Last night, on the CTV news, I heard that Toronto plans to develop a series of light rail lines along major roads in Toronto -- several routes were mentioned but one that caught my interest was Eglinton Ave., because I live very close to Eglinton.
These would be a series of dedicated lines for streetcar-like light rail trains. They showed some (computer-generated?) pics of what this might look like. The trains strongly resembled today's streetcars, but were much longer, and had pantographs on top of them.
After this segment, they also announced that Ontario was looking into developing high-speed electric trains for the Windsor-Quebec City corridor. I've heard this before and have even posted previous news here. However, it sounds as if they're getting closer to making this happen. These trains should be similar to the high-speed electric trains of Europe where "they have been very successful" and they said this could lead into a "new golden age of rail travel."
I'm no fan of Miller and McGuinty (that's another topic -- let's not get into that here!) but I think they're onto something good.
Of course, I'm very excited about these plans and certainly think it's the way to go for the future. Yet, I'm sure there will be lots of cynics and criticism, especially from those who like car travel over trains!
I believe that we should NOT build any more roads or freeways (just simply maintain and improve the ones we have) and develop lots of new train lines and electric passenger lines.
Rob
These would be a series of dedicated lines for streetcar-like light rail trains. They showed some (computer-generated?) pics of what this might look like. The trains strongly resembled today's streetcars, but were much longer, and had pantographs on top of them.
After this segment, they also announced that Ontario was looking into developing high-speed electric trains for the Windsor-Quebec City corridor. I've heard this before and have even posted previous news here. However, it sounds as if they're getting closer to making this happen. These trains should be similar to the high-speed electric trains of Europe where "they have been very successful" and they said this could lead into a "new golden age of rail travel."
I'm no fan of Miller and McGuinty (that's another topic -- let's not get into that here!) but I think they're onto something good.
Of course, I'm very excited about these plans and certainly think it's the way to go for the future. Yet, I'm sure there will be lots of cynics and criticism, especially from those who like car travel over trains!
I believe that we should NOT build any more roads or freeways (just simply maintain and improve the ones we have) and develop lots of new train lines and electric passenger lines.
Rob