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General railway discussions

Like that's gonna happen

With the BC government recently returning sections of the ROW to the First Nations communities that it travels through, I agree that it almost definitely won't happen, but it doesn't change the fact that they were (past tense) being saved for that.

It will be interesting to see what VIA says about the route in the 2023 Corporate Plan. Until the federal government tells VIA to discontinue the route, they have to keep its status as suspended.
 
Screenshot_2023-10-25_211440.jpg
 
I guess this was prompted by the possibility of a new container port at SE of Mulgrave @ Middle Melford, NS.
CBC - Strait of Canso container terminal

There's another similar proposal beside Sydney, NS but this one has an active railway close-by, whereas Sydney would require a lot of work to get the Cape Breton railway back in operation.
Nova Porte rail link
 
Night Trains….. way back when I would use the overnight between Toronto and Montreal, which was pretty much Canada‘s last overnight train. It ended in the early 2000’s? The other existing and continuing trains would be classified as predominantly ‘tourist’ in purpose - so travelling the Ocean and the Canadian, while enjoyable, do not qualify. But Night Trains in Europe have been seeing a marked resurgence in growth (and quality), and I have been lucky enough to make use of a couple of the available routes. In Canada, I think we can only speak of the TOR/MTL/OTT triangle as a prospect route, a route that is well down the ‘track’, considering all that must come first before any hope of a viable product can operate.

For those interested the linked CNN Travel Article by Ben Jones is well worth the read.

The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes. Here’s how that’s going​


 
I’ ve been taking the GO into Exhibition this week for the RWF - as it’s much easier to drive down to Burlington GO and train in, then it is to wheel the pickup into the city - and much cheaper as well. But standing on the platform Friday, chatting with a group of seniors, we had two incidents of high speed trains zooming through the station - one VIA, one GO. No whistle, no horn, no automated warning over the p.a. I noted that the second time, as the train used the adjacent track, people were visibly startled and jumpy. As a safety precaution, with a mult-ton train going by at 100kmh?, why would there not be an audio warning of some sort prior to the trains passage through the station?
 
There should be, and the technology is out there. We are behind the curve in this country on this kind of thing.

- Paul
It exists here too, and GO already uses it to some degree.

I don't know why it wouldn't be working at Burlington at this time.

Dan
 
It would seem the acquisition of Bombardier's train division is proving to be a major headache for Alstom.

https://www.ft.com/content/bc874ab9-68b1-41c2-ad18-c0086b1dc43c
In 2021, Alstom hailed its acquisition of Canadian rival Bombardier’s train operations as a “unique moment” that would ensure the French company emerged a winner from a new golden age dawning on the global rail industry.

Less than three years later, the sound strategic logic of the €5.5bn deal has been overshadowed by a series of setbacks, the most recent of which has contributed to a cash crunch at the world’s second-largest train manufacturer.

Problematic contracts at Bombardier, together with a broader struggle to manage inventory and the production of its trains, forced Alstom early last month to slash its projections for free cash flow this year.
 

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