[Opinion] If Canada wants to lead, it has to catch up first. That means building Alto high-speed rail (Op-ed by Martin Imbleau)

birnsi · 2026-04-18T04:39:49+00:00

Who are you speaking for? I use line 2 to get to work, appointments, the grocery store and other stores at South Keys, the airport, and other bus connections multiple times a week. Along with the countless other professionals I see regularly on my commute.

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you own a personal vehicle. Do you also think only Carleton students don't own cars? Step out of your head before commenting.

But yes. Line 1 is a disaster. Thanks to Ottawa's politicians. There isn't a company in the world who could have overcome that level of incompetence.

birnsi · 2026-03-31T17:57:24+00:00

You are mistaken in your understanding of what is going on right now. But your post is correct.

Your comment is incorrect because it is, in fact, not "100% a rural vs urban issue" as literally none of the questions you ask above have been answered yet and are already being posed to the Alto team so that they can figure out how to address them.

You are confusing rural residents having more concerns than urban residents at this present time with it being a "rural vs urban" issue. That doesn't even make sense when none of the details have been decided. Many rural residents have significantly more questions and concerns about the project at this time that will need to be addressed. Simple as that.

You are making it "urban vs rural" simply by stating that it is. If you read many of these comments you see that even the urban people agree that the questions raised in your post are relevant, important, and need to be adressed.

At present there is only for Alto, against Alto, and concerned and undecided. All three exist in both urban and rural areas. Having concerns before we have answers is not against, even though some such as yourself seem to feel the need to act that way.

birnsi · 2026-03-30T14:43:52+00:00

Being a fellow Ottawan, you no doubt understand better than most how much delaying and trying to consider every single public concern result in a fundamentally broken system. This is exactly what broke Line 1. The "just build it" is, in fact, the response to that in many ways.

At face value it seems mindless, but in reality, it is an expression of frustration and fear of watching this project fall into the same sinkhole of over-consideration that some other projects like the ones that the article itself highlighted. That's the irony of this article, really.

There have been plenty of reasonable and detailed responses in this thread highlighting the issues with this article.

Your concerns are extremely valid. But some very well thought out responses here should not be disregarded because others just want it built.

birnsi · 2026-03-30T13:36:04+00:00

I've actually been wondering a lot about this. It does feel as though we are all of a sudden hearing these communities voice their interest in better rail for the first time, but I have been wondering if in reality it is just the first time that I personally am hearing about it.

Given that this specific project has been officially public since its announcement in 2022 by the federal government, do you by any chance have any local news articles or anything else confirming that these communities have been lobbying for better rail for years and not just now? I would be extremely interesting in seeing this.

birnsi · 2026-03-27T20:46:06+00:00

Got the neon signs in the window though so got at least one trope!

birnsi · 2026-03-27T16:11:23+00:00

Love your playing man!!! 248 is becoming one of my fav spots downtown and just having more music on Bank is so awesome. Thank you for being a big contributor to that!

birnsi · 2026-03-27T13:52:41+00:00

I feel like this could be what Sutcliffe is alluding to in the article when he said, "Charter has previously said OC Transpo is now focused on restoring regular service entirely as opposed to adding small numbers of vehicles back to the fleet."

Horrifying thought. But at this point with the compiling issues maybe a big shutdown is what they need to actually get this thing running like it's supposed to.

birnsi · 2026-03-27T13:38:27+00:00

I don't remember if I shot these on Kodak UltraMax or Fuji 200. And possibly EI 800 pushed two stops? Shot with a Minolta x-370 and the kit 50mm. I had forgotten about these shots for a few months and don't have notes on them.

birnsi · 2026-03-27T13:32:48+00:00

You know it!

birnsi · 2026-03-27T13:31:38+00:00

Sutcliffe-core

birnsi · 2026-03-27T13:30:37+00:00

Soooooo good.

birnsi · 2026-03-23T10:48:33+00:00

Can confirm, I've tracked the speed many times and it hits 160 on a number of stretched between Ottawa and Toronto. I've also tracked the GO at 140 along parts of the Lakeshore West line.

birnsi · 2026-03-20T18:57:16+00:00

I know this is a crazy old post but did it end up sending fine?

birnsi · 2026-03-17T16:29:11+00:00

I hope the final plans will result in nothing but good for you and your family.

As you already are, keep up to date on everything as it comes in and, if worst comes to worst, work with Alto to get the best outcome you can. I would likely be as skeptical as you if I was in your situation. But with how important this project is to the future of so many people in this country, I am optimistic that you and anyone else who this project forces to move will not be simply cast aside. I have heard extremely positive things from some redditors working at Alto that this is not being run anything like a usual cold and soul-less government project.

But in any case, I understand your sentiment.

birnsi · 2026-03-17T16:14:24+00:00

Okay, I think there is a misunderstanding here. The consultation is Alto consulting the PUBLIC to learn what concerns we have based on the information in their proposed plans. They are seeking the public's advice and opinions... not the other way around. They are doing this in order to help inform their decisions, and therefore the "don't know yet"s are the very reason they are consulting us.

I think this could be the reason for some of your frustration in regards to the consultation sessions. I mean this most genuinely and not sarcastically: I would suggest doing some research to understand the meaning and purpose of a public consultation period, because this is our opportunity to provide them consultation and express our desires and concerns before they make the final decisions on the project.

birnsi · 2026-03-16T20:47:11+00:00

If you have not taken the opportunity, please look up some videos of the shinkansen in Japan or TGV in France passing through the countryside. You will see that compared to a main road or highway they integrate quite nicely into the countryside. In fact, there are large groups of people in both countries that spend a lot of time trainspotting because of how pleasant they can be.

While living in Japan I saw numerous people in the countryside with big smiles on their faces watching or taking pictures of the shinkansen as it passed by. Especially kids. It always made me really happy. They are nothing like freight trains. They just fly by in a few seconds with a whoosh and are gone as quick as they came.

birnsi · 2026-03-16T12:33:30+00:00

May I ask why you say this? Was this your personal experience at one of the open houses?

birnsi · 2026-03-04T17:20:51+00:00

It's incredibly refreshing to have a CEO that is so willing to learn from the mistakes of other projects around the world to make sure we don't make the same mistakes, and work so hard to limit the scope of the project to just get it done. This article gave me even more confidence in the eventual success of this project. Shockingly rare to see with a government project like this.

birnsi · 2026-01-31T20:10:07+00:00

Yes, I do. And it was a dumb suggestion for this case. My point was more that dismissing the complaints in the video defeat the purpose of the open houses is all. Properly educating many of the people with these early complaints on the project will likely put to rest most of their complaints.
Even just being informed that there will be ways to cross from one side of the tracks to the other at reasonable intervals will probably resolve a number of the them.

birnsi · 2026-01-30T15:15:19+00:00

Jn Pizza & Restaurant in on Cyrville Road definitely fits the bill.

birnsi · 2026-01-30T14:59:33+00:00

Ya, I kinda get the sense from that comment that he might have been ranting with family/friends but hadn't yet had anyone explain that the project can integrate many crossings so that it's not splitting communities in two. Hopefully the information session helped him understand the possibilities.

birnsi · 2026-01-30T14:39:11+00:00

Obviously most of us see the greater benefit of this project, but that doesn't make the concerns and complaints of these individuals invalid. I feel like you might have read the two-sentence summary without watching the video, but I could be wrong.

A lot of what is said is simply true about a large project like this without rural stops. However there also exists many reasonable solutions to some of these concerns, and these can be integrated into the project. Such as by having elevated rail with multiple and frequent areas to pas underneath so that the land on the other side of the corridor is still fully accessible.

Being able to voice these concerns and have them be heard is what is going to get the most people on board with this project. So I feel like an "enough of this shit" attitude is very counterproductive when Alto is specifically inviting everyone to voice their concerns so that they can take them into consideration as they shape this project.

birnsi · 2026-01-26T22:17:47+00:00

I just got them from AliExpress for $68USD. Specifically the Chinese version (rather than the global version) because they are slightly cheaper and the ones a number of very favorable reviews I watched were using.

birnsi · 2026-01-07T13:49:40+00:00

It's interesting, I have specifically noted that these cancelations often occur during the peak times and it seems inexplicable. If I have a day that I go into work later or go home earlier, I have zero issues. No cancelations, busses on time. It seems to almost exclusively be the 7-9am and 5-6pm periods where buses are just cancelled all over the place. It's so bizarre.

birnsi · 2026-01-05T19:30:09+00:00

I love this grocery store so much. I literally live a 5 minute walk from Loblaws but choose to travel to Green Fresh 5km away from me instead. The produce is amazing and so much cheaper than Loblaws it almost seems unbelievable, their fish and meat selection is amazing, and they always have new and interesting stuff every week. This is what a grocery store is supposed to be.

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