I have attended 1 of the ALTO consultations. Unfortunately, I was too babbling in my visit, so this article will be mostly what I suggested to them, with a few things about what I heard from them.

Overall, I believe the ALTO team are competent, they got some existing knowledge in their domain, but are also eager to learn from the best examples around the world on what to do (& what not to do). And perhaps most importantly, they are passionate & willing to make this a world-class HSR. I hope they get to archive & deliver their best effort to Canada.

So go put in your comments for ALTO! This round of consultation runs until end of March:

Since I went through the consultations by booths, I'll be structuring my post as such:

The project (overall)

The technology

The route / alignment

The stations & trains

The benefits

The environment

Indigenous relations (not much input from me)

Final thoughts

The project (org structure?)

• As a Torontonian, I'm naturally skeptical towards all things PPP. However, I do have to admit SNCF is a solid HSR maker, & the Keolis buses are superbly done (& they have Toronto-Montreal services now!), so these are promising signs

  • But I got to say that leaves ALTO the org kinda weird in positioning. Unlike Metrolinx, who does more than 1 project, plus ticketing etc., what exactly are they doing if Cadence does everything in the project already?

• Now the worrying part: There is NO expertise retention plan at all. ALTO's scope is only on TO-QC HSR, as for how we keep the rail planners in Canada / public transit planning sector once they got this project on track, it's not really their concern; not even for HSR for other regions of Canada / extensions to the currently planned sections.

  • I tried to follow up on which government department/agency should be doing that if it's not them, the answer is basically "the government ig 🤷"

The technology

• Even though we're pretty sure we'll be using the French HSR techs 🥐, they will be looking at other countries for good practices too. This is especially promising, considering how TTC / Metrolinx loves to do bespoke things that costed us more & doesn't work at the end

• Specific examples mentioned include: Hokkaido, Japan & nordic countries on how to do HSR in cold climates, UAE & Spain (deserts-ish areas) on how to do HSR in hot weather.

  • Hokkaido will be an excellent field trip for the ALTO team, considering Hokkaido JR just got heavily snowed in this year, & had to dig themselves out as quickly as possible. The lessons will be hot off the press 👌

• Multiple members also mentioned they haven’t tried HSR before. While you can get a glimpse from all the YouTube POV, data & interviews, things like the interconnective-ness & the carefree feeling has to be experienced first-hand to really “get it”. So I’d recommend all ALTO & Cadence teams get to do a trip on a full speed HSR (maybe do a trip report to justify the business expenses)

• I also had an intense discussion with one of the members on how leaves are the arch nemesis of trains 🍂🚫 & what they plan to mitigate the pesky leaves. Stuff like this gives me hope the project's in good hands.

• They’ve also stressed that, unlike the very sidelined TTC in the Metrolinx projects, SNCF in this project will be integral to the process, so that they can be sure they’re getting what they expected to operate on, & hopefully less teething issues & conflicting “done/not done” statuses

The route / alignment

• To me this is the most important part, perhaps even more important than station locations:

  • The HSR have to be as straight as possible;

  • Curve radius got to stay high (ie. No sharp turns), never lower than 4km (Shinkansen standard; although I've heard ALTO set themselves for 7km 🤞);

  • Equally important but less talked about: the elevation should be as constant as possible, numbers of uphills / downhills should be minimized

• And to make all this possible: Bridges or overpasses should be the primary option to any obstacles. Otherwise the HSR should preferably be on the ground.

  • Why bridges? Here’s some unique advantages:

    • It keeps the elevation as a constant, controllable environment, keeping the speed high

    • It’s good for tourism! Seeing the scenery breezes by is simply the best, & with bridges you get a much less obstructed view

    • Elevated tracks isn’t just for urban environments! Shinkansen runs on elevated tracks even in farmland areas, so that they’re not cutting farmlands in half, keep the construction cost low, & passengers get to enjoy a nice farmland view too. You can see them along plenty of Shinkansen routes, like this one:

• A cheaper version of elevated track would be building a little mount of dirt, & leave some gaps below for thorough access. It's an old technique (from the beginning of railroads) but it works well! Might be the best choice if you just need it elevated by a little and/or you need to satisfy a need for crossing but not by much.

Shinkansen elevated (cheaply) on a dirt mount, with an opening at lower right of the image. From Wikimedia / MaedaAkihiko • CC BY-SA 4.0

• HSR on bridges are also good for disaster recovery! In recent years, Shinkansen depots had been hit by record rainfall, which led to flooding & unusable trains. So now, some of the Shinkansen vehicles are stored on bridges ahead of predicted heavy rain, just in case.

• And here's a few reasons why tunnels are bad for HSR:

  • Tunnels are expensive! Especially HSR tunnels, with large ramp & very little turns

  • HSR in tunnels are simply inferior experiences for passengers, the views are part of the selling point!

  • For evacuation & fire escape reasons, the tunnels will need to be overbuilt, droning the cost even further for no additional benefit.

  • & perhaps most importantly, tunnels are hard to expand when the need arises. You can’t just build a new stub or add new tracks like bridges or ground sections.

  • & not to mention very very weak resistance to flooding or landslides.

• I’m not totally against tunnels for HSR, even Japan have it in their alignments (cause they have mountains). But it should be the very last resort, & after all other configurations are considered, including relocating / bridging / tunneling said obstacles, so that the HSR doesn't have to budge.

• When resolving any alignment VS HSR difficulties, the principle should be: HSR is the prime travel option. Thus the prime alignments should always go towards HSR. Other land uses from freight rail to road, or even rivers in reasonable cases should go around / under / above the HSR.

  • This is likely cheaper to build too, as HSR will be the speediest thing here, & will require much longer ramps in comparison.

  • For example: if GO train tracks & HSR alignment are in conflict, GO trains should be the one that goes up/down/sideways, & the HSR gets the optimal path. GO trains run at a lower speed, thus will be able to go on a ramp in smaller distance, which means cheaper ramp.

    • Unless HSR benefits with a more optimal curve radius / straighter alignment, then the optimal path rule becomes HSR should be the one going on the new builds (preferably bridges).

• Another worrying thing is that from what I’ve heard, they're already starting to get resistances at picking the optimal alignments, from communities en-route but not getting their dedicated stations.

  • Issues like farmland segregation can be easily solved with bridges; and it’s not that rare! Japan’s Shinkansen uses bridges across large amount of farmlands (see above). It also

  • So, helping / convincing those communities for a good track alignment will be quite important in the short-medium term

  • Actually, this might be one of the most important part of the process! In place track upgrades are likely way easier than realignments in the future

The station location(s)

• The principle is: ALL station should be built as if it is a through station.

  • By this I mean at least 4 tracks at each station, 2 with platforms for stopping, & 2 for trains passing through in FULL SPEED without stopping.

  • That includes Toronto & Quebec City, which will give us options to easily extend when the need arises.

  • The through tracks can have platforms too, especially Toronto & Quebec City; the point is the trains need to be able to not slow down when needed

Now to the slightly troubling station positions:

The Toronto station question

• The mandate they got is to study a plan to get the HSR to Toronto Union station, or anywhere ~1km away

  • so maybe King-Liberty or East Harbour is technically on the table too? 🤔

• The problem is there is an incorrect assumption: HSR stations don’t have to be at the pre-existing station!

• The most famous example is Shin-Osaka:

• Shin-Osaka is intentionally built 2 KM away from the old (still in service) Osaka station, so that we can avoid complicated engineering challenges (think Yonge-Eglinton) & keep the alignment at straight as possible.

• Conveniently, Toronto already has a rail alignment & a station area ready: North Toronto station (currently Summerhill on TTC line 1). It even served rail services to Montreal a century ago!

• Despite the stop not within the assessment area, I believe they've heard enough feedback from me & others that Summer hill / midtown might be a better alignment. So maybe if more people comment about this they'll include that as an alignment option

• Other locations on the midtown line also looks pretty promising, although some would need more work:

  • TTC Dupont station: Basically the benefits of summerhill, but slightly to the west & slightly further from Union station.

  • Midtown line & GO Barrie line intersection (Dupont & Lansdowne): IF GO Barrie line is upgraded to subway level service (a BIG if), this location might actually be the best: a much larger space for more terminal platforms, local & intercity bus bays, 1 stop away from both Toronto Union station & Caledonia station (to line 5) etc.

  • Agincourt GO station: Same as above, this time with Stouffville line upgraded to subway level service. Need slightly more work as it's near a park & a creek, but otherwise pretty good still.

    • Or possibly it can be the Ueno station of Toronto: HSR can have their temporary terminal here first, then another HSR station closer to downtown a few years afterwards.

The Montreal station question

I'm not a Montrealer, but the U-turn situation is so unhinged I feel the need to put in my 2 cents:

• Same mandate for Toronto seems to also exist for Montreal, & that means we're almost definitely have to consider doing a backtrack with Montreal station for a Toronto-Montreal-Quebec City service 💀 Here's hoping Montreal people give them good feedback & alternative ideas

  • At the risk of offending some Montreal people: if Montreal station is built as a terminal only station & not a through station, I would suggest trains not to/from Montreal only stop at Laval, but allow people needing Montreal access a REM connection.

  • An extra REM stub would be needed, but the total distance from garé centrale can be similar to airport

  • With some creative alignment utilizing both pre-existing rail alignments & some new tracks (yellow on map), we might even be able to do a through station north of Mount Royal

& quite helpfully, we can reuse another subway connection: Sauvé station connecting line 2. It is already being used by VIA rail too, so extra legitimacy points there

Stations (in general) & trains

• Principle of a good station: it's a nice place to hang out even if I'm not taking the HSR today.

  • It means a good place to hangout, eat, walk around, or connect to other modes of transit.

  • It also help reinforce the convenience of HSR, & help people imagine where to go

  • This can also contribute to a substantial amount of revenue, from all the retail & real estate areas.

Hiroshima station recently had a renovation to accommodate better streetcar connection, but they also made it a very nice place to be in, with loads of public spaces, restaurants & shops. Here's a video of the many, many things available at the station, from cinemas to hotels directly on top:

• Reasonable luggage should be free.

  • Essentially, carry-on AND checked luggage in airplane sizes must be free

  • Airline (over)charges for items, like sports stuff (snowboard) or musical instruments (guitars). These should all be free.

  • Bikes, strollers & wheelchairs should definitely be free. A reserve system may be implemented to help with operation, but should be accommodating to ad-hoc demands too.

  • Make the rules reasonably flexible! There is no fuel consideration on a train so there is no need for up-charge in most conditions. As long as it's not obstructing others & not a danger it should be allowed

• Get the rotatable train seats! People loves facing where the train is traveling, so it'd also help with ticket sales. It can also make any section into a group seating area! Once again this is very common on Shinkansen trains, it can even be done automatically for the entire carriage. (normally done during terminal cleaning sessions, so no risk of having passengers in)

• An easy concept is to make it inclusive, some good starting points (also done well on the Shinkansen):

  • Can someone do their make-up at their seat comfortably? That's a consideration of seating size, train stability (it can't be shaky!), adequate lighting & tray table large enough to fit a travel size make-up kit.

  • In peak travel seasons, can every passenger put a carry-on sized luggage within their legroom? That means a considerably bigger leg room than planes, both a good selling point & much better in accessibility

Socioeconomic benefits

Despite the pretty numbers presented by ALTO, I believe it is still being downplayed even by them. It’s probably not intentional, just simply because there’s way more benefits HSR can bring beneath the surface.

• The easy part first: we’re not saving 50% of the train journey time, we’re saving 100% of the driving time from drivers!

  • They don’t have to keep paying attention on the road, worrying about other bad drivers, looking out for pit stops etc. Now they get to nap, relax or do their own thing!

  • & just a reminder, air travel is NOT just the flight, but also the extra travel time from city centers, check-in & security queues, & you’re probably not having your own relaxed time when waiting to be called for boarding, taxi or landing. Once again, we’re saving 100% of the travel time from all these hassles!

• Freight! Yes, freight on HSR!!!

  • It’s not about moving containers, but moving something smaller but very, very quickly. Imagine instead of sending an urgent mail & have it reach Ottawa from Montreal in an hour!

  • We all know HSR can compete with planes in terms of speed, but guess what it also beats? Delivery planes! It is the premium option, but it will be the absolute quickest path for any small parcels too

  • ALTO can do this by themselves, or partner with a trusted mail courier cough Canada Post cough

  • There are many other types of freight HSR will be better than other options, like because the train ride is smoother than highways, it will be the preferred way to transport sensitive instruments, those small but expensive stuff

• Fresh goods! Imagine freshly baked Montreal bagels done at 6am, ready for sale at Toronto station at 9am.

Here's Shinkansen doing fresh seafood transport, just book a carriage & stack them in the leg room (so better keep the legroom big!)

& just in time for publish, here's Shinkansen doing just freight! Starting later this month, they'll have an entire train sets with no seats in them, so you can stack even more boxes at once.

Specific notes for lands around tracks

Now I want to do a special section on the benefits specifically to communities en route, BUT without their own station.

This is likely to become a heated battleground, with stories piling up already, & is THE major problem for UK & California HSR work. If we want to get the best alignment, we gotta present our cases now.

• Day trips tourism!

  • Even without a dedicated station, many areas will be significantly closer via the HSR + a bit of car journey, making all of them easier to reach.

  • For example: thousand islands area might be in day trip category if you are from Toronto or Ottawa. But with HSR, people near Québec city station will also be able to do day trips to that area!

  • Shinkansen don't just promote travels between main stations. In their promos, websites & on-board magazines, they also promote many day trips or special experiences you can find at the surrounding regions.

• Traveling showcase!

  • HSR by itself is the advertising vehicle. See the nice farmlands outside of the window? You can know more about them via the magazines on the train, or look them up on the website. When you get off the train, you can check out products from those regions!

• Bridges!! See above for the full thing, but specific to farmers: bridges represent the least disturbance to the soil. There's way less risk of disturbing underground water sources like tunnels, & no land disconnection like at-ground tracks.

  • Extra handling should be considered when possible, like land swapping (so farm fields stay on 1 side of the track), & modular construction methods like pre-built bridge parts, so the construction site can come down quicker & give back to the farmers.

• Other conventional methods, like ROW payments, complementary ad spots on the train & at the stations should also apply.

Environments

A very important principle in this area: HSR is not a highway for cars, oil pipeline nor airport.

• Unlike those other projects, HSR does NOT need to justify its environmental importance. It is a net gain to environments & sustainability by itself.

• There are bound to be areas where the HSR alignment will come in contact with habitats that needed special attention. While yes, we should do all we can to keep the disturbance to a minimum, alignment shouldn’t budge. A slower, worse HSR is by itself a damage to the environment.

• This is also another reason to do bridges: wildlife paths can be mostly preserved compared to ground tracks, & way, way less damage to the soil & plant life compared to tunnels.

• & Bridges are a good way to showcase the many environments of Canada! Get people excited to see the green is a good way to raise awareness.

Indigenous relations

I'm not an expert nor even knowledgeable in that area, but from what I've heard the overall reception is positive, so I'm happy for all of them.

Final thoughts

I'm appreciated to hear a few things they specifically said they will avoid:

• The UK HS2 is straight up in their “learn not to do” list, so they understood the assignment

• They won't be doing old-school track connections, which contributed to the clunk-clunks (sound & bump) you got on almost all rail services in Canada. The technology is called continuous welded rail, & it's another century-old tech we haven't seen in Canada yet.

• still a bit far away, but I have a feeling that SNCF is way more informed & respected in this process, unlike TTC in metrolinx's blind box experiences

I think everyone's on the mindset of making this proper good HSR, & the public opinion in general seems to be doing well. However the challenge will be when the true track alignment is revealed, the cost & the delivery time frame.

Although the current public opinion is trending positive, I believe the ALTO people have a lot more potential, to present a much stronger case even with the current plans. This can help them manage any upcoming headwinds just a bit easier, especially with the oppositions already showing up in patches.

It'll be a long time until we get the alignments finalized, so here's hoping everything can go well, smooth & quick.

P.S. I'll probably write a bit more on line 5 after this. If you're interested you can follow

@tobus.ca

, or use the link below to get it in email when it's done:

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