VIA Rail

[crs1026]

The drop in ridership around 1990 is attributable not only to cuts in trains, but reductions in train size as the old blue/yellow and RDC fleets wore out and were retired, and as VIA implemented demand management strategies. That chart shows the change well....Look at how passenger revenue is maintained while government subsidy is reduced from 1990 onwards. Some of the pricing reflected higher value product....eg that’s the era when the transcon fleet was refurbished and the Silver/Blue service model implemented. But in the corridors, VIA was forced to retreat from oodles of 10-car trains attracting passengers at bus-competitive

Toronto-London is a good example. Pre-1990, there were oodles of trains ten cars long hauling at bus-competitive prices. Post-1990 it became 4-car trains at higher prices. Partly because the fleet changed, and partly because the bus lobby held inordinate influence.

- Paul

 

[micheal_can]

The drop in ridership around 1990 is attributable not only to cuts in trains, but reductions in train size as the old blue/yellow and RDC fleets wore out and were retired, and as VIA implemented demand management strategies. That chart shows the change well....Look at how passenger revenue is maintained while government subsidy is reduced from 1990 onwards. Some of the pricing reflected higher value product....eg that’s the era when the transcon fleet was refurbished and the Silver/Blue service model implemented. But in the corridors, VIA was forced to retreat from oodles of 10-car trains attracting passengers at bus-competitive

Toronto-London is a good example. Pre-1990, there were oodles of trains ten cars long hauling at bus-competitive prices. Post-1990 it became 4-car trains at higher prices. Partly because the fleet changed, and partly because the bus lobby held inordinate influence.

- Paul

I wonder, with Greyhound's pull out, will this see a resurgence in VIA?

 

[robmausser]

I wonder, with Greyhound's pull out, will this see a resurgence in VIA?

Only if they bring up reliability and service levels in those corridors.

The people that relied on Greyhound cant rely on the Canadian when its up to 20 hours late sometimes.

Its currently a tourist train funded by the government.

 

[SaugeenJunction]

Interesting page I discovered on Oxford County' SouthwestLinx proposal, which would employ "High Performance Rail" and bus enhancements across the region. Here is a direct link to the report.

 

[Urban Sky]

In order to allow more meaningful comparisons over time, I've inflated all $-figures to 2017 prices and added them to the right:

Also, I calculated some additional metrics from the figures above:

Note that in the original table, passengers and passenger-mile were swapped...

 

[APTA-2048]

I thought I'd share a visual of what I thought new trains for The Corridor could look like. I should mention: had this on the go for a while, but that awesome new Via Rail commercial gave me the final kick to finish it.


Via Rail Siemens trainset by Adrian Badaraco, on Flickr

 

[SaugeenJunction]

I thought I'd share a visual of what I thought new trains for The Corridor could look like. I should mention: had this on the go for a while, but that awesome new Via Rail commercial gave me the final kick to finish it.


Via Rail Siemens trainset by Adrian Badaraco, on Flickr

Looks awesome! One can only hope our train sets will look this good. Have you tweeted this out?

 

[APTA-2048]

Looks awesome! One can only hope our train sets will look this good. Have you tweeted this out?

Thanks! I don't have Twitter, unfortunately. Though posted to Instagram.

 

[kEiThZ]

I thought I'd share a visual of what I thought new trains for The Corridor could look like. I should mention: had this on the go for a while, but that awesome new Via Rail commercial gave me the final kick to finish it.


Via Rail Siemens trainset by Adrian Badaraco, on Flickr

I hope you emailed that design to VIA at least!

My dream would be for the corridor to have double decker electrified trains with interiors that look like this:

http://www.priestmangoode.com/project/mercury-train/

I know we're well past the era of public services caring about design and aesthetics, but I honestly wish they would do something like that if they ever did HFR, just to maximize on the contrast with air and bus travel. But I guess the Siemens Chargers are a decent start.

 

[kEiThZ]

Does anyone know the timeline for the tender? Wasn't RFP supposed to be around now?

 

[mdrejhon]

I thought I'd share a visual of what I thought new trains for The Corridor could look like. I should mention: had this on the go for a while, but that awesome new Via Rail commercial gave me the final kick to finish it.

Very nice VIA branded Siemens Charger! I'd ride that anyday.

Next, that VIA commercial shall hereby be awarded the deluxe UrbanToronto embedding here, a full business class seat upgrade from a lowly link:

 

[crs1026]

Does anyone know the timeline for the tender? Wasn't RFP supposed to be around now?

The dates are in Appendix A of this document. In theory, RFP awarded December 2018, but I haven’t been following to see if they are on schedule.

PS - VIA did announce the shortlisted bidders in June, so the RFP is likely under way.

- Paul

 

[steveintoronto]

Imo Via should have waited until they had renders of their new trains to make this ad because as I see it calling such old trains "the future of travel" might even lead to some laughs in Toronto.

So right now are we thinking Siemens has the best chance? Also worth noting that I really hope the Chargers have the nose cone, they are MUCH less attractive without it . . .

Most viewers couldn't tell the difference between a P42 loco and a P90 pickup
P-90 - Wikipedia
let alone a Siemens Charger, in whatever guise it manifests. What's notable and what most of the public will relate to is the aggressiveness of the ad. This sure is a change from "Why don't you just Take the Train", entertaining and introspective ads, but nothing that grabs you by the cajones like this one.

What the public will relate to, and this is where this ad 'hits home' (if you pardon the pun) is the frustration of being stuck in traffic. If the OntCons had any sense...well...there's a non-starter...'Common Sense Devolution?'...they'd be part of the ad campaign to illustrate the futility of endless highway building, but alas. It's VIA that gets to push the buttons.

Addendum: That's such a good ad, I keep watching it. The TTC is used in at least three shots, and Presto appears in two of them. Intentional, or incidental?

 

[mdrejhon]

Nosecones are cool.

They look bullety cool.

Like Florida's Brightline.

No matter what speed you run them at -- as long we can get good reliable track corridor along our Corridor -- frequent service -- and faster than a drive.

I'll take any good comfortable 177kph ride, even if the loco looks ugly.

But nosecones are cool.

 

[kEiThZ]

Our rail service reputation is so poor with the general public that I'd argue there's a business case for paying for better looking trains just to glam it up a little.