until you can come up with some sort of opposing study, or actually crunch the numbers yourself in whatever creative fashion you need to prove your point. Otherwise you are just a naysayer.
BTW, I'm not seriously waiting for that as I'm fairly sure that no such study exists. In fact the only credible study so far is the VHI Study. Now, obviously I wouldn't want to just go ahead and build the thing with only a single study done about it. We need the issue examined inside and out. And I would welcome some good opposing arguments with a study to back them up, really.
I just spent some time reading the discussions on C2E about the issue, and am fairly surprised by the narrow-minded opposition. One of the big mistakes was that people kept saying that it unfeasible for a route with only 2.5 million or so people in it, as if the project would be done by tomorrow, or even in the next 10 years. Another is the assumption that LRT lines are going to remain stagnant and aren't recieving funding (the real problem there is civic priorities... road vs LRT debate). And a last one is the belief that such infrastructure money would be best spent [wasted] in other areas of provincial jurisdiction (hell, even beyond that, some people have gone off the deep end and started throwing in fire, police, etc.)
But why is it necessary that we wait for an example and be the last to build it? Look at LRT's for example, I don't know if even our CTrain pays for itself. Most systems are dependent on government subsidization, yet we still build them. Notwithstanding that there are factors such as parking which come into play, the time and cost savings, as well as the redevelopment and economic benefits of LRT make it a worthwhile investment and one that benefits our cities as a whole. I look at HSR the same way. Even if the service doesn't pay for itself, the net economic benefits MAY be enough that it is worth it overall.
EDIT: What I think is most essential is that there is real public dialogue and some thoughtful discussion between industry partners, the government, and citizens. Even if it doesn't result in HSR, it could boost support for different alternatives and we could come up with a long-term provincial strategy. It happens far too often that an issue comes up and is just brushed aside without any discussion. The reason this topic keeps coming up is due to various reasons, but the ones that come to mind are that it is something very much desired by at least a large minority of Albertans (read: not just forumers here), and that is just something that is very cool and is fun to think about.
But I would rather not talk about the realism of the concept so much as the potential outcomes if were built in a variety of different ways. If there is a stop at Red Deer, would companies and/or people start flocking there to be in the center of the action? If it has a spur ran to Fort Mac, would people be moving there less quickly and thus there would be less need for expensive infrastructure projects? If it ran to Lethbridge would we have people from Calgary commuting there for school? And suppose it did become popular and the trains were full, how high of a frequency would be feasible and would this demand translate into further growth of transit connections?
So many fun things to discuss!
