VIA Rail Dream Map 2020 version 2

[dewline]

VIA Rail Dream Map 2020 version 2
Originally uploaded by dwight_ew

As shown on viarail_fandom

Revised edition of the earlier map. Added in are the routes serving northern Québec and northern Manitoba, as promised earlier. Also included are direct connections feeding between Toronto and North Bay and Sudbury.

As to the note attached to version one, my apologies for getting the relative positioning of Ottawa and Cornwall wrong. However, I do believe a direct rail link between Ottawa and Cornwall should be on the dream-shopping list for VIA down the line.

Comments

[madlycool.livejournal.com]

Hi,

Your map is missing parts of the current Toronto-Kitchener-London-Sarnia route, and the Toronto-Hamilton-London-Windsor route, and parts of the transcontinental through Hornepayne (very vital to these communities).

Also, Cornwall's position is wrong - it is to the southeast of Ottawa/southwest of Montreal, not between Toronto and Ottawa.

Before the routes started being hacked in the 1980s, there was also a train to southwestern Nova Scotia, one from Montreal to Sherbrooke, across Maine to Saint John and Moncton (much faster than going along the St Lawrence), one across Newfoundland (connected to NS via ferry at Sydney), a train between Toronto and Peterborough. I'm thinking there may be some things missing in northern Ontario too.

The two major transcontinentals were your Canadian Pacific one (Wpg-Calg-Van), and one from Winnipeg-Edmonton-Vancouver (Prince George being the side route, logically there being more traffic between Edmonton and Vancouver than Edmonton and Prince George, as far as passengers are concerned, anyway). Way back there used to be trains between Calgary and Vancouver that passed along a southern route through Kelowna, not just Kamloops.

Ontario Northlander runs passenger service from Toronto to Cochrane (plus Polar Bear Express excursions to Moosonee). They have buses to Hearst which were trains at one point, but not sure when. http://www.ontarionorthland.ca/en/railpassenger/northlander/northlander.html

Also, GO Transit has instituted seasonal trains from Toronto to Niagara Falls on the weekends/holidays. At some point, i imagine they'll become permanent and all-week. http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/en/schedule/lstserdt.aspx?table=07&station=&new=

Also, i'd like to see Moncton-Charlottetown rail, and Vancouver-Victoria rail, which which would obviously need a bridge or tunnel (the question being would it go south to Victoria, or across to Nanaimo first).

What your map doesn't show is something even more important, which is the nature of the trains along these routes. Way back in the 1960s, the trains stopped at a lot more places along these routes, especially the Quebec-Windsor corridor. My town, Bowmanville, for example, used to have both CN and CP rail stations, but has no VIA station. Maybe not a lot of passengers from individual towns, but when you start toting up the lack of convenience, meaning people have to drive to get the train, people just keep driving instead of using trains.

At the opposite end, what's needed are high-speed trains between the big centres, at least enough to replace air travel and express inter-city buses (and Via's current express trips), so several trips a day. Interestingly, while it only takes 45 minutes or so to fly between Montreal and Toronto, all of the airport nonsense means an air trip between them takes 3-4 hours. A French or Japanese style high speed service should have new tracks.

Finally, something else missing is the location of the stations. VIA made the huge mistake of putting many stations out on the edges of town, away from local transit and inhabitants, again forcing people to drive to stations, Ottawa being a notable example (Oshawa being one one near me). Sure there's more parking, but hardly conducive to rail travel.

[madlycool.livejournal.com]

I never knew there was a character limit to LJ posts...

In honour of our rail history, we could call highs speed rail 'Grand Trunk' routes. I'd suggest Windsor/London/Hamilton/Pearson Airport/Toronto Union/Oshawa/Kingston/Ottawa/Dorval/Montreal/Trois Rivieres/Quebec (the Toronto-Montreal portion would possibly have dozens of daily trips, i don't know - it would be the first section to be built). This could be the Grand Trunk Eastern.

The Grand Trunk Western would be Winnipeg/Regina/Saskatoon/Edmonton/Red Deer/Calgary/Lethbridge (Edmonton-Calgary being the first section). Building on the prairies would be relatively cheap, so a Winnipeg/Regina/Calgary alternate might be worthwhile too.

The Grand Trunk Pacific would be Vancouver/Nanaimo/Victoria, since this is a dream map (or Vancouver/Victoria/Nanaimo, depending on the route across the Strait of Georgia). Ideally, i'd like connect Vancouver to Calgary (Vancouver/Abbotsford/Kelowna[or Kamloops]/Calgary), but the cost of building through the Rockies might be prohibitively high.

Maybe out east, there could be a Halifax/Moncton/Saint John route (Grand Trunk Atlantic), and just maybe, extended Saint John/Sherbrooke/Montreal.

I don't think it would ever be cost-effective to build across northern Ontario.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Your naming suggestions? Intriguing, based on what little I know myself of our rail history.

Some interesting ideas in there...

[dewline.livejournal.com]

What I've posted is a fantasy of what I'd like to see in a decade's time. It's designed to be somewhat unrealistic.

I have never understood - beyond the impulse of getting rid of as much evidence of the old industrial presence as possible in Centretown, Lowertown and the ByWard Market - why the train station got moved out as far out of the downtown core as it was here in Ottawa.

[madlycool.livejournal.com]

Because it's easier - essentially the train is stopping short of going all the way into the city. Plus, more parking - it's rail designed for car drivers, instead of urban passengers.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

True enough, it seems. The logic seems to be less sensible as time wears on, though.

What types of trains on which runs?

[dewline.livejournal.com]

I didn't think it through quite that far. Not yet. Mainly, the focus was on getting as many of the major centres back into the system and as interconnected as it made sense for.

Oshawa's already got the Ottawa- and Montréal-Toronto runs going through it, although it could stand a stopover station for the low-speed routes for those willing to take their time getting places, playing turtle-style tourist.