VIA Rail cuts services in Southern Ontario

[royalrivers]

http://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-...d-takes-action-to-better-meet-customer-demand

VIA Rail continues its modernization and takes action to better meet customer demand

Montréal, June 27, 2012 – VIA Rail Canada announced today, as part of its ongoing modernization, that it is taking action to better meet customer demand. VIA is introducing significant improvements to its operations, including to tracks, stations and trains, better interconnectivity with other carriers, enhanced customer experience and e-services. This next phase of VIA's modernization includes adjusting frequencies on specific routes to better reflect customer demand, while maintaining service on all current routes. This is necessary to allow VIA to focus resources on improving service and attracting more customers on routes where demand is strong and growing.

VIA President & CEO Marc Laliberté said these service adjustments will unfold from July to end of October and are part of VIA's many steps to modernize Canada's national passenger rail service. The travel market is evolving and service providers must keep up. Laliberté explained the changes that are unfolding are fostering the VIA of tomorrow, including services that match market demand, safe, efficient and reliable passenger rail transportation and value to customers and taxpayers.

"By the end of the year, we will complete work to expand track capacity between Montréal and Toronto, where demand for more rail service is high," Mr. Marc Laliberté said. "We will begin operating a completely refurbished fleet of modern, high-efficiency locomotives coast-to-coast. We will start introducing vastly improved passenger cars offering more accessibility for Canadians with disabilities. We will be opening new and renovated passenger stations at key points across our network, and offer e-services so that passengers can better connect in the transportation network and work while on board our trains. Adjusting our services to better align with customer demand is an important step of our modernization – making sure we offer the right level of service to meet customer needs today, and building capacity to serve more customers in markets where demand will grow in the future."

"Where the demand varies dramatically by season, we need to adjust frequencies in order to remain efficient," Mr. Laliberté added. "In growing markets, we are adding more frequencies to meet customer demand. In addition, mandatory services in regions where there are limited transportation alternatives will remain. We are not eliminating rail service on any routes where we operate today and we are maintaining the flexibility to adjust service levels in the future, as customer needs evolve."

As part of aligning services to customer demand, VIA is partnering with other passenger services, including those of other publicly-funded providers, to better harmonize schedules and to sell fares in an integrated way on VIA's website. These changes not only contribute to an interconnected national passenger transportation system, but it is also expected to further reduce costs and increase revenues for the corporation.

Over the past two years, VIA has been working to improve both its operations and financial performance and to increase service reliability. As a result, over that period, it has required $30 million less in government funding for operations (before pension costs). Relying on an extraordinary pool of dedicated talent, VIA intends to continue delivering significant improvements to passenger rail services, for its customers and taxpayers.

As a result of this announcement, VIA's unionized workforce is expected to be reduced by some 200 full-time positions, a decrease of about 9%. Over the last three years, VIA Rail's annual attrition rate has been, on average, 8%. Since 2009, VIA has reduced its management workforce by 15%.

About VIA Rail Canada
As Canada's national rail passenger service, VIA Rail Canada's (www.viarail.ca) mandate is to provide safe, efficient and cost-effective passenger transportation, in the country's two official languages. VIA operates intercity, transcontinental and regional trains linking 450 communities across its 12,500 kilometres route network. Winner of the 2011 RAC Safety Award, VIA transports over four million passengers annually. Find out more about the capital investment program at viarail.ca/transformingVIA.

Join the Evolution Blog at:
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Contacts
Mylène Bélanger
Senior Advisor, Media Relationss
514 871-6137 | 1 877 393-8787
Mylene_Belanger@viarail.ca

Maritime Region
Malcolm Andrews
Senior Advisor, Community Relations
514 946-4160
Malcolm_Andrews@viarail.ca





BACKGROUNDER
THE MODERNIZATION OF PASSENGER RAIL

Capital Investment: Modernizing Trains, Track and Stations

With funding from the Government of Canada, VIA is completing a $923 million investment in:

•Locomotives: improving efficiency, reliability, and environmental performance, and reducing maintenance costs.
•Passenger cars: Improving comfort, reliability, accessibility of passenger cars used in all parts of cross-Canada network.
•Track: increasing capacity in the Quebec-Windsor Corridor for faster, more frequent trains.
•Passenger facilities and stations: renovating and expanding existing stations, building new stations where needed, to improve comfort and service to customers.
VDetailed information on capital investment projects is available online at http://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail/capital-investment



Operational efficiency

To improve the efficiency of its operations, VIA has adopted a lean management focus – streamlining operations to increase productivity and customer value, and eliminate waste. At the same time, key investments in technology will improve service to the customer, including:

•New electronic ticketing services, with anywhere/anytime mobile phone access;
•Real-time, GPS enhanced train arrival and departure information;
•Integrated schedules and ticketing with other public transportation services;
•Improved operational efficiency through automation, including on-board services automation.
For more information on recent initiatives, see VIA's 2011 Annual Report at http://www.viarail.ca/about-via-rail/our-company/annual-report/2011-annual-report. VIA's latest quarterly reports are available at http://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail/our-company/quarterly-reports



Adjust services with market demand

Better integration and alignment with markets will allow VIA to focus energy and resources on delivering more value to more customers, in markets where demand is high and growing. VIA will reconfigure and monitor the performance of services:

•To better match passenger rail capacity on all routes with the demand for service on those routes;
•To partner with other passenger services by aligning our schedules and selling their fares on VIA's website; and;
•To make service adjustments that most effectively reduce costs and increase revenues.


NEW SCHEDULES
Transcontinental Trains

The Canadian: The Canadian currently provides three round trips per week, year round, between Toronto and Vancouver. Demand for this service is strong and growing during the summer months; VIA has invested more than $55 million to improve service along this route, and is upgrading equipment to meet customer needs.

Demand for this service during the off-peak season, however, is much lower, and has fallen steadily for the past 15 years. Three round trips per week during the off-peak season are no longer needed to meet demand. Beginning this November, The Canadian will offer two round trips per week during the off peak season.

The Ocean : The Ocean currently provides six round trips per week between Montréal and Halifax. VIA has invested more than $25 million to improve this service, and will continue to improve the value of this service to customers.

However, the current schedule, which has been essentially unchanged since 1990, no longer reflects current ridership or foreseeable market demand – ridership has dropped consistently for 15 years as other travel options (highways, air and bus services) have improved. Beginning this November, The Ocean will operate three round trips per week year round.

Quebec – Windsor Intercity Trains

The Montréal-Ottawa-Toronto triangle, where the demand for efficient intercity transportation is high and growing, is VIA's busiest market. In January 2012 VIA added new frequencies, including express services, between Montréal, Ottawa and Toronto. More frequencies will be added this year, and faster trains will reduce overall trip times.

The Southwestern Ontario market includes some of VIA's poorest-performing train services, where customer demand is very low. At the same time, new air services, and expanding commuter rail services in the Greater Toronto area, are further reducing the need for some weekday and weekend VIA services. Accordingly, VIA is reducing frequencies on some routes in Southwestern Ontario and will provide better integration with other public transportation services.

Montréal-Quebec City is a high demand market, and VIA hopes to add an additional frequency on this route later this year to meet the needs of customers.



Summary of Schedule Changes and e-Ticketing

What's happening in my region? When?
Why?

IN THE CORRIDOR

•Montréal-Ottawa: trains 630 & 631 are cancelled (Saturday only)

•London-Windsor: train 70 will originate at London on Sat and Sun; train 75 with terminate at London on Fri and Sat
•Aldershot-Toronto: train 740 is cancelled (daily except Saturday)
•London-Toronto: train 686 is cancelled (Friday only)
•Toronto-Niagara Falls: train 92 is cancelled on Sat and Sun; train 95 is cancelled on Fri and Sat
•The London-Sarnia segments of trains 85 and 88 are cancelled
July 29, 2012


•Frequencies or segments being eliminated are the poorest performers in terms of ridership and revenues (except for mandatory services).
•New frequencies are being added where demand for intercity service is strong or growing.
•VIA’s operating and cost structure is designed for intercity service, not commuter service.
•By eliminating services that duplicate those offered by commuter operators, VIA can focus on its core mandate: intercity service.
•In Southwestern Ontario, the ridership from cancelled trains can be absorbed by GO Transit services.
•We are working with other service providers like GO Transit and AMT to create seamless intermodal connections.
•Aligning VIA’s service offering with those of other publicly-funded service providers represents a more efficient and effective use of taxpayers’ money.

•Toronto-Niagara Falls: train 90 is cancelled; train 95 remaining frequencies (Sun-Thurs) are cancelled

•Toronto-Kitchener-London: trains 89 and 86 are cancelled
End of October 2012

•New round-trip express train between Ottawa and Toronto
•Additional services in the Quebec-Montréal-Ottawa-Toronto corridor
End of 2012

To be determined
IN THE EAST

•The Ocean will be reduced from 6 to 3 round trips per week, year round.
•The Montréal-Gaspé service will remain at 3 round trips per week; the schedule will be adjusted to coincide with the new Ocean schedule.
End of October 2012
•Ocean ridership has dropped by 50% over the past 15 years, despite improvements to the quality of the service.
•Other transportation options have evolved in this region; better highways and air service are changing this market.
•The reduced frequency of the Ocean reflects current ridership levels, and will allow for better use of VIA’s rolling stock.
•We remain committed to the eastern transcon, and are investing in equipment and stations for that reason.


What's happening in my region? When?
Why?

IN THE WEST

•The Canadian will be reduced from 3 to 2 round trips per week in the off-peak (October to April). Service will return to 3 round trips per week in the peak season.
•No change to mandatory services between Montréal-Senneterre, Montréal- Jonquière, Sudbury-White River, Winnipeg-Churchill, or Jasper-Prince Rupert
End of October 2012
•Demand for the Canadian is highly seasonal. Demand drops sharply in the off-peak, and has been declining steadily over the past 15 years. Demand during the peak season is still strong and growing.
•Customers on the Canadian buy a product, not necessarily a schedule. The travel experience matters more than the frequency of departures.
•We remain committed to the western transcon, and are investing in equipment and stations for that reason.

FROM COAST-TO-COAST

•E-ticketing will be tested first on the Montréal-Quebec City service, and then rolled-out across the network.

July (pilot)
Aug (Corridor)
Nov (Longhaul)
•The travelling public has come to expect e-ticketing; it will simplify and enhance the customer’s experience, and modernize VIA’s image.

 

[nfitz]

Well it's good to hear from Via that GO will be able to accommodate the passengers from the cancelled London to Sarnia trains, as well as the year-round service to Niagara Falls, and the late night train from Toronto to Kitchener.

These services all mostly to be to areas that went Tory in the last election. I guess you get what you deserve ...

 

[reaperexpress]

I've always thought it was dumb to have three nearly-identical services between Niagara Falls and Toronto (VIA, GO and Amtrak), so I'm not to upset to see VIA go.

But with VIA leaving regional rail service to GO, maybe GO should start looking into some new rolling stock more suitable for regional rail than their massive diesel trains.

On the other hand, I'm disappointed to see the other cuts.
Southwestern Ontario is the perfect area for intensive rail services, akin to the Randstad region or the Rhine-Ruhr region. The reason VIA is so unpopular is that it's slow, expensive and infrequent.

With a bit of investment to increase rail speeds (especially on the Toronto-Kitchener-London and London-Sarnia lines), we could get into the positive feed back loop of increased ridership and increased service.

 

[k10ery]

This was predictable. If GO is going to compete with Via and offer the same service at half the fare, then Via has no choice but exit the market.

 

[ShonTron]

Well it's good to hear from Via that GO will be able to accommodate the passengers from the cancelled London to Sarnia trains, as well as the year-round service to Niagara Falls, and the late night train from Toronto to Kitchener.

Ha!

I don't think that Sarnia-London Greyhound service amounts to much, and is far from GO's reach. This is yet another blow to Southwestern Ontario.

I've always thought it was dumb to have three nearly-identical services between Niagara Falls and Toronto (VIA, GO and Amtrak), so I'm not to upset to see VIA go.

The daily Amtrak train operates as a VIA train between Niagara Falls and Toronto, it is not a duplication.

 

[MisterF]

So the Ocean won't even run daily, which makes it pretty much useless.

Southwestern Ontario is the perfect area for intensive rail services, akin to the Randstad region or the Rhine-Ruhr region. The reason VIA is so unpopular is that it's slow, expensive and infrequent.

Not to mention the fact that it's such a barebones network. You can't even take a train between Hamilton and Kitchener, the two biggest urban areas in the region. In any other country these two cities would be linked by trains every half an hour. That's the kind of frequency they have between Exeter and Plymouth, for example, and England isn't exactly known as a rail leader.

 

[allabootmatt]

Depressing, but hardly surprising. From a national perspective rail will always be marginal, and a federal government rooted in the west just doesnt care. For me, this is further evidence in the case for an Ontario/Quebec takeover of VIA. The subsidies are relatively small, and I'd much rather see the system run by governments with an incentive to run them well. We already seem to be slowly heading toward an Australian model of relatively developed regional rail networks centred around a couple major cities, with very weak intercity services. A truly 'regional' GO plus a reinvigorated Windsor-Quebec service would actually do a pretty good job serving the parts of the country for which rail makes sense.

 

[vegeta_skyline]

But with VIA leaving regional rail service to GO, maybe GO should start looking into some new rolling stock more suitable for regional rail than their massive diesel trains.

From what I understand this is in the long term plans for GO. For starters GO will be taking over VIA's TMC (Toronto Maintenance Center) within the next year and will also become a federally regulated railroad in the near future. It'll become pretty apparent to people what will happen after that.

You can't even take a train between Hamilton and Kitchener, the two biggest urban areas in the region. In any other country these two cities would be linked by trains every half an hour.

Unfortunately there is no direct rail line linking Hamilton and Kitchener to begin with. And one only needs to look south towards our far more populated neighbor to see another country where many such links don't exist either.

 

[Copper1212]

What's been interesting in Cobourg is they're currently spending millions to build a new train station while cutting service at the same time. What's worse is the station being replaced isn't half bad.

A lot of people here used Via to commute to downtown Toronto each day and are now having to find new ways of doing that. It's fine by me if that's not Via's focus but to build a new station here and cut back kind of irks me. Complete waste of what little resources they have.

 

[Hipster Duck]

Unfortunately there is no direct rail line linking Hamilton and Kitchener to begin with. And one only needs to look south towards our far more populated neighbor to see another country where many such links don't exist either.

I think we're just as bad as the US. They have major metropolises close by that are not connected by rail, such as the major Texas cities or the Ohio cities, but we also have places like Calgary and Edmonton, which are two cities of over a million about 280 km apart (with 100k in Red Deer halfway in between) with no rail service.

On the other hand, the more progressive parts of the US with a similar population setup as Southwestern Ontario generally have better intercity rail service. For example, if Kitchener or Saint Catharines was in California or on the Eastern Seaboard it would have pretty decent service. The Capitol corridor, Surfliner, Keystone, Hiawatha and Empire servicesare all more frequent than anything operated by Via in the corridor. We still have them beat on speed, but they are increasingly allowing 110 mph service outside of the NEC.

 

[MisterF]

Unfortunately there is no direct rail line linking Hamilton and Kitchener to begin with.

True enough. But if the government can build freeways from scratch (in northern Ontario no less) then they can build new rail lines just as easily. Or a combination of the two in a single project, since no freeway exists between the two cities either.

And one only needs to look south towards our far more populated neighbor to see another country where many such links don't exist either.

Ah yes, maybe I should have said in any other continent they'd be linked by rail. Although as Hipster Duck pointed out, parts of the States have superior rail service to anything here.

 

[royalrivers]

Rail between Guelph and Hamilton (and a highway too)

There is a rail between Guelph and Hamilton

Here is the take from GOKW.org: http://gokw.org/?p=579

VIA Rail cuts: Trains 85/88 cancelled London to Sarnia, 86/89 cancelled completely + more
By shost at 9:39 pm on Wednesday, June 27, 2012

So, how will you be affected by the cuts? Anyone switching to GO (not that you really have much of a choice!)

85/88 are cancelled between London and Sarnia, and poor Sarnia is left with only one train per day. What a joke.

Cancelling 86 makes sense in light of the GO trains, but leaves Stratford and St. Marys folks in the cold. This means, to me , that 87 will quickly be changed to avoid the GO trains and run at a different time.

89, running through the north mainline in the wee morning hours (arriving in London long after Midnight) was also a likely candidate for cancellation.

There are other cuts in the VIA system elsewhere, but they are unlikely to affect Guelph/Kitchener-Waterloo users.

If you want a summary, the Conservative Government cut $20 million from VIA’s operating budget, but VIA still has hundreds of millions (?) for improvements such as stations, track, signalling, etc, but they cannot use money from one budget to help the other… VIA not being a normal company, and highly politically driven, is stuck in this very odd predicament..

The Guelph sub CTC improvements are still on the table, apparently, but I’ll believe it when it happens..

What’s your take on the whole situation?

 

[vegeta_skyline]

There is a rail between Guelph and Hamilton

Like I said there is no direct like between Hamilton & Kitchener and technically the rail lines between Guelph and Hamilton are not directly connected either at this time.

But there's a few more relevant reasons why I didn't mention that specific link.
A) the northern part it runs on OSR's Goderich Subdivision. Which is just about the shittiest subdivision in terms of track condition that you'll find in all of Canada, I've seen it for myself. The entire line would have to be rebuilt. The line also goes under the viaduct which carriers GEXR's Guelph subdivision in Guelph a new junction would have to be built there, if possible. And there is no direct connect to the Hamilton subdivision at Guelph Jct. A new interlocking/diamond would have to be built, if CP would allow for one to cross the busy Gult sub, otherwise an expensive fly-over/under would have to be built.

Which brings me to B) the Southern part of that connection is CP's Hamilton sub. CP is notoriously difficult to negotiate with when it comes to track time. They'd probably want the line to be double tracked as it see's moderate use and is single track all the way to Hamilton. But really, it wouldn't even be worth it to invest any money here. The problem is the grade and curvature of the track. Unlike track conditions when it come to track geometry your basically stuck with what you got. The first 9 miles are restricted to 30mph and then you hit the hill, which descends down the Niagara escarpment in a series of tight curves. This is a 7 mile stretch of track where the maximum speed is only 15mph!
Basically it takes half an hour to go from Waterdown to Hamilton on the line.
Where as you can probably get there by car in 5 minutes.

Simply put, this line is not suitable for high speed passenger rail.
After all this line was built by CP as a connection to the US via Niagara Falls/Buffalo for their freight service, it was never intended to accommodate passenger trains.

So anyways, I wasn't trying to discreetly not mention that link by any means.
It'd probably be cheaper and quicker(by not having to deal with CP) to just build a new link between Hamilton & Kitchener. Problem is trains can't accommodate any where near the same grade that cars can. 2% seems to be the defacto maximum grade for new mainlines in Ontario (as seen on GO transits USRC flyunder, Hagerman, Sinder, West Toronto, Davenport, Weston and Strachan ave grade separation projects). Hence the Niagara escarpment poses some problems in terms of alinement for a future Hamilton to Kitchener rail connection. Certainly its not insurmountable, but it increases the associated costs. And like all things a detailed cost benefit analysis should be undertaken to determine the need and value of such a connection.

 

[timeo]

On the other hand, the more progressive parts of the US with a similar population setup as Southwestern Ontario generally have better intercity rail service. For example, if Kitchener or Saint Catharines was in California or on the Eastern Seaboard it would have pretty decent service. The Capitol corridor, Surfliner, Keystone, Hiawatha and Empire servicesare all more frequent than anything operated by Via in the corridor. We still have them beat on speed, but they are increasingly allowing 110 mph service outside of the NEC.

The Capitol Corridor and Surfliner are operated and funded by Amtrak California, which is a subdivision of Caltrans rather than the US Feds' Amtrak. Thus they can kind of do whatever they want re: funding and service. Kind of lends credence to the idea of Ontario and Quebec taking over VIA and operating services in Central Canada, though I don't see either premiers getting into fights to de-federalize VIA.

 

[royalrivers]

Oh I know all about the Hamilton to Guelph track not being perfect etc and all but at least it is there. it would be cheaper to fix then to build from scratch to Kitchener (not even sure what path it would take)