VIA Rail

[crs1026]

"Most importantly" you missed the most important point. Her position is "Chairman of the Board".

By your stating "CEO" is exactly why I'm musing on this, and exactly the point I was making. Btw: She's far from being Lib Lacky. What does "Quebecor" mean to you? " Pierre Péladeau" ring any bells?

Edit to ADD: lol...and if adding the name Péladeau to the complex mix wasn't to add clarity to anything, by doing the opposite, it makes the point: Don't pigeonhole Bertrand's appointment. I don't know if this woman is looking for cushy retirement or not, she's made of bold stuff.

You are correct, I thought COB but typed CEO. A COB is much more concerned with relationships and governance and consensus, and she is eminently qualified for that. I'm sure she can hold her own in a rough crowd.

All the same - is there any evidence that she would support VIA, versus hold it to a harsher standard that forces a decision? We will have to wait and see. Two years isn't putting much skin in the game.....get something done, and be gone. Certainly, some sort of policy decision is possibly imminent.

- Paul

 

[steveintoronto]

All the same - is there any evidence that she would support VIA, versus hold it to a harsher standard that forces a decision?

That is the question! I suspect we'll be reading some informed pieces in the national press on that in the next few days, probably as part of something larger.

She could also be the Angel of Death sent it to dispatch D-S and all the minions, but they would have sent in Ilsa (She Devil of the Con-ucom), not Francois.

The more I re-read her bio, the more she's not a figure-head or hatchet-job. There's a game-plan unfolding...she doesn't need this job, she *wants it*.

 

[dowlingm]

Perhaps the freight train problem can be resolved by purchasing the Havelock Sub from CP, double track rebuilding it to Smith Falls, and then giving it to CN in exchange for the Kingston Sub. The Kingston Sub would still be open to freight trains serving local destinations, but for the most part Via Rail will be much freer to add services and increase speeds.

what's in that for CN? Or CP for that matter?

Build a 125mph cab signalled speedway between Kingston and Smiths Falls using the straightest route possible, similarly upgrade Smiths Falls to Fallowfield, buy a bunch of cold-ready Brightliner trainsets to run exclusively Toronto-Ottawa (to max utilization on high speed track) and then use that proof of concept to demonstrate what VIA can do if it's given the tools. But good luck getting VIA HQ to approve a non Montreal project, Ontario to step in and fund it, or the industrial policy folks to be happy about Siemens Sacramento cranking out what is "rightfully Bombardier Transportation Canada's"

 

[MisterF]

Correct me if I am wrong, but VIA ran a Mtl-Tor Service under 4 hours (3:59).

You're right. I was just looking at the current schedule. It's a shame that they can't run trains in that amount of time anymore. Freight conflicts probably prevent it, which just goes to show what would be possible if passenger trains had their own route. 3:59 works out to an average speed of around 135 km/h.

 

[reaperexpress]

@Urban Sky do you happen to know anywhere a member of the public could find the track speeds for the Kingston Subdivision, Smiths Falls Subdivision, Alexandria Subdivision etc? I keep having to rebut this myth that VIA is slow (which is obviously disproven by schedules as per @MisterF ), but I only have the GPS data from my own VIA trips to go by, as well as an outdated speed table from GO Transit for the area around Toronto.

For example, here are the slow points from an Ottawa-Toronto trip I took a few years ago, rounded up to the nearest 5 mph. The rest of the time, the train was generally going 95mph (153 km/h), except between Fallowfield and Smiths Falls where it increased to 100 mph (160 km/h) and between Pickering and Toronto where it dropped to 90 mph (145 km/h).

15 mph = 24 km/h
55 mph = 89 km/h
65 mph = 105 km/h
70 mph = 112 km/h
75 mph = 121 km/h
80 mph = 129 km/h
85 mph = 137 km/h
90 mph = 145 km/h

I think it would be surprisingly good for VIA's business to replace the small car/train number display at the front of the LRC cars with a screen that displays something along the lines of:

Train stopped in station: [Smiths Falls] / [Train 44] / [to Ottawa] / [vers Ottawa]
Train moving <60 km/h: [Next stop] / [Fallowfield] / [Prochain Arrêt] / [Fallowfield]
Train moving >60 km/h: [156 km/h] / [97 mph]

Most people seem to assume that VIA trains cruise around 100 km/h - they're always surprised when they see my GPS display with numbers upwards of 150 km/h.

 

[reaperexpress]

Here's a speed limit sign at the Don River just outside of Union Station:

"Kingston Subdivision milepost 332.4
90 mph passenger (145 km/h)
60 mph freight (97 km/h)
80 mph speed restriction ahead (129 km/h)
100 mph LRC (161 km/h)"

 

[steveintoronto]

what's in that for CN? Or CP for that matter?

Build a 125mph cab signalled speedway between Kingston and Smiths Falls using the straightest route possible, similarly upgrade Smiths Falls to Fallowfield, buy a bunch of cold-ready Brightliner trainsets to run exclusively Toronto-Ottawa (to max utilization on high speed track) and then use that proof of concept to demonstrate what VIA can do if it's given the tools. But good luck getting VIA HQ to approve a non Montreal project, Ontario to step in and fund it, or the industrial policy folks to be happy about Siemens Sacramento cranking out what is "rightfully Bombardier Transportation Canada's"

I haven't read the following posts yet, someone else might also add to this, Dowling's point on BBD really is incestuous, as nothing less than REM clearly shows. But all is not as straightforward as it seems. And besides family rivalries in Quebec, there's also the pending Siemens/BBD rail division merger, and Donald Duck Trump looking to truly complicate BBD's operation in the US, beyond what it already is. (The possible complications of BBD moving their rail division to the US from Germany boggle the mind, albeit Siemen's have the better experience of doing that)(with caveats!)(not to even mention the Caisse in all of this, or government loans, forgivable or otherwise)

Dowling's point on "the speedway"...no matter where it is, let alone who finances it or runs it, is a very good one, one that I'm 'banking' on. It's not a question of whether the 'speedway' makes profit or not, and does it well, that's a given. It's *What About The Rest*!

And one of the very best moves from VIA's Board of Guvs, besides getting Parliamentary recognition in their own Act (and it may well not be the best way) is to spawn VIA HFR as a *part Government owned Corporation* and either as CEO or acting one: D-S.

The real challenge is to deal with the Real Market...not the one they tell you to do and don't give you the cash to do it in, save for "Here's your allowance, now run along before you get a good spanking from Mr CN and Mrs CP." I'm amazed at D-S' perseverance through all of this. It's not the money, he could be earning far more in private practice, it's the *Vision*! And he wants to be in the driver's seat. And he should be...

He's yet to play his hand...Morneau has to play his first.

 

[nfitz]

Correct me if I am wrong, but VIA ran a Mtl-Tor Service under 4 hours (3:59).

Yes, on two or three occasions between the 1970s and 1990s. Was easier to arrange when CN had less traffic, better maintenance, and was government owned. I don't think it's an option these days, unless VIA was to pony up a lot more cash.

 

[steveintoronto]

and was government owned.

And that's where VIA was orphaned! VIA was never fully born in terms of deed and title, and had to rely on 'family' for what little it had.
[(CN) It had a market capitalization of 32 billion CAD in 2011.[2] CN was government-owned, having been a Canadian Crown corporation from its founding to its privatization in 1995. Bill Gates was, in 2011, the largest single shareholder of CN stock.[2] ]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_National_Railway

Whoa! I'd forgotten about the Gates status. I guess when he and Buffet get together, they play trains....real ones.

Maybe Gates would be interested in playing with passenger trains too? Nothing like enticing him with a deal Windows can't pull the curtains on...

 

[nfitz]

And that's where VIA was orphaned! VIA was never fully born in terms of deed and title, and had to rely on 'family' for what little it had.

Yes, I remember - I rode it when it was still CN. Later on I was a very heavy user throughout the 1980s.

 

[Urban Sky]

But good luck getting VIA HQ to approve a non Montreal project [...]

Just some headlines you've apparently missed out on during the last years:

Thursday, 12 November 2009
Government of Canada and VIA Rail announce extensive Chatham-Windsor rail line improvements
http://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-...2011-smiths-falls-and-via-rail-officially-ope

Friday, October 21st 2011
Smiths Falls and VIA Rail officially open new station built through Government of Canada funding
http://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-...2011-smiths-falls-and-via-rail-officially-ope

05.29.2014
Video: VIA Rail Canada’s introduces New Prestige Sleeper Class
http://www.vancouversun.com/busines...ces+Prestige+Sleeper+Class/9890156/story.html

OCTOBER 22, 2015
The Ghost Train returns to Windsor; early Saturday morning train service to Toronto reinstated
http://windsorstar.com/storyline/the-ghost-train-returns-to-windsor-via-rail-announces

Friday, November 20, 2015
Guelph Subdivision upgraded to CTC
http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/communications/guelph-subdivision-upgraded-to-ctc.html

Monday, November 23rd 2015
VIA RAIL EXPANDS ITS RAIL NETWORK BY ACQUIRING THE BROCKVILLE SUBDIVISION
http://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-...-2015-via-rail-expands-its-rail-network-acqui

Also, if you really believe that VIA Rail is such a Montreal-centric company, you might want to compare the number of VIA trains departing in Montreal with those departing in Montreal. For today, I've counted 13 departures for Montreal, but 20 for Toronto - and Sundays is a day where the "Ocean" departs in Montreal, but no "Canadian" in Toronto...

 

[dowlingm]

Just some headlines you've apparently missed out on during the last years

Didn't miss them, but the sums involved are pretty trivial beside what I proposed upthread.

 

[cplchanb]

Yes, on two or three occasions between the 1970s and 1990s. Was easier to arrange when CN had less traffic, better maintenance, and was government owned. I don't think it's an option these days, unless VIA was to pony up a lot more cash.

would it be possible to lay parallel tracks along the line at least for passing?? It seems like theres space along the countryside portions to insert 2 more tracks. That could buy back some time lost to CN

 

[nfitz]

Problem is, CN owns the land. They've already done some of this, but CN ends up owning the track, and still gives freight priority.

 

[cplchanb]

Problem is, CN owns the land. They've already done some of this, but CN ends up owning the track, and still gives freight priority.

What if Via had a deal to share the cost? imo the federal govt should just sell off VIA and let it be a private company. At least then there would be an opportunity for better growth without govt red tape for everything.
Unlike airlines, Via is the sole transnational railway so theres no competition anyways