Western Canada's VIA Rail Network Evolution
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
- From its beginning in 1978, Western Canada's VIA Rail network has changed dramatically, reflecting the decline in popularity of passenger rail travel. This animated video takes you through the timeline of when new stations were opened and closed, forming the VIA Rail network that we know today.
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☑️ Video Criteria:
- Population given for British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and northwestern Ontario.
- Stations shown are named after the municipality in which they are located, not necessarily the station name itself.
- All stations in municipalities with a population greater than 25,000 as of the 2016 census are shown.
- Stops in municipalities with a population less than 25,000 are shown if they are identified as a major stop on the timetable, or there were train trips starting or ending at the stop.
- Some exceptions have been made to better convey information.
- Future extensions are shown only if a construction tender has been awarded for their completion, at the time of video publication. If a construction tender has been issued for a project not included in the video, feel free to leave a comment, and we'll add it to our list to update.
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📸 Image Credits:
All images and video in this video are owned by me.
🖼 Thumbnail image: Thomas Quine - Via Rail station, CC BY 2.0, commons.wikime...
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VIA Rail Canadian, Super Continental, Lake Superior, Hudson Bay, Malahat, Skeena, Panorama, Rocky Mountaineer
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It's really quite unbelievable how terrible the system is now compared to 1979.
it's evolving, just backwards.
@@patrick97764 Believe it or not, there is still pasenger rail in Newfoundland and Labrador -- from Sept-iles to Schefferville via the Tshiuetin Rail Transportation (est. 2005) and Quebec North Shore and Labrador railway.
@@patrick97764 devolving
@@ace74909 I was referencing this ruclips.net/video/XwPf7bExqR8/видео.html
This is really grim to watch. So sad how our passenger rail network has been destroyed over the years
That being said, your videos are very well made
It sounds very wierd for me as a European that there is no train service between two cities, with around one million people each, located 280 km apart from each other (Calgary and Edmonton). The two largest cities in my home country Sweden, Stockholm and Gothenburg with 1,5 million and 605 000 inhabitants respectively and 396 km in between, saw 34 trains per day in each direction between them in 2017
Lived in both the UK and Canada, the problem is because most people take planes. Even the “commuter” rail in Vancouver only has 3 train in the morning towards the city and 3 train outbound, with 30 year old buses providing service the other ways. Tbh, I don’t understand either, in the UK it’s uncommon to have trains over every 2 hours, let alone 2 weeks.
There's some background at ruclips.net/video/Ke0hcdIesBs/видео.html . Planned improvements were the victims of budget cutting and the service was discontinued.
Is it not crazy that a city of 1.34 million people doesn't have passenger rail???
@Enmity the Kindhearted I can't imagine the current Alberta Gov't going for this. Why take the train, when you can drive your F250 and burn Alberta Oil?!
Very but Nobody would use it anyway the only Trains calgary could get at the moment is Regional service to nearby towns
@@ronpearson7300 invincibility
They want to br texas so bad
Wow, that puts Amtrak into perspective a bit. Charlottesville, VA has more trains per week to New York than Montreal has to Toronto and it takes less time to go from Charlottesville, VA to New York than Montreal to Toronto despite being basically the same distance, 555km CVL to NY vs 561km MTL to TOR. Mind you Charlottesville's metro area is only 250,000 people.
And any european will tell you that Amtrak has terrible passenger service so this really show just how terrible service in Canada is
That's just downright depressing.
I came here to say this.
I wouldn't call it a "network." The only daily service is from Amtrak. Good job, though.
You should retile this video to the Devolution of the western Canadian passenger rail network.
It's not even possible to reinstate direct service between Ottawa and Western Canada because the tracks along the Ottawa River have been removed.
@RoadhogTime13 True. it also assumes the ROW would be preserved. I think getting the ROW is the major roadblock for new railways. I was assuming it would be much more expensive today to lay track, but with newer semi-automated systems, it could be a lot less labour intensive and relatively inexpensive.
Pity how Canada's rail network has been dismantled over the decades. All the talk about going off fossil fuels and sustainable transport when you can't even get frequent daily service running between major cities or population clusters! Sigh.
P.S.: Noticed that you've changed the visuals in the opening credits! Love it. The renovated Beaudry station seems to have found a place there. ;-)
we are saving fussel fuel by not running empty trains anymore however.
So, VIA service between Calgary and Edmonton was cancelled in 1985. In 2016, I found there was limited bus service between the two cities, and I suspect there is even less now with Greyhound cutbacks. It seems if you don't have an automobile that intercity travel is very limited in Alberta as well as between many other places in Canada. A video suggestion: What are the existing intercity bus services in Canada?
There are private bus operators between Calgary and Edmonton.
The reality is nobody wants to travel on a bus. Air travel isn't much more expensive and it is vastly more convenient.
I can't imagine the market that wants intercity travel but can't afford a car or plane ticket is very large. If you're that poor that you can't afford a vehicle your not likely to be doing much traveling.
@@TheOwenMajor There may be a lack of demand for intercity bus service in Alberta. However, I found the Red Arrow bus terminals in downtown Calgary and Edmonton to be conveniently located. The current Red Arrow fare between the two cities is about $78 while the Air Canada fare is $298.
@@TheOwenMajor Inter-city travel is only one part of the equation. What about regional service as well? Some smaller cities have no air service... what about them?
You are running under the assumption that $4000.00/year/car as a minimum is an easily affordable solution for most. You are also running under the assumption that everyone never looses or gets to a state that they lose their drivers license. None of this is true. Roads are also not free.
In today's day and age, air travel is NOT convenient. There are far more hassles and expenses that go with air travel than ground transportation and it is FAR more expensive for short routes. Also... how do you get to smaller communities? Air travel only works if you got from large centres.
We only have a few major centres in this nation and continually killing smaller centres and communities only increases the cost of running this country. It also further divides it.
@@holofernesz "You are running under the assumption that $4000.00/year/car as a minimum is an easily affordable solution for most. You are also running under the assumption that everyone never looses or gets to a state that they lose their drivers license. None of this is true."
Let me put it this way, I have never met someone who didn't have access to a vehicle. This includes when I was a teenager working a minimum wage job, literally everyone else had access to a vehicle.
I also come from a rural background. In these small towns, there is *no* public transport. You *need* to own a vehicle, and everyone does. I've come to the conclusion that people who say small towns need passenger rail have never been to a small town, and probably live in a big coastal city.
" Roads are also not free."
Roads are necessary. Trucking forms the backbone of any modern nations logistics, and just look at Europe to see that passenger rail doesn't negate the need for developed highways.
"In today's day and age, air travel is NOT convenient."
Again I feel this comment comes from someone in a large city. In my midsized city, I arrive 15 minutes before boarding, security takes 5 minutes max to get through.
"Also... how do you get to smaller communities?"
How small? Most small towns in Canada have connecting flights to their respective provincial capital, and if you need to go to a smaller town you are renting a car.
"and it is FAR more expensive for short routes"
Hence why you drive for short distances....
"We only have a few major centres in this nation and continually killing smaller centres and communities only increases the cost of running this country. It also further divides it."
Where do you live? Because I spend alot of time in small towns in Western Canada and no one is demanding passenger rail. People would much rather have a new hockey rink, or new hospital or school than a rail service.
*Rail isn't free*, stop acting like it is. We don't have issues getting from place to place in this country, you are not solving an issue people have.
"connected" is a bit misleading here! Unbelievable that this country's 4th largest city has no intercity rail.
@Enmity the Kindhearted absolutely! routing the Canadian onto the CN line through the wilderness of Ontario also seems shortsighted when you consider the exit of Greyhound in this country , too.
Nicely done, Zach!
Do you know if there's data on station ridership somewhere? It's easy to find for Amtrak, but I haven't seen numbers for VIA stations.
I haven’t been able to find any either unfortunately
The Canadian gov/VIA heads have poor understanding of transportation. Why would the government spend billion of dollars on small communities for their electricity and Internet and not for transportation? If they are cutting on services for profit, why wouldn't they use Banff, Calgary, Regina route rather than Jasper, Edmonton, Saskatoon route (which are all less population)? Shame that we are one of the worst in this area among developed countries
Calgary is one of the largest cities in the world (1.2 million) without an inter-city rail connection...Let's re-start the service to Edmonton, build out the Airport-Banff route and go from there! Time to be ambitious!
Great video! Honestly, the amount of routes that were cut out here over the years, like trains to Calgary, Regina, etc, you could call this a de-evolution! VIA could use a few more trains out west to be honest, lol
Can you do abandoned Via Rail stations of Western Canada?
I’m going to try and do some in the metro areas of major cities after COVID.
Man, it's depressing to see the line just absolutely disintegrate at the budget cuts. And to know even that the maximum extent wasn't as good as it could have been.. we've got a lot of work to do.
Zach, can I have a clip of ur intro? I RLLY LIKE IT! I love the music too!
Yep, my email is my channel About page. Let me know what part you’re looking for and I’ll do my best to send it over
Pretty much a an unpleasant cull of Canada's once huge passenger rail service but nothing like what happened to North America's overlooked rail service, Mexico, which was totally devistated and yet unlike the USA and Canada it had a huge poor population with no access to alternative means of travel.
It’s hard to believe now after 50 years, but Amtrak was supposed to follow Via’s fate. Luckily Amtrak was created by legislation and Congress supported the more than Nixon thought possible.
My opinion:
Vanishing has been reporting on cities cutting services-thank you for your work and videos.
We all have to remember that they all has received millions and billions in $$$ in taxes.
I feel they ALL must be penalized for every station and line closed, they ought to lose funding.
We shouldn't be awarding funding to cities with this practice.
VIA rail is a national operator, the cities don't contribute
Canada is not a passenger train friendly nation. Not anymore.
It never was. People need to read the history of the railways. They were built to export wheat and ore, not move people.
I saw a Canadian National 1971 timetable online a few days ago (streamlinermemories.info/CAN/CN71-10TT.pdf), and I found out that there is a service between Thunder Bay North and Winnipeg via Fort Frances, Rainy River, through northern Minnesota, returning to Canada near Sprague, and arrives at Winnipeg. However, it seems that the service was discontinued in 1978 when Via took over. I wonder when did the service stop running.
Someone commented on one of my previous videos that it ran until May 23, 1977
@@VanishingUnderground Thank you very much!
The regression of our train system over those 40 years is a national embarrassment.
Why were there so much service in northern Manitoba in the first place?
Indigenous reserves, I suspect flying them around is actually cheaper(and exponentially more practical).
Owen Major isn't wrong, but the cheapest way to transport goods to that region is by train. Many of the communities are not year round road accessible (due to both political and engineering difficulties) but accessible by train, so it's considered an essential service to get reasonably priced goods to the region.
@@Zastrava Not necessarily. Maintaining rail lines isn't cheap, especially in permafrost areas.
You make it seem like rail lines are magic transportation, they aren't.
How most communities work is heavy items (Building supplies, Fuel, Nonperishable goods) are brought in during the winter months on ice roads.
I don't know where you are from, but outside of Churchill(Which is extra remote), I can't recall any of these communities relying on rail.
@@TheOwenMajor Ice roads are cheaper for sure but they don't offer a permanent link. Flying is much more expensive than rail transport and it's costing the government a fortune to operate those services. (despite privately owned airlines, the money still comes from the people to make them run.)
It's rather unfortunate how everything is setup there because these communities are spread apart and the population isn't that large either in these individual communities. Roads are prohibitively expensive to build and would cost a fortune to maintain and would be treacherous at times in the winter when they may be needed.
There are new low-cost and passive technologies now to permanently fix the problem with the permafrost issue, but we are not using them yet.
What would be ideal would be to have a few hub communities and small rail networks in between them to continually deliver people and goods. The hubs could also have proper hospital and shopping facilities and daily rail links to a large centres, such as Winnipeg, to connect with the rest of the country. But... that's only realistic if people are willing to develop their communities... and from what I see... it won't be long before Canada is just a narrow strip of land next to the American border with Edmonton as it's most northern settlement.
@@holofernesz "Flying is much more expensive than rail transport"
Citation needed. In fact, your other paragraphs show how you are wrong. Building and maintaining rail lines is incredibly expensive.
The beauty of air travel is you need very little infrastructure. Thus it's great for multiple smaller communities.
Rail is horrible for connecting small towns, as the infrastructure needs high usage to be viable.
Well, they got the vanishing part covered. Let's get that Calgary to Edmonton corridor going.
I think you should include independent rail services like the Rocky Mountaineer even if they are not part of VIA. I find it hard to accept a map of Western Canada rail that omits Calgary completely.
How do you make these videos? This is absolutely amazing.
Just using PowerPoint & iMovie, nothing fancy
@@VanishingUnderground Wow I thought it was like some fancy software but no just simple. Also 4 K coming soon :D This channel is growing so fast!
Wish some of those lines would be reinstated.
Have you done / are you working on VIA Rails Evolution in Eastern Canada?
Eastern Canada is done, should be linked in the cards. Ontario/Quebec is still underway, should be sometime later this year
@@VanishingUnderground When is Ontario-Quebec Coming along, it's been a year and a half?
First thing, I never knew there were 2 more routes (Churchill/The Pas; Lake Superior). Second, what are those numbers on the sides of the routes in the legend. Last, great video and subscribe to Vanishing underground.
Here because I tried to get a ticket for 2 "youth" tickets from Winnipeg to Calgary, $174 CAD to get to Edmonton and then I'd have to take a bus just to visit my girlfriends brother. I hate Canada so much it's unreal.
You made a mistake, In 2012 The Canadian was reduced to run twice per week with the third train running in the summer only
In addition in 2019 the once weekly summer only train was abolished entirely, replaced by a year round once weekly service between Vancouver and Edmonton.
Crazy... I´m happy to live in Germany - Here normaly run Trains 1x per hour and not 1x per week...
Oh how Via Rail has fallen :(
Western Canada has poor service. One train every 3 days. The original was perfect as every day. The BC Rail RDC should be put back in service along with the Toronto -Calgary line.
So it all went to shit after 1978?
How short sighted.
This is terribly painful to watch.
Bruh more like devolution
Once again you have left out a number of lines. Please get in touch with me on Twitter as I already tried to contact you. If you need to confirm anything historical about VIA out west (or TransLink), I'd be happy to help as I've seen quite a few errors in your videos about Western Canada. As requested, here are the details of the errors in the video:
Edmonton-Grand Centre
Edmonton-North Battleford
Prince Albert-Melfort
Winnipegosis Service
Truncated services that alternately service north and south trackage between Melfort and Hudson Bay
It also irks me a lot that the BC Rail line, which is actually Canadian, was excluded while Amtrak's service was included. He also continues to fail to include the first two years of VIA Rail's history from 1976-1978 when it was still a CN brand and was still very much VIA Rail.
Can you tell us viewers what lines were left out?
@@OntarioTrafficMan Edmonton-Grand Centre, Edmonton-North Battleford, Prince Albert-Melfort, Winnipegosis service, and the truncated services that alternately service north and south trackage between Melfort and Hudson Bay. It also irks me a lot that the BC Rail line, which is actually Canadian, was excluded while Amtrak's service was included. He also continues to fail to include the first two years of VIA Rail's history from 1976-1978 when it was still a CN brand and was still very much VIA Rail.
People need to realize that passenger rail was never profitable in North America(In most places). Freight has always driven railroads, passenger rail was just a secondary service.
With the advent of cheap flights and the ubiquity of the personal automobile, intercity rail across our vast landscapes doesn't make sense.
So I don't like the argument that long-distance and intercity rail doesn't make sense because of our population density and lack of profitability as well as cars and planes. The existence of those last two also don't exist to replace, but rather complement a complete transit infrastructure that includes rail.
Planes don't serve everywhere and not everyone can necessarily afford cars or have the capability to drive long distances and still need to make necessary travel (for work, supplies, health care, and hey, even poor people are allowed to take trips for pleasure). That leaves buses and heavy rail available. Buses are often unreliable, have limited capacity, can't reach as high of speeds, are bad for very long distances, and for many areas in Northern Canada that have permafrost, year-round roads are impractical or even impossible to build. Trains can travel in many more inclement weather conditions than buses, and the only real flaw is that currently, they're beholden to freight services which cause schedule delays because the government prefers profit over direct use of services for its citizens (I am referencing the fact that most of the rails are currently privately owned, but were built with federal funds).
Flights are only really practical if you're going from point A to point B directly, whereas trains can serve a relatively large network on its route with supplementary trains and buses that feed into the main line. A flight from Winnipeg to Saskatoon can't pick up more people on the way, it's restricted to people who live in and around those two cities. A train (or bus) can pick up people anywhere along the way and bring them to those destinations without forcing someone to find a method of getting to the airport in Winnipeg to get a direct flight to Saskatoon, or forcing them to get to Brandon MB to take a flight to Calgary to then get a connecting flight on to Saskatoon at a pretty high cost. This doesn't even take into account that there are people who need to travel between two stops on the termini (like the individual who needs to go from Gladstone MB to Yorkton SK for whatever reason).
The biggest problem with trains right now tends to be underfunding, often due to political meddling and a lack of a political want to provide services that benefit residents.
So no, flights aren't as convenient for everyone. Cars aren't affordable, and buses have their own issues. I'm not saying a train can and should replace planes, long-distance bus services, and cars, but can and should supplement the services. Yes, they're expensive to run and maintain, but they do have a place to fully complement transport infrastructure. Profits from high capacity area can offset the deficits needed to properly serve lower populations. And sometimes it's not being profitable-- Via's mandate is to operate the national passenger rail services on behalf of the Government of Canada, offering intercity rail services and ensuring rail transportation services to regional and remote communities. Its objective is to offer a safe, accessible, efficient, reliable, sustainable and environmentally friendly passenger rail service that meets the needs of Canadian passengers. High-capacity long distance, intercity, and regional train services fill this role and make full participation in Canada accessible to all people, rather than just to those who can afford a car or flight.
@@Zastrava "Northern Canada that have permafrost, year-round roads are impractical or even impossible to build."
I live in Manitoba, it's not that railings are any easier to build in the artic(They aren't as the Churchill line shows), its that the ones that do exist have mine connections that support their maintenance.
"the only real flaw is that currently, they're beholden to freight services which cause schedule delays"
No, trains are inherently slower than flying, even with great rail service. For example, Paris to Berlin is about a 11-hour drive, Same as Winnipeg to Calgary. It's a two-hour flight, pretty good. The train trip is over 8 hours. In addition, flying isn't that much more expensive than taking the train, even in Europe with heavy subsidies.
"(I am referencing the fact that most of the rails are currently privately owned, but were built with federal funds)."
Sure, over 100 years ago. But nowadays the railways don't get any subsidies, and in fact pay taxes on all the land they own(Which is substantial). Cities would lose their minds if those massive tracts of land became tax free.
"Flights are only really practical if you're going from point A to point B directly,"
Which is how most people want to travel. Given the choice, I certainly don't want to be stopping in every podunk town.
"(like the individual who needs to go from Gladstone MB to Yorkton SK for whatever reason)."
This entire paragraph relies on people in rural towns not owning or having access to a vehicle .... which is ridiculous. If you live in a rural area, you have a vehicle. The only exception is the elderly, and they aren't traveling alone anyways. There are services to transport the elderly to appointments and such.
Someone who is going from Gladstone to Yorkton is going to want to drive. The distance is short enough that even if they cut the transit time in half, it wouldn't overcome the convenience of being able to drive straight to your destination.
"The biggest problem with trains right now tends to be underfunding, often due to political meddling and a lack of a political want to provide services that benefit residents."
Please give numbers. I want to see the cost-benefit analysis for passenger rail.
"High-capacity long distance, intercity, and regional train services fill this role and make full participation in Canada accessible to all people, rather than just to those who can afford a car or flight."
You see the issue is your example is a rural person who doesn't own a vehicle. That person doesn't exist. I come from a rural background, everyone owns a car and is used to driving.
You see this is the issue I have with rail advocates, you live in a fantasy land. I agree, passenger rail would be *nice*. But *nice* isn't a big boy argument for projects that cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
People like you create these massive government projects that don't actually help anyone. The residents of Yorktown don't want passenger rail, they want a new hospital wing, they want a new high school, a new hockey rink.
@@TheOwenMajor"(I am referencing the fact that most of the rails are currently privately owned, but were built with federal funds)."
Sure, over 100 years ago."
ACTUALLY.... up until the late 1995 when CN was sold off. Until then, it was built, upgraded and paid for by the people. Do you really think those rails have been there for 100 years? It was sold-off for pennies. The smarter move would have been to keep the rail infrastructure and sell CN if the government couldn't make a go of it. This way they could've collected rent and set rail vehicle and operating standards potentially preventing several major disasters. But no.... we squandered that.
""High-capacity long distance, intercity, and regional train services fill this role and make full participation in Canada accessible to all people, rather than just to those who can afford a car or flight."
You see the issue is your example is a rural person who doesn't own a vehicle. "
Sure... except that roads aren't free and are 100% subsidized. Vehicles aren't free either. Roads are impassible and dangerous some days where rail networks would be safe. And those transport services for those people that can't transport themselves cost a fortune ( I should know... I've had family use some). I come from a rural background and would love to ditch the car to go for appointments and work. I hate the daily commute but major centres are rip-offs for real-estate. You think that somehow being within 2 hours (@ 100km/hr) of a major centre is not considered nearly good enough for intercity rail travel (which could go @ 180km/hr on traditional infrastructure)? Shake your head!!! It's been proven everywhere else in the world and people pack these trains for daily commutes.
And between major centres? Flights are not cheap and will not become cheaper after COVID and won't service smaller centres for a while. At least with some Intercity travel in other countries, you can buy a rail pass if you frequent certain destinations or zones. Also, air travel is highly subsidized whether you are aware of it or not.
"You see this is the issue I have with rail advocates, you live in a fantasy land. I agree, passenger rail would be nice*."
You see the issue I have with people who view rail or bus as an inconvenient expense is that they don't realize that by killing every form of slightly subsidized public transport with heavily subsidized alternatives and the need for a car, they stagnate development and growth in the less than major centres. Why? Because no one wants to drive for hours and hours on end just to go for an appointment, job or out for a night. They also don't want to pay for the hotel room nights needed to do some of that stuff. The less people are populating these areas (and populations in rural communities are in a constant decline) the more subsidies have to be pumped in to keep some of these communities artificially alive to give people access to services. These same people who see this as a waste also want to see a cost analysis, not realizing that rail and bus services are NOT and NEVER supposed to be money makers, just like building massive highways NEVER MAKE MONEY. At least with rail you can charge back for moving tons and tons of freight to recoup costs. We burn billions of dollars a year as a country on nothing anyway.... why not actually have something that benefits everyone?
It's a global economic effect which has to be counted by what growth and sustainability it will bring and sustain. For that you need an economic plan too but transportation is pretty much on the top. The results are also not instantaneous especially if the service hasn't existed for decades so you can't expect an ROI of 5 years. (BTW, most other forms of transport to small communities have an ROI of NEVER and transporting your food and goods with 20+ individual trucks a day is not free either... so let's stop kidding ourselves.) Put plain and simple, relegating people to vehicle transport is the death sentence for the larger portion of this country. If you keep thinking small, you will only get smaller.
Besides...What about the green agenda the Feds have?... that'll never happen with the personal vehicle, electric or not.
@@holofernesz "ACTUALLY.... up until the late 1995 when CN was sold off. Until then, it was built, upgraded and paid for by the people."
The nationalization of railways that formed CN wasn't exactly welcomed by many. CPR, the original and profitable private railway of Canada always hated the nationalization of CN. That being said, CN was profitable once it got rid of the ridiculous extra crap the government forced it to do(Like passenger rail).
" Do you really think those rails have been there for 100 years?" Apart from obvious maintenance, the rail network was built by cheap immigrant labor in the late 1800's early 1900's. Once the actual railway is built, maintaining it is far easier.
"The smarter move would have been to keep the rail infrastructure and sell CN if the government couldn't make a go of it."
And they would have got nothing for it. Railways in North America own the locos and the track. Try running multiple private operators over largely single-track line, won't happen. Via rail already has enough headaches and they are tiny.
" But no.... we squandered that."
Governments shouldn't run businesses. Deregulation was the best thing that happened to rail logistics.
"Sure... except that roads aren't free and are 100% subsidized."
Never said they were. But just look at Europe, passenger rail doesn't get rid of the need for highways.
"Put plain and simple, relegating people to vehicle transport is the death sentence for the larger portion of this country"
Not in Manitoba, here small cities are growing faster than Winnipeg.
"If you keep thinking small, you will only get smaller."
Easy to think big when it's someone else's credit card.
Transportation is *NOT* an issue for the vast majority of the population. I have never heard anyone living in the country complain about travel times. The reason they live in the country is that they DON'T want to live in the city.
I've already said it, but I will repeat myself. Rail service is far down the list of what people in rural towns want. If you have a 100,000,000 dollar check to spend in rural Manitoba, no one will ask for a train station. Again, they will want a new school, a new hospital, maybe a swimming pool.
People who don't want to live in the city but work their; live in the suburbs. And commuter rail is a completely different question than intercity rail.
@@TheOwenMajor CN only became profitable after the government stopped running it.... long after passenger rail came to an end.
Publicly owned tracks work in a lot of places in the world and are self-sustaining government entities. So no... not the best move to get rid of them. Before you argue that our track mileage is just too much.... our mainline mileage is actually less than then the entirety of the UKs. Also... the single track problem did not always exist, that was an unfortunate act of one of CN's post privatization CEO's who decided to fake company valuation by ripping up existing infrastructure making it single track. He sold the infrastructure and laid off a bunch of people to get the stocks up. Now it's costing the company to rebuild and expand sections that they lost to solve the enormous problem that the short-sighted CEO created. If you are interested in how robust the system used to be, there are plenty of historical pictures and maps available showing proper lines and sidings. Another reason why the government should have held on to it or at least regulated it properly.
An example of communities needing rail? An easy example... Churchill, the tourist pearl of Manitoba ,would be dead by now or dying a slow death without rail. Every community along that line would be the same. Even that could be made better by using modern technology to shore up the line and to make that port even more viable and help the community grow. Engineers have solved a lot of permafrost issues now.
"Once the actual railway is built, maintaining it is far easier." Thank you... exactly my point. Long-term investment! We would be dead as a country without it.
Your example of small communities growing in Manitoba is relegated to only the small communities surrounding and near Winnipeg and the South. Brandon is growing... great! Portage is stagnant, Steinbach is growing because of a niche of people. On the other hand, Dauphin is dying, The Interlake is stagnant or dying depending on where you are and Swan River North has no hope. That leaves only the communities surrounding a radius of HWY 1 and HWY 75 to my estimates. Not great when you consider the size of the province. It also shows me that you are probably from one of these bedroom communities... not far away from things at all so no wonder you're not complaining.
Most of that growth comes as just consolidations and movement of existing people to larger centres based on the latest statistics.... so again... not great and only proves my point. See, in Manitoba , the growth of some communities comes with the death of others, mostly from far away isolated communities. While you might argue that this inevitably happens anyway, the way your communities have grown points to a large cultural shift gravitating to concentrated points with easy access to transport and a major cultural centre. The provinces industrial portfolio also supports this.
Where's the economic development of the rest of the province? Natural resources are only a start... you have to use that as a foundation and then promote other businesses to come before the resources dry up. Who wants to go there now when you are in the middle of nowhere with no one around and a treacherous road to get there?
Man VIA rail is pathetic.