Mike Pinder was almost right...
My modification is “Training is the best way to travel”.
My sweetie and I spent several hours on the VIA train Wednesday and again on Thursday. I hadn’t been on a train in Canada in decades. It was an enlightening, pleasant, and thought-provoking experience.
Our infrastructure has been severely reduced over the decades, with the petroleum industry being the big winner. Trucks are so much less efficient than trains, in every sense. Once a rail infrastructure is built, maintenance is minimal, albeit ongoing. Highway maintenance, on the other hand, is not only ongoing, but ever-increasing. Asphalt by its very nature does poorly in a freeze-taw climate like Canada’s. Rail beds are also subject to that same cycle, but don’t manifest damage in the same disastrously expensive way.
When water freezes in a crack in asphalt, it expands the crack. That leads to potholes and overall deterioration of the upper surface. Vehicles passing over not only exacerbate the problem with mechanical stress, they also suffer the impacts of wheels and tires passing over those holes. Tires are worn, wheels are damaged, and suspension component wear is accelerated.
Steel wheels on steel rails, on the other hand, are inherently more efficient. Rolling resistance is lower, there are no potholes. As long as the track is maintained level and flat, efficiency is inherent. Track maintenance used to involve very heavy manual labour. In North America and most of the world, that is no longer the case. Automated machinery now progresses along the track, re-tamping the ballast and re-levelling the track. Welded rails have largely eliminated the traditional “click-clack” of rail travel.
For long stretches we were travelling at 150 km/hr. This is on traditional freight-oriented track! Keep in mind that trains in China, Germany, France, Japan, Morocco, Spain, South Korea, Italy, and Taiwan regularly travel at 300 km/hr or well above, all on steel rails. Admittedly, there were also times where we were waiting for commuter or freight traffic.
Another advantage of train travel is that the stations are traditionally at the centre of each city or town. In Ottawa’s case, the main station is now in the suburbs, but in all the small towns the town was built around the train station. Even in Toronto. Union station is still the main transport hub. Our hotel was across the street. One doesn’t even have to go outdoors, although the underground PATH connections can be confusing.
The most recent time I was in Toronto in my automobile, I spent about two hours getting out of the city. It was slow, frustrating, unsafe, and wasteful. I see no reason to even again drive into downtown Toronto.
Decisions were made decades ago that will continue to affect us for many more decades. Short-term gain has turned into long-term pain. Things could have been different.