High-speed rail: Is now the time?

In spite of the naysayers, public discussion on high-speed passenger rail continues to escalate. The quality press in Canada is carrying more editorial on this topic. It was also the subject of a TVO ­Agenda program earlier this summer. High Speed Rail Canada has staged several successful regional meetings with eminent keynote speakers and all had full attendance. Many more Canadians are now talking openly and favourably on the subject.

The provinces of Quebec and Ontario have a joint study underway on the Quebec City–Windsor corridor and we must hope that, like many of its predecessors, it does not just gather dust on the transportation ministries’ shelf. It must move quickly into the public domain and then forward to planning and implementation.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s medium/long-term transportation strat­egy calls for European-style high-speed rail in many key corridors. The previously car- and plane-oriented American public is warming rapidly to the idea. A recent CBC Radio Overnight narrative from German broadcaster Deutsche Welle discussed how the well-established HSR system builders, including Bombardier, Alstom and Siemens, are watching the developing opportunity in the United States and are ready with strategies to bring both sustainable work and sustainable transportation to the U.S. Will this include Canada?

In spite of the growing discussion, there are still some forces working feverishly against the implementation of high-speed rail in North America. Read any blogs associated with media coverage and the comments vary from logical-positive and thoughtful-negative to narrow and utterly inane. The majority are, unfortunately, at the low end of the spectrum. Well-funded lobbies invest huge dollars to get a pro-car, pro-highway and pro-oil argument in front of politicians and the public even though many of their commentaries on the non-viability of rail-based passenger transportation have proven critically flawed. They remain well-armed and relentless. The outdated chestnut of inadequate population density continues to be the favoured fare of dissenting politicians.
Perhaps the question that really needs to be asked is: “What are the alternatives?”

Currently, the Government of Canada seems to be relatively content with the status quo. While our airlines duke it out in the short-haul market, new highway developments are always good for photo-ops but exacerbate the emissions problem. The auto sector has received billions of taxpayer dollars, a significant part of which will never be returned. At least Via Rail Canada has received several rounds of public investment, but only enough to keep old technology viable while achieving modest gains in journey times, improved on-time performance and preserving acceptable passenger comfort.

Is the status quo going to serve Canadians in the face of global economic and demographic change? Will it preserve our mobility in an age of increased airline fragility, security concerns, overburdened, expensive highways, oil price uncertainty and continued international pressure to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions? The answer is unequivocally “No.” Commentary from more sober, eminent sources is increasingly shrill in this regard.

Imagine a potential investor, coming from a country with a broader range of mobility options including high-speed rail, looking to establish a new, sustainable business in Canada. If we adhere to the status quo, where long, grinding highway journeys or cramped short-haul flights are the only available travel options, we would certainly be considered an inconvenient and less than inviting place for foreign money. In other words – backward. The exact opposite is the first-time visitor to Western Europe whose jaw drops when they see, and hopefully ride on, their first high-speed passenger train. I have personally witnessed this on several occasions and it’s inevitably followed by the question: “Why on earth don’t we have this in our country?” The choice of adjectives is usually more incandescent.

Canada’s tourism industry consistently wrings its hands over declining visitor numbers. Could it be that foreign tourists find our passenger transportation clunky and not the least user-friendly? Those with the finances to enjoy international travel (increasingly in their 60s and 70s) usually prefer not to drive at their destination. The lack of non-highway mobility, including the absence of frequent fast passenger train service, will become an escalating deterrent especially in Ontario and Quebec where attractions are highly dispersed.

It’s not only among tourists where demographics dictate appropriate travel options. Our greying society will eventually choose to drive less and decline to subject themselves to the hassle and confusion of airport transits and security. Boarding a high-speed train that runs smoothly and offers accessible and friendly passenger amenities will be an attractive means of golden-years mobility.

Detractors who base their arguments on subsidizing a large and potentially under-utilized asset need also to look further afield where modern signalling systems allow more intensive use of dedicated high-speed tracks. Southeastern Railway, a U.K. rail franchise operator, is about to introduce its 225 km/h highspeed service, branded as Javelin, to whisk commuters and other passengers in a hurry from a transportation hub in Kent to St. Pancras in London. It will use the Eurostar tracks and reduce journey times by half. Imagine this on the Kitchener/Waterloo to Toronto service with perhaps a call at Pearson airport?

The subsidy argument has been rendered totally invalid during the nuclear-like meltdown of the auto industry. At least public investment in Canadian high-speed rail infrastructure would provide a lasting asset and sustainable employment. Can the same be said of the auto sector, where the pressure to relocate manufacturing to much lower-cost areas will intensify? At best, the Canadian auto industry will only be a faint shadow of its former glory, even with frequent injections of public money. Without it, the prospect for well-paying jobs, particularly for Ontarians, is rather gloomy unless governments have an alternate industrial strategy up their sleeves. Lucidity continues to be somewhat scarce in this regard.

High-speed rail in Canada could be built as a public-private partnership. The tracks could remain under provincial or federal ownership while the rolling stock and train operation is owned by the private sector. This gives a more balanced approach to risk while removing day-to-day operations from excessive political manipulation. Incumbent party dogma must never dictate the quality of service as it currently does with Via Rail and Amtrak.

European high-speed rail has been successful in Europe to the extent it has captured a significant passenger base from short-haul air routes. Rather than trying to recoup the lost business, both Lufthansa and Air France are looking to high-speed rail as alternative airport hub feeders. Deutsche Bahn ICE tickets now proudly show a Lufthansa flight number. Air France is rumoured to be considering branding its own high-speed rail service. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, already a British rail franchise and long-haul airline operator, is apparently casting an eye to the Channel Tunnel and rails beyond. Deutsche Bahn, the European rail powerhouse, may eventually present its ICE trains to delighted Germany-bound passengers at St. Pancras station in London. Might Air Canada’s salvation come partly from having a stake in Canadian high-speed rail?

Those with a libertarian and narrow perspective on high-speed rail in Canada will continue their efforts to brand it as a waste of taxpayers’ money and a pork-laden boondoggle. Recent economic events and a broader view of the rest of the world continue to disqualify their adversity. There is an increasing realization that travel options engineered in the last 30 years or so will no longer position Canada well for tomorrow. High-speed rail with improved modal integration will help us remain competitive, employed and mobile. It is indeed time.

Ken WestcarWoodstock, Ontario

Podcast - 8/25/09 - Andy Keller

For those of you who don't have Facebook or Twitter, the first podcast is now available. In the first one, I decided to start at the bottom and have my friend Andy Keller as the guest to talk about chocolate chip cookies in Arizona and Ohio, a night out with Greg Oden, lead poisoning, and why the "Call on Me" video rules.

If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to leave them. The goal right now is to put out at least one per week, and we have some really good guests lined up as we move towards our goal of having the most famous person possible on the podcast. If you have guest suggestions, pass them along to ClubTrillion@gmail.com.

We got the approval from iTunes today, so be sure to subscribe or risk feeling like a total dweeb when some girl asks if you have the most recent Club Trillion podcast on your iPod.

Pictured: The least famous person who will ever appear on the podcast

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Your Friend and My Favorite,

Mark Titus

Club Trillion Founder

High Speed Rail Canada Public Educational Seminar Comes to Red Deer Alberta

For immediate release…..(RED DEER, ALBERTA ) High Speed Rail Canada in cooperation with the City of Red Deer, Red Deer County and the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce are hosting on a high speed rail educational seminar for the public in Red Deer on Wednesday, October 14th 2009 from 5:30pm to 9:00pm at Red Deer County’s Council Chambers, 38106 Range Road, 275, Red Deer County.

High Speed Rail Canada,( http://highspeedrail.ca ) a citizen's national advocacy group dedicated to the education on, and the implementation of, high speed trains in Canada, will be in Red Deer for its 4th in a series of Canada wide public seminars on high speed rail.

Paul Langan, Founder of High Speed Rail Canada states, "Public opinion polls have clearly shown that Albertans want passenger rail service to return between Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton. This educational seminar will give the public a chance to learn and ask questions about the different modern passenger rail options that are available.”

The symposium will consist of speakers from some the world’s largest high speed rail manufacturers such as Alstom Transportation and Siemens Canada. There will also be a presentation from Alberta Rail Inc. Residents will then have a chance to ask the speakers questions during a panel discussion. Modern high speed rail videos will be shown.

There is no cost to attend the seminar but seating is limited so pre-registration is highly recommended. Participants can register by calling or emailing Lindsey Hutton at the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce at 403-347-4491 lhutton@reddeerchamber.com

For more information, please contact

High Speed Rail Canada
Paul Langan (English)
(519) 654-0089
Email: highspeedrailcanada@yahoo.ca
Website: www.highspeedrail.ca or www.grandevitesse.ca

The Big Country That Wouldn't!

The Big Country that wouldn't, is the title that I would give our transportation ministry. A little over 40 years ago Montreal Locomotive Works built a train designed by Sikorsky Aircraft that approached speeds of modern day high speed trains. It was the Turbo Train that set world record in 1967 for words fastest train on a New Jersey test track by achieving 275 kilometres an hour. We were a country that was leading the way in the 60's in technology. No need for I think I can, we as Canadians back then just did it.

With minority governments every election, are we ever going to have any long term goals and objectives? The price of not doing anything and sitting back will only cost our future generation more. Years ago we had an estimate of the cost it would be to have high speed rail between Windsor and Montreal. What would that cost be today?

High Speed rail is a viable solution that will pay for itself in the long hull. we have the population we have the technology, but what we don't have is a committed government to high speed rail transportation.

Lastly are we as Canada going to sit back idol and watch the rest of the world surpass us in every field. Or are we as a country going to stop saying I think I can, maybe I can, I could... And just wake up get back on the tracks like we did in the sixties...

Doug Cloutier.
published as a letter to the Editor in the Windsor Star

A Major Problem

When I was in sixth grade, I stood six feet tall and had more armpit hair than the rest of the elementary school combined. So when field day came at the end of the year, it was no surprise to anyone that The Shark performed swimmingly. I shattered records, I shattered dreams, and when it was all said and done, I shattered the ladies’ hearts. Anyone who witnessed that field day will tell you that it was one of the more impressive things they had ever seen. They will then go on to tell you how badly I failed to athletically pan out and that I’m a prime example of why hitting puberty early isn’t necessarily a good thing, but that’s not relevant to this story.

The reason I bring up my field day dominance is not because I wanted to discuss what I accomplished on the field that day, but rather because it prompted a solid piece of advice from my mom that I still carry with me to this day—don’t let your success get to your head. Unfortunately, I initially chose to not listen to her and instead turned to a life of pulling chairs out from under kids as they went to sit down and other various acts of mischief. I knew that what I was doing was wrong, but I assumed that my seventh grade principal had heard about my performance in the sixth grade field day and would just let each irresponsible act slide. I simply thought the rules didn’t apply to me. But when he slapped a lunch detention on my record, I knew I had hit rock bottom and had to either change my ways or get used to eating lunch by myself and missing out on all the dirty jokes that Jimmy Parkland had heard from his older brother.

Fast forward to this past basketball season. I built this blog from scratch in late October and used my position as the unknown guy on the team as the foundation. In the infancy of the blog, I wrote about how I never play, how I get left out of team pictures, and why per diem is so crucial to my well-being because I’m not on scholarship and therefore have no money. Then I went on Bill Simmons’ podcast (twice), got kicked out of the NBA draft, and ultimately ended up on the front page of Yahoo.com. I essentially became fairly well-known for writing about being unknown. Don’t worry, I’m struggling to find the logic in that sentence too.

As my blog became more and more popular (and I love every one of you for helping make this happen), it became harder for me to be the unknown on our team. I couldn’t write about what it was like to go places and everyone get recognized but me, because suddenly I was getting recognized too. I couldn’t write about how I planned on pranking The Villain because of the thousands of you reading, one of you would consistently warn him of what was coming (or he would just get on here and read for himself, which is really what I think happened). Because of this, the direction of the blog had to change slightly. I started giving a general behind the scenes view of life as a college basketball player instead of the view of life as a useless college basketball player that I originally set out to give. This upset some of you to the point that you thought it necessary to e-mail me and explain that you “want the old Club Trillion back.” I completely agree with you, but my hands have been tied. It’s not like I can just make stories up about getting disrespected and pass them off as fact. After all, I’m not James Frey.

Some of you thought that the success I’ve had on this blog gave me a big head, which is why I changed the direction of the blog, but that’s just not true. I like to think I got my big head from my dad, who wears a size 7 and 3/4 baseball cap, which, for those of you who don’t know how hat sizes work, is another way of saying the circumference of his head is 7.75 times greater than the circumference of the moon. In all honesty, ever since my seventh grade lunch detention, I’ve learned that no matter how popular I may become, I still have to follow the rules like everyone else (it may come as a shock, but not every athlete thinks the same way). I assure every one of you that the advice my mother gave me years ago is still nestled on the forefront of my mind. Seriously, don’t be fooled by the blog that I got, I’m still, I’m still Mark from the block. Besides, even if, for some reason, I have a lapse in judgment and momentarily think that I’m relevant to the success of the Ohio State basketball team, I’ll always have Coach Alan Major there to bring me back down to Earth.

Coach Major is the only coach, other than Coach Matta of course, who was on staff during the National Runner-up season and is still on staff now. You might remember him from his botched attempt at congratulating Kyle Madsen last season. Of course if any of you have ever watched one of our practices, you know Coach Major as the guy who was never properly taught how communicable diseases spread, which is why he finds it necessary to drink out of my water bottle on a daily basis.

In his defense, Coach Major perspires so much that he’s almost an impressive enough of a sweater for Bill Cosby to wear him. I’ve seen enough Gatorade commercials to know that this means he needs to replenish his sweat and the best way to do that, in his mind, is to drink water. He’s out there giving his all and working up a sweat, which is something that I can’t really say I’m doing. The man needs some water to quench his thirst and give him the energy he needs to perform at his best. Makes sense, right?

What’s so disheartening about the whole thing is that Coach Major makes absolutely zero attempt to make it a secret that he’s drinking out of my bottle. On many occasions, I have taken a drink from my bottle, set the bottle down, and watched in disbelief as Coach Major walked up next to me to take my bottle. That he doesn’t make any effort to hide that he’s drinking out of my bottle is strange because he puts forth an incredible amount of effort every day to seek out and drink only from my bottle. He will walk past at least ten other water bottles to get to mine and when mine empties, he waits for a manager to refill it instead of simply finding another bottle. It’s like he wants me, no, needs me to know that he’s drinking out of my water bottle. Psychological warfare at it’s finest.

My theory concerning what goes on every day in practice is that in another life I plundered Coach Major’s village, set his house and livestock on fire, and left him for dead. Somehow he managed to be the only survivor in the village and upon realizing this he made a promise to himself that he would find a way to exact revenge for all the townspeople who perished. Once I joined the team he figured out that by attacking me mentally he could cause much more damage than if he were to inflict physical harm, so he devised a plan to take my water bottle every day in practice and make sure that it’s bordering on empty as soon as I get done running sprints. Over the course of four years, I would eventually be driven to insanity and his master plan would come to fruition. That’s really the only feasible explanation.

Even though I apparently killed everyone in Coach Major’s village and the prize cow he planned on showing at the local county fair that particular year, I still feel like I have to fight back even more. I’ve tried asking him to get water from the fountain in the practice gym like every other coach does, but he wasn’t a fan of that idea. I then had the managers get him his own water bottle but he really didn’t drink out of it all that often (because drinking out of his own bottle doesn’t attack my sanity in any way) and the managers decided that they didn’t want to fill up a water bottle that wasn’t going to be put to use. I tried playing nice (sans the burning of cows and whatnot) but I’m running out of time and running out of pride. It’s time to take things one step further.

My next move is to put something other than water (no, not urine) in my bottle and watch as the surprise unfolds. My initial thought was to put hot chocolate in the bottle, but scalding an assistant coach’s face isn’t exactly the best idea I’ve ever come up with. Instead, I think I’m going to buy a bunch of Frosties from Wendy’s before practice someday and fill my bottle up with them. That way Coach Major will be discouraged from drinking out of my water bottle (because who wants to consume dairy while they are working up a sweat?) and I can enjoy a delicious chocolate malted beverage while standing on the sideline. I’m going to kill two birds with one stone, which will be quite an accomplishment considering killing one bird with any number of stones seems like it would be a pretty difficult task.

Every practice for the past three years (the six practices we’ve had this month in preparation for our trip to Canada next week are no exception), I’ve been reminded by Coach Major that I’m an untouchable in the basketball caste system. By drinking out of my water bottle, in front of my face no less, he is basically telling me to take my blog and shove it because he doesn’t respect me in the slightest. I appreciate his attempt to keep me grounded, but I think it’s time for him to understand that I don’t plan on making the same mistake I did in seventh grade anytime soon. I’m a different person than I was back then and if Coach Major can’t accept that maybe it’s time for me to take matters into my own hands and break the chains on my own. Let this blog entry serve as a warning to you, Coach Major. If you continue to drink from my bottle, I can assure you that you will definitely be in for a treat. A well-chilled, chocolate malted one, to be more specific.

___________________________________________________

Your awesome YouTube was sent in to me by John K. There’s your shout-out, John. And here’s your video.

Your Friend and My Favorite,

Mark Titus

Club Trillion Founder

Re-Engaging after Summer Vacation

If you’re anything like me, you look forward to the warm, sunny days of summer. It’s a great time to plan that special holiday and leave all your worries behind. Upon returning to work I feel refreshed, reenergized, and ready to get back to my work duties. Sometimes getting back into the swing of things can take some time, but I always focus on re-engaging in my work.

So, just how can you re-engage yourself? Be sure to ease your holiday-to-work transition by following some of the tips included below (adapted from Helium.com):

• Give yourself time to settle back into your “normal” routine. If you’ve traveled to an exotic destination, give yourself a day or two to get your land legs and overcome any jet lag.
  
• Reflect on your positive holiday experiences and achievements.
  
• Stay positive about your work and reflect on the things that you enjoy doing.
  
• Avoid in-box overload. If you can, consider looking through your emails the night before returning to work or have a colleague respond to urgent items while you are away.
  
• Try to stick to your regular sleep schedule at least a few days before returning to work
  

I’d also suggest the following

• Give yourself time to settle back into the groove of things.
  
• Be sure to review any meeting notes, memos, or other updates
  
• Organize yourself by creating a checklist. This will give you a sense of accomplishment getting through all the smaller tasks.
  
• Take what you’ve learned/experienced during your holidays and apply it to your work.
  

How to Maximize Your Talents at Work

Maximizing your talents and showing your employer your diverse set of skills can help to put you and your career in the spotlight. To maximize your talents you must recognize your own strengths. If you’re not sure what your strengths are, try asking friends and family “What do you think I’m good at?” You may also want to reflect on skills that you been complimented on. Next transfer the skills you identified to the realm of work.

Once you have identified your strengths and how they are applicable to work, it’s time to put these talents into action. Start by volunteering for projects or take initiative to help others when needed. Don’t be afraid to talk about your accomplishments with others in a non-boastful way. At staff meetings you could mention how much you enjoyed working on a certain aspect of a project. Or when offering to assist with certain projects, make note of your skills “I’m great at__________, and could really help with_________.”[1]

The potential benefits of maximizing your talents could result in focusing more on projects and job duties that are a better fit for you, in turn making work more enjoyable. Your willingness to volunteer for projects may be noted by your employer, who in turn may begin sending you the work you enjoy more often.

[1] http://www.playtoyourstrengths.com/resources/faiths-articles/maximize-your-talents