Quote:
Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker
If a private company thinks it can do it, then why not enable them to take the risk?
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A few reasons:
Firstly, I find it hard to believe there actually are any serious proposals being made. If there have been any offers to build a line, I expect they were as credible as the Waterous proposal to send trains to Banff. That proposal clearly hadn't done any real research and had lowballed the costs, and I expect any proposal we've seen for HSR to Edmonton is similarly well made.
Secondly, and I think this is the most important, is that while the idea of a private company building and operating the line sounds fine on paper - the money and risk is all theirs after all (in theory at least if not in real life). But I think you downplay the opportunity cost of allowing the one chance we have to build a new passenger railway railway to be solely the property of a private company and not the people. If the existing lines between Calgary and Edmonton were in public hands we would be in a much better situation, but this plan would triple down on the problem. Sure, you could implement strict regulations to allow other operators to use the line, but as you say that will affect the economics, and if you're putting in enough meaningful regulations to make it worth it, you might as well own and maintain the line anyway.
Third, if the government is to lay down a corridor they are going to have to do all the work of deciding what the best route and technology choice is anyway, and decide what the line will look like. The route that is optimum for a 350km/h train won't be the same as a 200km/h train nor a 500km/h maglev or hyperloop etc. So the optimum route and technology the government has decided and mandated may not align with what this hypothetical private company is the the most profitable.