SENATE BILL: Fulfilling Railway Promises Act (Passed)

[Sirius_]

Just to let you know, although this bill does appear to be very well written the route is not really something serious. The Whitefish to Thunder Bay rail line originated as a joke within Atlas's train geek community. It wouldn't be very beneficial to Canadians and wouldn't be beneficial at all to Atlasians. For reference, this is the route:

(Also with noting is that Cranbrook, Alberta does not exist)

[Sirius_]

Atlas has a train geek community?

Yeah, you ever seen anyone on Lokcord with "train chat member" as a role? Have you ever seen the train chat channel?

[Sirius_]

Yes but those are freight lines primarily.


Whitefish is in one of the base scenarios for the 2001 game Train Simulator by Microsoft, if memory serves me.

I have this game installed to this day, but it has not worked since 2010 due to file corruption I think.

Off topic, but yes it was, I have that game as well lol. It was good fun back in the day, it's very easy to modify the game files and make absurd trains.

And about this, I do not believe that such a rail service ought to be created. However, much of the rest of this bill is pretty well written and could be reworked into something useful.

[Sirius_]

And shouldn't this be handled by the Fremont regional government?

It deals with a foreign government, so it must be handled at least partially by the federal government.

[Sirius_]

If anyone was wondering, this is what I'd actually suggest for any sort of western Atlasian/Canada rail service:

[Sirius_]

So why are we building a brand new railway when there's a railway that already exists that you can use.
Also, why are you taking a train chat meme seriously. Come on, this is stupid.

This merely mandates a passenger service, it doesn't build a single km of new track (I designed the line on purpose to take as many large Canadian towns as possible while not building a single km of track). And while it was indeed a meme, with some modifications we could make it real and effective.

Plus I have to keep the all important train chat meme constituency

Why do these 2 random cities deserve an unprofitable passenger service? What is the point of launching a useless train route between two small cities just so bruhg's meme can become reality?

Well, for a start most passenger rail lines are unprofitable.

Looking at the Amtrak report I posted previously, not a single long distance line is profitable. Although the Empire Builder (the line this is most comparable to) is indeed the most unprofitable Amtrak line, although a couple other lines have comparable losses of around 32 million $.

I would expect traffic on the Canadian side of the border to be higher than the RL Amtrak line though, as Calgary and Winnipeg have higher populations than any population centers on the Amtrak line. Even Thunder Bay itself or Regina would be large stops compared to the RL route.

On the Atlasian side of the border I would also expect decent ridership numbers between Seattle and Spokane.

Really my only question was where to go from Thunder Bay (it's not an ideal end of the line), but I decided that was something for the Canadians to decide

So you admit this line will bleed money constantly. So why are we doing it?

Do you want to abolish Amtrak then?

After the High Speed Rail Act passed it will likely be defunded after 2025.

[Sirius_]

Also, someone has miscalculated something here.

THE EMPIRE BUILDER IS ONE OF AMTRAK'S MOST PROFITABLE ROUTES

No it isn't.

[Sirius_]

Also, someone has miscalculated something here.

THE EMPIRE BUILDER IS ONE OF AMTRAK'S MOST PROFITABLE ROUTES

No it isn't.

Sorry, I meant revenue, not profit.
As of Jan 2019 the Empire Builder is Amtrak's long-distance route with the second largest revenue (also 2nd best ridership and 3rd best on time performance) (Amtrak Performance Report Jan 2019) behind only the California Zephyr. The main problem is the large operating costs, mainly the exorbitant cost of track rights that BNSF imposes on Amtrak.
Key problem with the article you've sourced is that it is comparing the Empire Builder, a long distance route (which naturally incurs higher running costs) which also runs on leased lines, to the Northeast Corridor, the only Amtrak route where Amtrak actually owns the track itself, and thus doesn't have to pay track rights, and which is also one of the shortest routes, with the highest pop density.

In short, I meant revenue, not profit, and I was only talking about long distance lines.

I realize in what ways the NEC is profitable and whatnot. Your big bold statement was inaccurate however. And I find it odd that you're hating on this while defending the Empire Builder. There is no doubt that a routing starting in Seattle and heading through Canada would serve more people, and of using existing lines could give the opportunity to negotiate a lower fee.

[Sirius_]

Also, someone has miscalculated something here.

THE EMPIRE BUILDER IS ONE OF AMTRAK'S MOST PROFITABLE ROUTES

No it isn't.

Sorry, I meant revenue, not profit.
As of Jan 2019 the Empire Builder is Amtrak's long-distance route with the second largest revenue (also 2nd best ridership and 3rd best on time performance) (Amtrak Performance Report Jan 2019) behind only the California Zephyr. The main problem is the large operating costs, mainly the exorbitant cost of track rights that BNSF imposes on Amtrak.
Key problem with the article you've sourced is that it is comparing the Empire Builder, a long distance route (which naturally incurs higher running costs) which also runs on leased lines, to the Northeast Corridor, the only Amtrak route where Amtrak actually owns the track itself, and thus doesn't have to pay track rights, and which is also one of the shortest routes, with the highest pop density.

In short, I meant revenue, not profit, and I was only talking about long distance lines.

I realize in what ways the NEC is profitable and whatnot. Your big bold statement was inaccurate however. And I find it odd that you're hating on this while defending the Empire Builder. There is no doubt that a routing starting in Seattle and heading through Canada would serve more people, and of using existing lines could give the opportunity to negotiate a lower fee.

THAT LINE ALREADY EXISTS. IT'S JUST ALL IN CANADA.
There is already a very good quality direct line between Vancouver and Toronto. It is far faster and of far better quality than the US lines, gives priority to Passenger over Freight, and serves far more populated areas.
This line serves no one. If I live in Seattle, it is far faster to take the Amtrak Cascades to Vancouver, then the VIA Canadian straight to Toronto, than to take a train through the crowded lines through Montana. And the Canadian route also serves big cities, like Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg, while the Whitefish line doesn't.

There is no direct link from Seattle to this line. Also, I'm not sure if you are aware, but VIA rail services are nowhere near frequent or adequate.