this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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To be fair, HSR across the Rockies sounds extremely expensive and extremely inefficient.
I don't think we're going to be fixing Vancouver's isolation anytime soon.
Not just expensive, downright impossible. The Rockies are volcanic, so boring a level tunnel through the base of the mountains is out of the question. They're also very steep, which necessitates a lot of switchbacks, sharp curves, and even a pair of spiral tunnels at Kicking Horse Pass. We can and do run normal trains through these lines, but the geography severely limits how fast we can move through the terrain.
Nothing stops a conventional sleeper train for Vancouver-Calgary though, right? Sounds like sleeper service would be ideal given the circumstances.
CN already runs those, and from what I've heard they are indeed nice!