The City of Mississauga, City of Toronto, City of Cambridge and the Town of Milton are each requesting support from their Council Members to partner on a study that could result in a transformation of the rail network in the western GTA. “Improving rail transit in the western GTA would provide long-lasting benefits for our city. It would stimulate economic growth by attracting new talent, businesses, employers and students to the city while increasing innovation, growth opportunities and prosperity,” said Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie. “We share the same vision as our municipal partners and Mississauga is taking the lead, to bring about convenient and effective transit solutions to move people across the GTA and beyond. Similar to Mississauga’s LRT, there’s a strong foundation that supports the need for a regional rapid transit system.” The federal government has indicated its intent to invest in transit infrastructure, including rapid transit. Last week, Prime Minister

We have added to our HSRC Google Drive the dissertation of  Ryan Maurice Katz-Rosene titled,  Turbotrain, Zerotrain, Ecotrain: The Ecological Political Economies of High-Speed Rail in Canada from 2014 from Carleton University. Enjoy reading it. 347 pages.  http://tinyurl.com/nkmcjvv

I, like many others, dream of seeing the return of passenger rail between Canada and the USA. Specifically the Sarnia/Port Huron or Windsor/Detroit Border. The proposed $400 million CP Rail new double freight tunnel between Windsor and Detroit does not include any mention of passenger rail only freight. The tunnel project known as the the Continental Rail Gateway project. It involves mainly CP Railway and Borealis Transportation — a division under the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System along with the Windsor Port Authority. $200 million comes from the partners and $200 million is needed from the USA/CANADA governments. Then the construction of the tunnel, which will be built next to the existing tunnel, can begin. This is not the first time the new tunnel idea has been tried. The Detroit River Tunnel Partnership spent around $100m on engineering. It also acquired 20 acres of land for the project from Detroit in 2007. The project could not kick-start due to fundin

This report studies the feasibility of passenger rail transit service between Santa Cruz and Watsonville, CA. Interesting reading - http://www.sccrtc.org/projects/rail/passenger-rail/ 

Eric Edllin - The Germand Marshall Fund of the US This report argues that in order for high-speed rail (HSR) to deliver on its promise to 38 million Californians and investors, the project must be designed as the backbone of a comprehensive system for sustainable passenger mobility in California. If HSR is to serve as the backbone of sustainable intercity mobility in the state, the project's definition must extend beyond HSR route planning to include sustainable local transportation connections and careful station area planning. Cities across France and Germany demonstrate how HSR can be a powerful tool for strengthening cities and towns along HSR corridors in economic, social, and cultural terms. With careful planning, the same can be achieved in California. This is why the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CAHSRA) is funding planning efforts in most of the cities that will have HSR stations, to ensure that each station area is designed to maximize HSR-supportive devel