Thank you for your question, Mr. Laframboise. My colleagues will probably make some comments too.
Certainly, this mode of transport is a success. The great urban transportation corridors are heavily populated and passenger demand has increased. One mode of transport has not replaced another; a social change has clearly taken place.
In my view, rail transportation between some metropolitan centres in Canada offers great possibilities. It would be possible to move towards the same kind of transformation as has taken place in Europe. In the United States, a lot of effort has been made in this area, and we can do the same here. Fifty per cent of passengers travelling between Washington and New York now use the Acela system, which is a huge increase in demand. This is not simply replacing the demand for air transportation, it is a significant increase in the demand for rail transportation, as Mr. Langford pointed out. And there was no need for major state investment.
Let me show you a diagram showing United States investment in the three modes of transport between 1949 and 2006. The portion in yellow is air transportation, the portion in blue is road transportation and the portion in green is rail transportation. You can see that the last one is almost non-existent. I want to stress that the demand is there. All that is needed is to invest for success.