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Originally Posted by roger1818
I agree that it doesn't need to be HSR, but the question is, what advantages are there to providing rail service over providing equivalent bus service?
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Speed would be the main advantage but there are others:
1) Good rail routes have many potential uses. Upgrades that serve one route today may serve many in the future, or may simply add resilience to the transportation network. Separating trains from roadways helps road traffic too.
2) The operating costs can be lower; buses need more drivers for the same number of passengers, and trains may not need any conductors at all.
3) People tend to prefer trains and more permanent infrastructure. Trains are normally more comfortable and can offer more services like a good work environment or food and drinks. In Europe, train rides can be a pleasant way to spend time while here in Canada our time spent on transit typically feels more like time lost in purgatory. There is more to travel than just how much time you spend, but this doesn't tend to be part of the Canadian consciousness around travel because we are so used to low standards.
We need to consider what the alternatives truly are, in concrete terms. While many rail routes are flawed, so are our existing roads and highways. Google Maps tells me to take the 503 bus from Surrey Central to Langley for example, with an expected time of 58 minutes, or the 320 with an expected time of 75 minutes not counting delays waiting for the bus (often the bus arrival times are unreliable).
That is an 18.4 km trip. The bus speed is around 15-18 km/h. So we are not talking about a train that needs to be very fast to beat the status quo. We do not have buses that run at 100 km/h on the highway or even 30 km/h. Nor do car commutes run at 30 km/h in the Lower Mainland.
Highway 1 is becoming extremely unreliable and even dangerous. In 2017 there were 1,100 accidents between Langley and Chilliwack on Highway 1 (
source)! I guess this means a resident of the Lower Mainland had something like a 0.1% chance of being in a car crash on Highway 1 in 2017. Insane.
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There are only 6 cities in Canada with more than 1 million people. Outside of "the corridor" only Edmonton and Calgary are within "a few hundred km" of each other. You mention Regina, but it only has a population of 215 thousand, and the only other city with a population over 50 thousand in Saskatchewan is Saskatoon (with 245 thousand).
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There are many corridors with a larger catchment area than the cities suggest. For example, I'd guess that Kitchener-London-Windsor has 1.5-2 million people. The main corridor in the Maritimes serves around 1 million residents plus more who visit from outside (the buses or regional trains would connect with this corridor). Looking at cities alone underestimates the demand.