The Globe and Mail: Canada charts path for high-speed trains, but obstacles loom

Barry Prentice, a transportation professor at the University of Manitoba, says the prevalence of car ownership has suppressed demand for passenger trains, at the consumer and government levels. However, road congestion, a lack of intercity buses, environmental concerns and ever-lengthening predeparture times at airports all stack up in favour of faster passenger rail services. This is especially true if the trains could link city centres, and could travel between Montreal and Toronto in three or four hours, he said.

“Part of the benefit of the train is simply that: downtown to downtown,” Prof. Prentice said. “Speed matters, and if you don’t have a service that is fast enough then it’s always a loser versus the competition, which is a car or a plane.”

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