"We cannot slash our way to profitability." --Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, Chairman of Amtrak Board

But I digress...Hopefully, we'll see more beautiful trains such as this pop up on both sides of the border.

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Originally posted by MattAtTrainWebDotCom:
The rail renaissance has rubbed off north of the border! I knew things have been getting better overall over the last few years, and it's good to see that companies such as BC Rail realize (like Amtrak finally is doing) that profitability can only come by adding trains.

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Well, it's not that simple... This is NOT an Amtrak-style train. This is a Rocky Mountaineer sort of deal, as explained before as well as on that Web page, that is not meant for TRANSPORTATION at all, so much as RECREATION, like a cruise-ship, but a land cruise instead of a sea cruise. The Amtrak (and VIA) trains (as well as most of the older long-distance trains), by contrast, furnish(ed) your transport needs while at the same time providing an enjoyable experience with great scenery. This train, like the Rocky Mountaineer, doesn't actually take you anywhere, and that is what makes it different--and in a way worse--than Amtrak or VIA. And bet you anything it will be very expensive; a train for the rich of the Vancouver area. If you want a real passenger train, the kind that could actually be heralded as part of a "rail renaissance north of the border," this isn't what you're looking for. And if you want to get to the interior of BC from Vancouver, you want to hop on BC Rail's Cariboo Prospector (which BTW is almost all daylight in the summer.) But if you want to take an expensive cruise on land, this is for you!

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"We cannot slash our way to profitability." --Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, Chairman of Amtrak Board.

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Now THAT I agree with completely!

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But I digress...Hopefully, we'll see more beautiful trains such as this pop up on both sides of the border.

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Yeah, more extensive passenger service would be nice... But Big Money is needed for practically everything now, and that's the heart of the problem. I always liked the European method (slapping 150%+ taxes on gasoline), which kills two birds with one stone in a way--encourage more people to use transit, and use the stubborn folks' tax money to finance all that extra transportation. But our government would never do anything like that; I think Amtrak will survive FY 2003 but not grow much from its present network.

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Peace,