The Multi-Billion Dollar Plan To Fix VIA Rail
Channel: Paige Saunders
Date: 2021-08-28

VIA Rail is about to hit up the parents for a few extra billion. But will their plan do what the snazzy slideshows said? Or is it politics over pragmatism as our political system flings a few services in the hopes of creating well trained voters? Did I give it away? No one reads this far anyway. Yeah, it's another pork barrel thing that ended up being electoral system related. God dammit. 

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References & Sources
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[1] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/features/carbon-footprint-transportation-efficiency-graphic/
[2] https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1710000901 (38m)
[3] Showing the Shanghai-Beijing HSR and add the population centers of each stop. https://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/beijing-shanghai-highspeed.htm  (station map)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IRDSV7sZT65IGbXxB1rRHkX81ailCRPaQq8ujxZ3c-U/edit#gid=1584312027 (China Population Centers Tab)
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_usage#Passenger_rail_by_passenger-kilometres_per_capita (Switzerland, Ukraine, Belarus)
[5] https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/teamsters-ibew-serve-canadian-pacific-with-72-hour-strike-notice-1.3889790
[6] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-around-3000-unionized-cn-rail-workers-threaten-to-launch-national/
[7] https://www.railcan.ca/101/canadas-freight-railways-moving-the-economy/ 
[8] http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2016/bdp-lop/bp/YM32-2-2011-93-eng.pdf
[9] http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2016/bdp-lop/bp/YM32-2-2011-93-eng.pdf "Between 1989 and 1990, VIA lost over 45% of its ridership traffic as it abandoned unprofitable corridors and branch lines."
[10] https://media.viarail.ca/sites/default/files/publications/2019%20VIA%20RAIL%20AR_ENGLISH.pdf (p8)
[11] https://www.railcan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Rail-Trends-Mar-13-ENG.pdf “In 2018, the number of carloads that originated in Canada increased by 15.8 per cent to a new record-high 6.1 million.”
[12] From Transport Canada: "This is complemented by about $260 million in annual operating subsidies as well as substantial capital funding."
https://tc.canada.ca/en/corporate-services/policies/rail-transportation
[13] https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-feb-11-ca-17727-story.html 
[14] https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/proposed-canadian-law-opening-cn-rail-to-bill-gates-faces-delay-1.1055917 “The railway’s biggest shareholder is Cascade Investment LLC, Bill Gates’s investment company, which owns 13.6 per cent, double anyone else’s stake.”
[15] https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/acquisition-of-common-shares-of-canadian-national-railway-company-850280240.html “As the sole member of Cascade, William H. Gates III beneficially owns the Common Shares owned by Cascade. In addition, Mr. Gates is deemed to have beneficial ownership of Common Shares owned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust (the "Trust"), a charitable trust for which Mr. Gates serves as co-trustee. The Trust currently owns 17,126,874 Common Shares, representing approximately 2.38% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares. In aggregate, Cascade and the Trust own 117,576,482 Common Shares, representing approximately 16.31% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares.”
[16] https://investor.cpr.ca/key-metrics/default.aspx 
[17] https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=2310005701&pickMembers%5B0%5D=2.1&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=1986&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=2018&referencePeriods=19860101%2C20180101 (37 km/h in )
[18] annual report pg45
[19] https://media.viarail.ca/sites/default/files/publications/2019%20VIA%20RAIL%20AR_ENGLISH.pdf
[20] https://signalhfx.ca/standingstill/ Exactly 86% according to the link provided. And this level of performance extends to 2002, not just the 1990s.
[21] https://globalnews.ca/news/6591508/via-rail-delays-the-canadian/ “the only thing Via Rail employees could offer passengers who were delayed on The Canadian was a meal, but no reimbursements or rebates”
[22] https://www.viarail.ca/en/resources/condition-travel-credit 
[23] https://www.highspeedrailcanada.com/2019/06/via-rail-canada-locked-in-past.html?m=1 
[24] https://media.viarail.ca/sites/default/files/publications/2019%20VIA%20RAIL%20AR_ENGLISH.pdf (3633990/5007753)
[25] https://www.kijiji.ca/v-rideshare-carpool/city-of-toronto/toronto-to-montreal-thursday-afternoon-1:00pm-3-seats/1470377979 
Continued: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jYVz-Q8c0yq7SixoGMIuLXzxsoLGV2MxNvC2gNz4CGQ/edit?usp=sharing