Rail Service Between Winnipeg and Brandon

esquire · #1 Posted **Sep 14, 2020, 7:11 PM**

Why should Manitoba have to miss out on the fun?

roger1818 · #2 Posted **Sep 14, 2020, 8:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

Why should Manitoba have to miss out on the fun?

What? The stop at Rivers (40 km away) isn't close enough?

esquire · #3 Posted **Sep 14, 2020, 8:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by roger1818

What? The stop at Rivers (40 km away) isn't close enough?

I know, right? As if it wasn't enough that Brandon had to suffer the indignity of having a literal shack of a train station 20 km out of town, VIA had to shut that down and double the length of the drive by making rail passengers go to Rivers to catch a train.

For what it's worth, the nice old vintage CP Rail/VIA station in downtown Brandon is still standing by the CP main line even though passenger trains haven't called on it in 30 years...

Dengler Avenue · #4 Posted **Sep 14, 2020, 8:34 PM**

Darn it. Time to move these VIA threads into their proper subforums.

Hey, at the very least, I take this as a sign of renewed interest in passenger rail in Canada?

Denscity · #5 Posted **Sep 14, 2020, 8:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Darn it. Time to move these VIA threads into their proper subforums.

Hey, at the very least, I take this as a sign of renewed interest in passenger rail in Canada?

That was the point i made in the new Eastern rail thread. Two provinces does not mean national.

Urban_Sky · #6 Posted **Sep 14, 2020, 9:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Hey, at the very least, I take this as a sign of renewed interest in passenger rail in Canada?

I’d rather take it as a sign of exasperation about swimmer_spe’s relentless trolling which forces any attempt to discuss about anything else than “restoring daily passenger services in Western Canada” into a discussion about his only topic of interest...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denscity

That was the point i made in the new Eastern rail thread. Two provinces does not mean national.

In absence of a subforum called “Ontario and Quebec”, into which subforum would you move the “Rail services in the Quebec City - Windsor Corridor” thread - and why?

Truenorth00 · #7 Posted **Sep 14, 2020, 9:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Darn it. Time to move these VIA threads into their proper subforums.

This one should be. It's entirely about rail inside a single province.

Denscity · #8 Posted **Sep 14, 2020, 10:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban_Sky

I’d rather take it as a sign of exasperation about swimmer_spe’s relentless trolling which forces any attempt to discuss about anything else than “restoring daily passenger services in Western Canada” into a discussion about his only topic of interest...

In absence of a subforum called “Ontario and Quebec”, into which subforum would you move the “Rail services in the Quebec City - Windsor Corridor” thread - and why?

Yes I see that Ontario and Quebec are separate unlike some other provincial pairs.
Just wanna repeat that two provinces side by side does not mean national.

Urban_Sky · #9 Posted **Sep 14, 2020, 10:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denscity

Yes I see that Ontario and Quebec are separate unlike some other provincial pairs.
Just wanna repeat that two provinces side by side does not mean national.

So what? If you are incapable to name a more appropriate location to move that thread, then this probably means that the national forum is already the most appropriate location to discuss passenger rail services in the Quebec-Windsor Corridor...

Andy6 · #10 Posted **Sep 14, 2020, 10:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

This one should be. It's entirely about rail inside a single province.

Okay, re-title it "Rail Service Between Winnipeg and Brandon In The Event That Western Manitoba Secedes and Joins Saskatchewan".

VANRIDERFAN · #11 Posted **Sep 15, 2020, 4:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

I know, right? As if it wasn't enough that Brandon had to suffer the indignity of having a literal shack of a train station 20 km out of town, VIA had to shut that down and double the length of the drive by making rail passengers go to Rivers to catch a train.

For what it's worth, the nice old vintage CP Rail/VIA station in downtown Brandon is still standing by the CP main line even though passenger trains haven't called on it in 30 years...

Amazing that Brandon hasn't knocked that place down as well.
Unless something unknown happening there'll never be train service back to Brandon. The TCH (with all its faults) to Winnipeg is much quicker.

lio45 · #12 Posted **Sep 15, 2020, 4:50 AM**

Doesn't belong in this section, it's within one single province.

On the other hand, "Rail Service between Maple Creek and Okotoks" would be a legitimate discussion topic here.

isaidso · #13 Posted **Sep 15, 2020, 10:34 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

For what it's worth, the nice old vintage CP Rail/VIA station in downtown Brandon is still standing by the CP main line even though passenger trains haven't called on it in 30 years...

Why are there no significant cities in Manitoba besides Winnipeg? I realize Nova Scotia is like that too but that's a tiny province geographically. You'd think a huge province like Manitoba would have at least 2 sizeable cities. Brandon is ideally located to be that 2nd city but it's puny. Perhaps if Brandon had 200,000 people they'd still have rail.

MolsonExport · #14 Posted **Sep 15, 2020, 12:29 PM**

To make this work, there should be magnetic levitation HSR trains, each with a capacity of 1000 passengers, leaving from each terminus every half hour (every 15 minutes during peak times), 20 hours per day. It should run underground in both cities and on a raised track elsewhere.

esquire · #15 Posted **Sep 15, 2020, 12:35 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

Amazing that Brandon hasn't knocked that place down as well.

Very true. Brandon hates its downtown like few other Canadian cities too. Which is funny, because it has the bones of a really nice, really solid downtown area. It could have been Victoria-like in character, instead they are chasing some kind of semi-abandoned rust belt aesthetic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

To make this work, there should be magnetic levitation HSR trains, each with a capacity of 1000 passengers, leaving from each terminus every half hour (every 15 minutes during peak times), 20 hours per day. It should run underground in both cities and on a raised track elsewhere.

Now we're talking... I think that would be a pretty good start!

VANRIDERFAN · #16 Posted **Sep 15, 2020, 1:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

Very true. Brandon hates its downtown like few other Canadian cities too. Which is funny, because it has the bones of a really nice, really solid downtown area. It could have been Victoria-like in character, instead they are chasing some kind of semi-abandoned rust belt aesthetic.

If you ever go on e-Brandon there are some threads that just trash the downtown.

When I was a kid, I remember the Wheat City arena and the Prince Edward Hotel being on the edge of Downtown. Princess and Rosser Avenues were the place to be at the time. But with the Brandon Mall and the Keystone Centre being built on the south outskirts the death knell was started for downtown Brandon.
Then they built that goddamn powercentre on the flood plain.........

Andy6 · #17 Posted **Sep 15, 2020, 2:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by isaidso

Why are there no significant cities in Manitoba besides Winnipeg? I realize Nova Scotia is like that too but that's a tiny province geographically. You'd think a huge province like Manitoba would have at least 2 sizeable cities. Brandon is ideally located to be that 2nd city but it's puny. Perhaps if Brandon had 200,000 people they'd still have rail.

What economically would sustain a second large city?

esquire · #18 Posted **Sep 15, 2020, 2:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy6

What economically would sustain a second large city?

Agriculture, professional services, public administration, transportation, health care, manufacturing, retail

But realistically a second large city would probably result in a Saskatchewan-like situation where instead of one larger city we'd have simply have two mid-sized ones. I have to admit I kind of like having all of our urban eggs in one basket for the most part... Winnipeg is able to sustain more big-city features and amenities than three cities of, say, 250,000, or two cities of 350,000 would.

hipster duck · #19 Posted **Sep 15, 2020, 2:29 PM**

Manitoba is more centralized than NS. Sydney is larger than Brandon, and is a clear regional centre of a very distinctive (culturally and geographically) region.

Cape Breton Island is an economic basket case, but it probably would be even worse off without a city to anchor it.

Gat-Train · #20 Posted **Sep 15, 2020, 2:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Darn it. Time to move these VIA threads into their proper subforums.

Hey, at the very least, I take this as a sign of renewed interest in passenger rail in Canada?

Put it in "High Speed Rail in the West"