High Speed Rail in Canada

[Taeolas]

That's also why proponents for Maritime rail are saying we need track improvements so that the train can get ballpark similar numbers as car travel.

As a country we've been decreasing our investment in PAX rail for decades, and doing other bone headed decisions (like letting CP/CN degrade rail lines in general), so of course we have a lot of infrastructure debt.

Setting up an SJ - HFX route is possible, and probably a lot easier than most other areas. The track is there; it just needs twinning and/or upgrading so it can handle PAX speeds, as well as the rolling stock to actually run the service. Which means we need a government willing to step up to the freight companies and force them to finally maintain and upgrade the rail equivalent of dirt roads they've been running for decades and forcing VIA to share. Considering how port traffic at SJ and Halifax is growing (or potentially growing if chokepoints could be resolved), sorting out the rail seems a no brainer from many angles.