@infobeautiful

Massive subsidy cut in 1981 and when that was deemed insufficient to kill it entirely, another massive cut in 1990. VIA Rail, despite myriad problems, manages to hang on.

@infobeautiful No wonder Canadians no longer feel connected to other provinces.

@infobeautiful You hear Canadians talking about how the Windsor-Québec corridor doesn't have HSR but something like Calgary-Edmonton not even having daily service is absolutely shocking. Surely there would be demand for an *hourly* service on a connection like this? (And given the terrain it could easily be HSR, too)

@infobeautiful
Looks the same in France.

Short distance: by bus now (some old lines have not been electrified).
Long distance: by fly because it's fast and cheap?! (frequency diminished maybe with train). TGV still works well, too.

When I was child I've done Geneva- La Coruna 'Spain) a lot of times: it was 2 train days. Challenging, but still fun for landscapes view. :0)

@infobeautiful
It's much better in Europe of course, despite increased privatisation, interoperability problems, cuts to night trains, underinvestment in non-HS rail, and subsidies for aviation....

@infobeautiful Huge budget cuts to rail in the eighties by Trudeau and then Mulroney did enormous and long-lasting damage.

@infobeautiful Sure would be nice if we didn't septopple down on oil and LNG in the middle of an oil and LNG shortage

@infobeautiful And Cictoria Nanaimo Courtney is abandonned, and while tracks still there more of way, were pulled from downtown Victoria.

@infobeautiful Some of the tracks are physically gone.
Port Hawkesbury to North Sydney is abandonned. About to be pulled out.
Line to Gaspé is half abandonned but there is hope to restore service to Gaspé.

Ottawa-Sudbury (CP) et Ottawa-Capreol (CN) are mostly gone. A short line has kept Sudbury-NorthBay-Mattawa but tracks pulled between Mattawa and Ottawa. CN is all gone.
Senneterre to Cochane no longer connects. But Val d'Or to Kirkland Falls still exists (was no passenger soervice).

@infobeautiful

why did we choose poverty

@infobeautiful In Canada, we mostly use our rail lines for freight.

@infobeautiful so what happened to the trains? No demand? Too expensive to run? Snow on the lines?

@infobeautiful we should be so ashamed of ourselves.

@infobeautiful and no more Greyhound