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I'm surprised that Garneau mentioned électrification; did the Siemens order contain options for exchanging some chargers with electric units? If not, VIA might be able to exchange some for EXO's bimodes that are now exclusively used under diesel power.

From my understanding, single car DMUs were intended primarily to maintain service on secondary lines that no longer warranted larger trains. Given that VIA no longer operates any such minor lines other than a few rural services, I do not see why RDCs are necessary; it's not like VIA is going to...

Are there any routes where VIA currently operates that would be better severed by single cars? I suppose they could be deployed on the Montreal-Senneterre and Montreal-Jonquière lines?

I agree, given that VIA is already purchasing Challenger trainsets to standardize the corridor operations, I really do not see why they would purchase a separate DMU fleet and undo the efficiencies that come from standardization. Short 1 or 2 car DMUs have been used for some of my most...

Ohhh! That makes sense! Still, I am not convinced that DMUs make sense in addition to VIA's new relatively short loco hauled Siemens trains. I think that there were some 3 car consists that were shown somewhere in this forum.

I don't know if I am missing something, but I do not see why there is a large focus on RDCs. While I have not rode on them, they appear to be antiquated in comparison with modern DMUs given that they are now almost 70 years old. If VIA chooses to acquire a small number of relatively cheap DMUs...

Do you know what equipment is used for those trips? Does go have anything other than the bombardier bilevels? It seems like their standard bilevel trains would provide far more capacity than is needed while also falling short on comfort and luggage storage.

While there have been occasions when I would have used such a train, it seems like it would be an extremely niche market wit sub 5h travel times the HFR route. But I would certainly have preferred it over taking a 6am flight to save on the cost of staying an extra night before a conference.

Just noticed a typo in my original response. I meant to say that the design would be awesome but I don't think that it would be easy to construct and underground station for the current diesel locomotive hauled sets of ten bilevel coaches. A station would be really nice but it runs into the same...

Do you know if they will have the same design as the new CalTrans units minus the spoiler and with cab cars? https://railpictures.net/photo/743752/

Honestly looks really nice. Only big operation issue would be using the current trains at an underground Plateau station.

This would certainly be an endgame fix for the regional rail network if combined with the doubling of the CN line from Anhuntsic to Terrebonne. The designs that I envisioned had included a new direct double track line from Gare Centrale to Gare Parc running parallel to the existing tunnel until...

It's even worse now. Barriers for a taxi stand have been installed such that they completely block the sidewalk between the metro/lrt station and the via terminal. I had to walk along the roadway to make it to the Tremblay station when I returned from Montreal last week. The lack of any station...

Thanks for pointing this out. I had thought that I read an old VIA HFR document that indicated a target of 1:10. I cannot find it after a quick search so I must have either recalled information incorrectly. Furthermore, the amount of early arrivals I've experienced on that segment suggests that...

Does anybody have any idea what improvements are supposed to be made to bring Ottawa-Montreal to the projected times? The current travel time between Ottawa and Coteau over VIA-owned tracks is already close to that and there seems to be no plans to construct any new lines within Montreal...

I fully agree that ease of purchasing last minute tickets would improve ridership among the last minute crowd. This seems like it would be especially important because of the likely low fraction of pre-planned holidays versus business and weekend leisure/family visit trips.

While six trains per day per direction is certainly approaching an ideal frequency for a 5 hour journey, it remains far less than ideal for a 2 hour journey such as Ottawa-Montreal. I fully agree that speed improvements are likely vital to increasing the popularity of the train over journeys...

Do you know how much of the planning/design discussion that is being talked about here is being done by VIA vs by their contractors? I suppose it's pretty much all handled by Arup/AECOM and therefore has only been ongoing for about a year, right? Would their deliverables be an entire set of...

Would there need to any special construction to enable trains to bypass Ottawa via the existing CP mainline? The proposed HFR route map shows the VIA Rail line intersecting the CP mainline at Smith Falls before deviating to the north to reach Ottawa and then rejoining the CP line to the north of...

Building on the questions about the capacity of the CN tracks into downtown Montreal, do any of you know if this is the reason for the nearly four hour gap in the regularly scheduled departures from Ottawa to Montreal between 06:30 and 10:17? Trains depart Ottawa for Montreal nearly bihourly for...