VIA Rail

[crs1026]

^ Quite true. The key is to not have headlines reading “Laid-off airline workers abandoned by pro-VIA government”.

I would expect the feds will announce a funding narrative outlining a path to airlines’ “recovery”.... not to guarantee that it ever goes back as it was, but enough to hope that the jobs start to come back, especially for international and long distance domestic routes.

HFR will take a few years to construct, and T-O-M air travel may lag post-Covid. It will be a new ball game.

- Paul

 

[roger1818]

^ Quite true. The key is to not have headlines reading “Laid-off airline workers abandoned by pro-VIA government”.

If it is worded as a transportation industry stimulus package with money for both the airlines and VIA, they can't really make that argument.

 

[nfitz]

You mean more than 42 meters below street level (i.e. underneath the tunnel of the Autoroute Ville-Marie)?

Uh no. Ville Marie is way south of de la Gauchetierre. I'd put the VIA tunnel both north of Ville Marie and the Orange Line, under the street. This plan has been floating around for decades ... isn't there an old report that Canadian Pacific's consulting arm (CPCS )did for VIA about it in the early 1980s or late 1970s? It was certainly discussed if not reported.

Ville Marie is south of both the Orange Line and Viger, and at the CN tracks/Place Bonavenutre it's under or south of St-Antoine! At Peel it's underneath St-Jacques.

 

[roger1818]

Uh no. Ville Marie is way south of de la Gauchetierre. I'd put the VIA tunnel both north of Ville Marie and the Orange Line, under the street. This plan has been floating around for decades ... isn't there an old report that Canadian Pacific's consulting arm (CPCS )did for VIA about it in the early 1980s or late 1970s? It was certainly discussed if not reported.

Ville Marie is south of both the Orange Line and Viger, and at the CN tracks/Place Bonavenutre it's under or south of St-Antoine! At Peel it's underneath St-Jacques.

It would have to be under the underground city, but I guess it could be at at a similar depth to the Orange Line. The question is how would you get to the tunnel (presumably from the Westmount Sub) and how much would it cost? Gare Lucien-L'Allier is probably good enough for EXO, so they likely wouldn't be keen on helping to fund it, though they might use it if it was built.

 

[nfitz]

It would have to be under the underground city, but I guess it could be at at a similar depth to the Orange Line.

There's very little underground city literally underground the street itself. But yes, would have to be some changes.[/quote]

The question is how would you get to the tunnel (presumably from the Westmount Sub) and how much would it cost?

That was the easy part - at least before they build the new Forum. The idea was that you'd be under the road, and Place du Canada and tunnel under the existing Windsor station and existing platforms, with a portal near Lucien L'allier.

The tough part would be to the east ... now that they've cancelled the plans to extend the Ville Marie all the way to Souligny, perhaps they can put a couple of tracks in the existing shallow Ville Marie tunnel east of Square-Victoria somewhere.

Though with elevated rail being all the rage, maybe just elevate it all the way along Notre Dame

 

[roger1818]

That was the easy part - at least before they build the new Forum. The idea was that you'd be under the road, and Place du Canada and tunnel under the existing Windsor station and existing platforms, with a portal near Lucien L'allier.

The problem is, you can't just wave a magic wand and pretend the Bell Centre was never built. Building under it likely won't be so easy and so now you need to get around it, unless you are planning on waiting for the Bell Centre to be replaced.

 

[Urban Sky]

The problem is, you can't just wave a magic wand and pretend the Bell Centre was never built. Building under it likely won't be so easy and so now you need to get around it, unless you are planning on waiting for the Bell Centre to be replaced.

The whole discussion about building a second station anywhere in downtown Montreal is a fantasy discussion at this point, as there is neither the need nor the political will to fund and build such a station within any foreseeable timeframe...

 

[KevinT]

Every time you push a VIA fantasy to a new thread in order to keep this one's growth in check, a new one rears its ugly head. :-(

 

[2transpo]

Every time you push a VIA fantasy to a new thread in order to keep this one's growth in check, a new one rears its ugly head. :-(

I wonder if it might be wise to put HFR in its own thread. It doesn't really seem to be more than a fantasy.

 

[Urban Sky]

Every time you push a VIA fantasy to a new thread in order to keep this one's growth in check, a new one rears its ugly head. :-(

At least this was a VIA fantasy and thus less off-topic than discussions about camping in the Algonquin Park, the effect of fast and frequent rail service on property prices and recent developments in battery technology. However, if I’m going to open another thread it would most probably be called “Fantasy rail discussions” and will hopefully be able to absorb most digressions of Micheal and others in this thread...

I wonder if it might be wise to put HFR in its own thread.

Okay, that would be the opposite approach: call it “VIA Rail: Corridor services and HFR” and keep this thread for all the unfocussed digressions. That was the only way on Skyscraper Page to get rid of the fore-mentioned spammer, as he thankfully doesn’t participate in threads I’ve created.


***


I don’t think this forum supports polls, but what do the people here think: outsource the boring discussions or spin-off the interesting ones?

 

[sacred]

At least this was a VIA fantasy and thus more on topic than discussions about camping in the Algonquin Park, the effect of fast and frequent rail service on property prices and recent developments in battery technology. However, if I’m going to open another thread it would definitely be be called “Fantasy rail discussions” and will hopefully be able to absorb most digressions of Micheal in this thread...


Okay, that would be the opposite approach: call it “VIA Rail: Corridor services and HFR” and keep this thread for all the unfocussed digressions. That was the only way on Skyscraper Page to get rid of the fore-mentioned spammer, as he thankfully doesn’t participate in threads I’ve created.


***


I don’t think this forum supports polls, but what do the people here think: outsource the boring discussions or spin-off the interesting ones?

Out source the boring stuff like hypothetical new stations. It’s ridiculous to say that HFR is a “fantasy” until it’s removed from VIA’s website. This thread should be for discussion of things VIA does, has the ability to do, or has mentioned doing, in my opinion.

 

[Allandale25]

^ In addition to being on VIA's website, it has also been covered by the media. Further, it was mentioned at a conference by the VIA CEO in November 2020. So I'm going to continue to post about VIA's HFR efforts here.

 

[lenaitch]

At least this was a VIA fantasy and thus more on topic than discussions about camping in the Algonquin Park, the effect of fast and frequent rail service on property prices and recent developments in battery technology. However, if I’m going to open another thread it would most probably be called “Fantasy rail discussions” and will hopefully be able to absorb most digressions of Micheal in this thread...


Okay, that would be the opposite approach: call it “VIA Rail: Corridor services and HFR” and keep this thread for all the unfocussed digressions. That was the only way on Skyscraper Page to get rid of the fore-mentioned spammer, as he thankfully doesn’t participate in threads I’ve created.


***


I don’t think this forum supports polls, but what do the people here think: outsource the boring discussions or spin-off the interesting ones?

But m-o-o-o-m, he started it.

Seriously fair point. It's easy to get caught up.

 

[crs1026]

^ I’m as guilty as anyone of digressing, and don’t set out to be annoying, but some of the recent desire for thread-splitting seems to be aimed at just stifling people who express (or don’t move on from) unpopular views that people are tired of rebutting. Splitting the thread seems like overkill when maybe sometimes we just have to agree to disagree. Or check out for a couple pages.

There are topics that can easily be discredited as Fantasy but that are more meaningful in the context of VIA than on their own. Calgary-Edmonton HFR is a good example - so far it’s only a fantasy, but a more realistic one than some, has been studied in some detail, and like the real-world variables that may drive or prevent an investment decision closely parallel HFR..

Is reequipping the long distance VIA fleet a fantasy discussion ?

If the discussion is limited to only things that are currently in VIA’s business plan or VIA’s active requests of government, that’s pretty narrow. Especially since government and public policy place such harsh limits on what VIA can attempt.

I value this forum because, compared to others on the interweb, it has way more insight into the breadth of actual real world considerations than many rail enthusiast discussions, where people just want to see stuff painted differently or just want someone to bring back the Cannonball. The breadth of discussion is a strength, sometimes it just goes awry.

- Paul

 

[micheal_can]

I look at this forum as 2 things. Via Rail and Toronto. If the discussion has to do with both of them, or will implicate both of them, then it should be fair game.

HFR, electrification and new rolling stock for the Corridor makes sense.

But, some want to forget that Union Station serves more than just the Corridor for Via. We also have the Maple Leaf and the Canadian. That means discussing new or replacement or additional rolling stock for the Canadian and potentially keeping the current 2 trains that do not go to Toronto, once the return of the Full Canadian is sort of in line with it too.

A train to Algonquin PP from Toronto? Sounds like a potential discussion to as the former Northlander service used to be Northland under Via.

HSR within the Corridor also is fair game. Comparing it to the HSR study in AB is a good discussion too.

The problem might be that some do not want to discuss anything outside of existing or planned stuff within Via Rail. Some of us want better out of Via Rail, while others would like to see it disappear outside the Corridor.