The cost / time savings isn't what's the important factor in determining whether the service is sustainable, once you are in the competitive territory. It's ho

The cost / time savings isn't what's the important factor in determining whether the service is sustainable, once you are in the competitive territory. It's how many people will take the service. Even if you assume that you'll double the ridership from my numbers above, that doesn't fill a train reliably. SEA-YVR is even worse. There are 1350 passengers per day one way air between those cities. Even if you think that there's hidden demand traveling by car that you could convert, the volume just isn't there.