Old Thread: New Article.
Quite accidentally, I took the Calgary Transit thread off topic when I posted this image, which then turned to an HSR discussion, then this morning this article just happened to come out in the Herald's editorial section...
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Boris550
On an unrelated and slightly OT note:
I just found this image in the Glenbow Archives. Here is the description:
Two separate images published in the Calgary Herald, December 6, 1974.
a) This fast train, thought to be futuristic, was tested on a Calgary-Edmonton run.
b) The L.R.C. or Light Rapid Comfortable train, at Alyth, Alberta, before going on to Edmonton, Alberta.
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High-speed rail looking better
Todd Babiak, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Friday, April 06, 2007
With the prospect of spring comes dreams of bounteous harvests, sex and high-speed trains. Imagine sitting back with a glass of wine and a novel, for a one-hour trip between Edmonton and Calgary on a Friday afternoon, the boring countryside zipping past. Sitting across from you, a kindly stranger, also with wine and a novel.
"Greetings."
"Why, hello. Are we not wonderfully lucky to be Albertan on a Friday afternoon in 2011? And to think, we used to drive sport utility vehicles between the two cities, on a congested highway, and waste hours in airports."
"What a silly, dangerous waste of money and fossil fuels! Remember gasoline alley? Ha ha ha."
The dreaminess is even more intense than usual, because of the French V150 train that broke a speed record on Tuesday. At 574 km/h, the speed reached by the V-150, Calgarians could be in Edmonton in less than 45 minutes -- the lucky devils.
Last year at this time, Infrastructure and Transportation minister Lyle Oberg had the fever. If he had become premier, Oberg would have purchased land for a high-speed train. Private industry, he suggested, would build and operate the infrastructure in co-operation with the province -- a much more comprehensible P3 arrangement than, say, the construction of public schools.
As Oberg knows, a comprehensive study already exists. In 2004, the Van Horne Institute concluded that a high-speed rail link between Edmonton and Calgary was both feasible and beneficial -- financially, socially and environmentally.
"Not only would it increase transportation choice, promote price competitivity and add inter-city capacity," the study's authors said, "it has the potential to reshape growth and development, strengthen the flow of trade and labour between cities in the corridor and transform international perceptions of the region."
The Van Horne Institute suggested upgrading the existing CPR line for freight and high-speed passenger service on Bombardier JetTrains. Purchasing land for magnetic train links of the German or French sort is a sexier, yet more expensive option, and Premier Ed Stelmach is well-briefed on it; he had a meeting with Siemens AG, the German train builder, in 2004.
Of course, there are skeptics. Some say Albertans won't go for trains unless gas prices are taxed to European levels. Others say, given the labour shortage, it's too expensive to build anything but Wal-Marts. Still others think Edmonton and Calgary should upgrade their LRT systems before the cities link up by rail. Northerners worry a rail link would consolidate international flight connections at the dreaded Calgary airport.
Higher taxes for petroleum products would discourage leisure-based driving in Canadian cities and boost public transportation. Unless the province relieves pressure on the crowded QEII, it will soon require billions in upgrades. Why not divert some of that money to a rail project, and leave the highway for commercial travel?
Edmonton and Calgary must expand and improve their LRT systems, train or no train, and a high-speed link would only further integrate the regions and the corridor. Worrying about the all-consuming power of the Calgary airport is pointless and old-fashioned. Airlines are driven by profit.
Since parking fees have exploded in downtown Calgary, and since commutes from the ever more distant suburbs and exurbs have turned ugly, it has transformed into a public transit city without sacrificing an inch of its conservatism.
According to the provincial government, we'll know more in July. A market research firm is finishing up a study Oberg commissioned last year. "It's just to get a gauge on how many people would use the rail service and what they'd be willing to pay," says Jerry Bellikka, with Infrastructure and Transportation. "What does our marketplace want? Then we have to figure out if what the market wants can be delivered at a reasonable cost."
Costs and benefits can be defined in a number of ways. With luck, the province will consider the increased productivity, as well as the social and environmental benefits, that would come with reduced car and airline traffic in the corridor.
"The numbers coming out of their market research, we would expect, hope, will reinforce the Van Horne study," says Peter Wallis, president and CEO of the Van Horne Institute. "Or, more likely, considering the growth we're experiencing, we underestimated the demand for this project."
The high-speed rail debate, 2007 edition, will amount to a classic struggle between governing with vision and governing with the fear of upsetting a largely imaginary cult of Albertans living in a perpetual 1968. If it's easier to contemplate, replace the wine and novel with beer and a copy of Truckin' magazine.
tbabiak@thejournal.canwest.com
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