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VIA Rail

micheal_can said:
I am confused with this express train thing.
The timetable is the same. But the stations are cut out.

Are they going to run the shorter Siemens trains at the slow order speed, but not stop at the stations with the hopes that station stops would mean a time savings to match this? Cus, if they run the 32 axle stuff on the express, then they don't have the speed restrictions, and they don't need to worry about stopping for stations, which all should mean they would be faster than the timetable.

Alternatively, I was thinking they are doing this to showcase how many passengers would use Alto as a kind of proof of concept.

Either way,I look forward to seeing what this all means once the pilot is done.
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The timetables simply haven't been updated yet.
I already had a ticket booked for what is now an express trip, and when I look at the booking it has this warning:

1758372557134.png
 
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micheal_can said:
I am confused with this express train thing.
The timetable is the same. But the stations are cut out.

Are they going to run the shorter Siemens trains at the slow order speed, but not stop at the stations with the hopes that station stops would mean a time savings to match this? Cus, if they run the 32 axle stuff on the express, then they don't have the speed restrictions, and they don't need to worry about stopping for stations, which all should mean they would be faster than the timetable.
Click to expand...
For 50/60, they can run full speed to Brockville irrespective of equipment since they will exceed axle count in any config.

My guess is this is an attempt to under-promise and over-deliver. My other guess is that the collapse in full fare business travel has been catastrophic, given that VIA has the airlines as competitors for those sectors but only has bus competition for intermediate stops.

The question is what happens when they are 4-6 weeks in and have sufficient data to start projecting what the rest of the trial should deliver in arrival times. Do they shorten the published time in order to woo business travellers? Or do they add back a stop or two to retain some intermediate business travellers and get central Ontario MPs/MPPs off their case? And then, what happens when the three months is up? There will be something of a lull for the holidays but once the year turns over and trains are no longer full of people coming home/going back to college, VIA is going to need some way to assure travellers that this pilot was worth something.

Ordinarily I would assume that some intermediate services would be added to the schedule as infill but while equipment might be available, one of the biggest obstacles to doing so is Metrolinx and their LSE works progress. It would be hard to see them accede to any VIA requests for slots while their own commuters are screaming for but not getting express services.
 
Jonny5 said:
The timetables simply haven't been updated yet.
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They literally added columns to the timetables on the website to show the new versus old trips. So yes, they re updated. I don't know they get that kind of savings off the old published timetable, given the old ones were 30 to 40 minutes late! So now it will be 60 to 80 minutes quicker in reality? Pull the other one!!

Here's Montreal-Toronto - https://www.viarail.ca/en/plan/train-schedules/montreal-kingston-toronto

1758403248606.png
 
Mihairokov said:
So there's...no time savings?
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That's what I meant about not updating the timetables. They haven't formally committed to any schedule changes yet and are still advertising the previous travel times on the schedule with the travel warning.
As they said, it's an experiment to see what happens, and only if it works will they then formally change the arrival and departure times, but since they don't really know how well it will work they aren't changing those until they have completed the experiment.
 
Jonny5 said:
That's what I meant about not updating the timetables. They haven't formally committed to any schedule changes yet and are still advertising the previous travel times on the schedule with the travel warning.
As they said, it's an experiment to see what happens, and only if it works will they then formally change the arrival and departure times, but since they don't really know how well it will work they aren't changing those until they have completed the experiment.
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That actually makes sense. They would rather arrive early and have everyone impressed than change the timetable and have everyone still disappointed.
 
nfitz said:
Here's Montreal-Toronto - https://www.viarail.ca/en/plan/train-schedules/montreal-kingston-toronto

View attachment 682662
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Last westbound departure on a Saturday to Cornwall and Kingston will be barely after lunchtime (13:22). I can and will never understand this irrational obsession on these 5pm trains, even on the evening of the week where business travellers are the least likely to travel. Express trains might work during the week and Sunday evenings, but not on Saturday evening…
 
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Urban Sky said:
Last westbound departure on a Saturday to Cornwall and Kingston will be barely after lunchtime (13:22). I can and will never understand this irrational obsession on these 5pm trains, even on the evening of the week where business travellers are the least likely to travel. Express trains might work during the week and Sunday evenings, but not on Saturday evening…
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Welcome to my world of "why?" For years I have been asking why Via does or does not do something, and I always get shut down. This is what happens when we have a rail carrier who does not own the tracks and are beholden to a company that would rather not have them on their line. If CN really did want them, the timetables would be kept at all costs and when new equipment was being ordered CN would either modify their line, or ensure Via knew exactly what they needed to avoid slow orders. Instead,we have Via scrambling to figure out a solution.
 
dowlingm said:
My other guess is that the collapse in full fare business travel has been catastrophic, given that VIA has the airlines as competitors for those sectors but only has bus competition for intermediate stops.
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While most of my travel of late has been to and from Ottawa, from what I've seen of hanging around Union and Ottawa while waiting for my train is that there has been virtually no drop-off of business travel since the CN-instituted delays began. At least at the train times that I have been taking.

Dan
 
smallspy said:
While most of my travel of late has been to and from Ottawa, from what I've seen of hanging around Union and Ottawa while waiting for my train is that there has been virtually no drop-off of business travel since the CN-instituted delays began. At least at the train times that I have been taking.
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Quite true, for now...although this should be watched carefully going forward.

While demand may not have shrunk, the question ought to be - has the CN play harmed the growth in business that VIA was counting on by renewing its fleet.

VIA's objective is increased modal share - while the ship may not be sinking, if a business isn't growing, it's in a bit of trouble.

- Paul
 
micheal_can said:
If CN really did want them, the timetables would be kept at all costs and when new equipment was being ordered CN would either modify their line, or ensure Via knew exactly what they needed to avoid slow orders. Instead,we have Via scrambling to figure out a solution.
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But, but...how would CN "modify their line"? They themselves allowed Ventures to operate on that line for over a year before they introduced the crossing speed reductions.

There is, however, huge doubt about not only how aware CN was of what VIA was ordering and how it would interact with CN's S&C regime, but absolutely no doubt how unaware they were of what equipment VIA was operating on one of its busiest freight mains in the country! For over a year with apparently zero problems?
 
Trackside_Treasure said:
But, but...how would CN "modify their line"? They themselves allowed Ventures to operate on that line for over a year before they introduced the crossing speed reductions.

There is, however, huge doubt about not only how aware CN was of what VIA was ordering and how it would interact with CN's S&C regime, but absolutely no doubt how unaware they were of what equipment VIA was operating on one of its busiest freight mains in the country! For over a year with apparently zero problems?
Click to expand...
Far back in this thread there are ways to do it.It has something to do with the signalling that could be changed.
 
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