Dan_Bower%RPI-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA (09/05/85)
The proposal for a high speed line from NY to Montreal has a lot of similarities with the Philly-Pittsburgh one. There's an existing line with mostly passenger service for part of the way that is in reasonable shape. From there on, there is a freight line with little passenger service at slow speeds. Going up Lake Champlain isn't all that easy on the Southern end (that is, if you want a high speed alignment). The most of the valley has little or no flood plain and lots of granite cliffs at the water's edge. You'd end up crossing the canal repeatedly and/or tunnelling a lot and/or building a lot of causeways. North of Burlington VT, of course, there's the Rutland RofW, which went island hopping Florida East Coast style to Canada. Even some of this would have to be realigned, though. Also, I don't remember what the ridership projections were on the NY line, but they didn't seem to me to justify the capital expendature. The projections suggested that the line might just barely cover it's operating costs. If the line was built with lots of tunnels and bridges, the maintenance cost would skyrocket in 20-40 years. This would leave the state covering the debt for construction and reconstruction, ad nausium.