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submitted 2 days ago by Sunshine@piefed.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca
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[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago

Do you know the distance between Barrie and Toronto? It's about 80-100km. Hamilton to Toronto (the most populous corridor)? 60km. As far as train tracks in Canada go that's pretty short.

Caltrain did it between San Jose and San Francisco (75km) for 2.5 billion USD which is a major capex but their operating cost for fuel and things went down were 20-25% less than initially expected, even if in absolute terms the O&M budget went up, but the service became more frequent, fast, reliable, and so the operating cost went down per trip and per rider compared to its post-COVID diesel days.

[-] AndriiZvorygin@helpos.ca 0 points 17 hours ago

Okay bro your numbers are crazy whatever you are suggesting is not gonna happen we can't spend billions per hundred kilometers that is totally unsustainable.

If we follow the Siberian electrification model for upgrading existing Canadian rail: Single track: about C$100 to 120 million per 100 km Double track: about C$180 to 220 million per 100 km Those are good hardware-heavy corridor numbers for wire, poles, substations, and power hookup on a reasonably straightforward existing alignment.

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 2 points 16 hours ago

I agree California's numbers are ridiculous, but that is illustrative example to say that even in an area where the capex, namely construction costs and lawsuit avoidance are crazy, it leads to lower opex per trip.

[-] AndriiZvorygin@helpos.ca 0 points 12 hours ago

California population is the same of all of Canada combined, high speed rail can Only pay for itself with massive population using transit. Basically with our population sizes in Canada, traditional rail with electric overhang IS viable for like freight even now, but for passengers it will make sense if we exceed $3/lt at the pump, then by $5/lt at the pump most people will be using it, and it will be able to cover its costs.

this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
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