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AIR CANADA wants in on High-Frequency Rail Proposal. Why now?

  Air Canada on July 24th, 2024 announced that it has joined the Cadence team, which has submitted a response to the request for proposals for the High Frequency Rail project. Their late entry into this process has raised concerns among the public.  Air Canada is in direct competition to whoever operates the high-frequency rail line. It is costly and inconvenient to fly.  A frequent passenger rail service on dedicated track going over 225 kilometers per hour, would pose a threat to Air Canada's business. Air Canada has a long and well documented history of protesting against any publically funded Canadian high-speed rail proposals. In 1991 and 1996, Air Canada teamed up with C.P. Rail, to do Joint Studies of High Speed Rail Ridership & Revenues to try and prevent high-speed initiatives in Canada at the time. In 2003, the Air Transport Association of Canada, an association Air Canada is part of, was against the government funding the high-speed JetTrain that was proposed for 2 l
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Le Journal de Montréal - Air Canada veut aider à développer le train Québec-Toronto

  Il s'agit d'un changement de comportement intéressant de la part d'Air Canada. Lire l'article. LINK.

VIA Rail Acknowledges its TurboTrain Past

Putting on the new VIA Rail TurboTrain livery - HSRC Collection On July 10th, 2024, VIA Rail released a publicity campaign for their Windsor to Quebec City corridor new train sets. The Siemens Venture trains, powered by Siemens Charger locomotives, will be fully in service across the entire corridor by the fall of this year. High Speed Rail Canada salutes VIA Rail’s acknowledgement of its past train, the TurboTrain in their new livery of the Lumi. According to the VIA Rail press release, Introducing Lumi, the unique train of its new Corridor fleet, which bears VIA Rail’s classic monochrome yellow all while keeping the signature linear lines of the new trains. Lumi will be the only new train (Simple and efficient, the monochrome yellow, our brand’s signature colour) with this unique exterior design and acts as a reminder of the beginning of a new era for passenger rail. As others have done when introducing a new fleet, VIA Rail wanted to make a strong gesture by differentiating one of

VIA HFR Annual General Meeting - Frequency and Speed Important

  On July 10th, 2024, VIA HFR, a federal Crown corporation created in November 2022, had its inaugural Annual Public Meeting (APM). The meeting was bilingual format and it was webcast. The video will be loaded soon and High Speed Rail Canada will let have a link to it and let their followers know where to view it. The meeting featured key presentations from members of the Board of Directors and the CEO. The meeting began with Robert Prichard, Chair of the Board, who outlined the mandate given to VIA HFR by the Government of Canada to create a new passenger rail service linking Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, Laval, Montreal, Ottawa, Peterborough, and Toronto. He highlighted the significant progress made in the first year, including the formation of a talented management team and strong financial backing from the federal government. Marie-José Nadeau, Vice Chair of the Board, discussed the recruitment efforts to build VIA TGF’s leadership team and emphasized the project’s positive impact o

High-Speed Rail for Alberta - Can it finally happen?

Alberta to study high-speed rail as part of comprehensive passenger rail plan. The province of Alberta has completed five studies since 1985 about the possibility of high-speed rail between Calgary and Edmonton. There is no question that corridor is well suited for high-speed trains. It would be the simplest and least costly to implement of any other potential corridor in Canada. However, no government has moved forward on past study recommendations. It came as a surprise that Premier Danielle Smith has announced a nine million dollar study to look at a comprehensive passenger rail plan for Alberta. Part of that plan would include the Calgary-Edmonton high-speed rail link. It is a provincial embarrassment that a comprehensive inter-city passenger rail system does not exist in Alberta. We hope the resulting plan recommendations will have positive, constructive ways to move the province of Alberta forward to implement a modern  inter-city passenger rail system. That plan would include hi

Rare Photos Uncovered from ABB X2000 1993 High-Speed Train Visit to Windsor, Ontario

 A previous post on the High Speed Rail Canada website discussed the 1993 tour of the Swedish Asea,Brown. Boveri, (ABB) high-speed trail to Canada. It was at the end of a successful tour of the USA. Recently we became aware of promo photos taken on the Windsor, Ontario July 27th, 1993, stop of the tour. We have made a youtube video on our channel with these photos. Here is the LINK to watch it.

VIA Rail Canada wanted high-speed rail 40 Years Ago

VIA Rail Canada 1984 High-Speed Rail in Canada Study Is there a future, a potential, for high-speed passenger rail services in Canada? That was the question the federal government posed to VIA Rail Canada in 1981. After three years of intensive effort, VIA had completed one of the most comprehensive studies ever made of any aspect of the passenger railway system in Canada. The feasibility study thus depicted possible approaches to using high-speed passenger rail advances in Canada, yet tailored specifically to Canadian conditions and needs. Pierre A.H. Franche, then President and Chief Executive Officer VIA Rail Canada in 1984 stated, “There is little doubt that consideration of high-speed rail will be a key part of longer-range national plans for modernizing Canada's passenger railway system.” 1984 High-Speed Rail Study Conclusions The 1984 feasibility study indicates that the Canadian government could, if it wished, provide Canada with a high-speed rail railway service between Mo