Meggs is doing his part to ensure that the agenda setting on high speed rail doesn't come solely from down south.
Here are some of the key points to emerge from a conversation I had with Geoff Meggs about his meetings down in Portland.
- The U.S. is taking a “are you in or out?” kind of approach with Canada, and officials are getting the sense from both the BC Government and the feds that there is just not a hell of a lot institutional interest in extending high speed rail across the border
- The Board of Trade as well as Tourism Vancouver are the local entities that are leading the charge, and Rick Antonson is probably going to play a large part in putting together an advisory/lobbying group to generate interest from the public and elected officials.
- There is a definite feeling of the possibility of losing out a on a multi-billion dollar opportunity if Canada’s stakeholders – government, private sector and other interested parties don’t get their shit together. Obama’s $8 billion investment is not likely to come along again, and Vancouver should be a part of the plan now rather than an addition made in a decade.
- Costs like customs services are being haggled over by the federal government; the feds are clearly more focused on achieving high speed rail links between Windsor and and Quebec City, as well as Calgary and Edmonton
- Current rail links are limited because no money has been put into upgrading the tracks; high speed rail, most likely because of the terrain between Seattle and Vancouver, wouldn’t exactly be “high speed” when we compare to the terminology and examples from Europe and Asia.
- The old swing bridge in New Westminster is on its very last legs; all trains must slow to a crawl to get over it. The feds are currently looking to transfer responsibility for it to the port.
- The extra daily train from Seattle that was added during the Olympics was a huge success, and is a large part of the reason that in spite of an apparent lack of interest from its governmental counterparts, the City of Vancouver is pushing hard to keep the issue alive and have Canada still a part of the agenda in the planning phase of how to spend Obama’s upcoming investment.
- High-speed rail is kind of a misnomer, as once again the terrain, and the fact that new tracks are not going to be built, means that trains will likely top out at 80-90 miles an hour.
So, seems like a lot of talk about something that isn’t even a possibility in this region – at least when speaking about “high speed.” Nonetheless, I certainly hope that Antonson and his group (along with the work of Meggs and the Mayor) can get the senior levels of government more on the ball with this issue. Quite frankly, I find it ridiculous that a high speed rail link between Calgary and Edmonton takes more priority than one extending from Eugene, Oregon to Vancouver, BC, particularly with so much American money committed and on the table.
I will keep readers posted when I hear back more about the composition and purpose of the advisory group.
