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VIA Rail: New Funding

New Tunnels

Not sure about any other stations, but with this money, Belleville is getting tunnels and a 4th track.
 
The statements may be over the top ("a reshaping of the Canadian railway map"???). But the extra funding for VIA should be welcome for sure. Anything is better than the 90s. And its notable that a Conservative government that would otherwise be reluctant to spend on any sort of mass transit and the like, finds enough value in VIA that they are willing to help dramatically improve its capital base. It's not expansion but it's a good start.

At least these investments will finally make VIA competitive with a car or a bus in the corridor....again. It's been like decades since that was true.
 
kEiThZ said:
The statements may be over the top ("a reshaping of the Canadian railway map"???). But the extra funding for VIA should be welcome for sure. Anything is better than the 90s. And its notable that a Conservative government that would otherwise be reluctant to spend on any sort of mass transit and the like, finds enough value in VIA that they are willing to help dramatically improve its capital base. It's not expansion but it's a good start.

At least these investments will finally make VIA competitive with a car or a bus in the corridor....again. It's been like decades since that was true.
Click to expand...


I think it is welcome but no more so than when they first announced this....I think it is (for me anyway) being treated like an idiot (as if re-announcing things makes them new again) that angers me. One thing I will say, re-announcing is the most non-partisan thing in politics.....all parties seem to like to do it!!
 
^Agreed. And, to add, reannouncing funding is the political version of crying wolf. I won't believe anything is happening until I actually see shovels in the ground.
 
Via would almost be bearable if the trains could just travel at their top speed all the way between major cities, even at the current max speed of about 160 km/hr. What kills travel time today is too many station stops, old tracks, and waiting for freight trains to pass. This funding announcement should solve at least some of those issues.
 
Chuck said:
Via would almost be bearable if the trains could just travel at their top speed all the way between major cities, even at the current max speed of about 160 km/hr. What kills travel time today is too many station stops, old tracks, and waiting for freight trains to pass. This funding announcement should solve at least some of those issues.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Some of VIA's practices are ridiculous. For example, the joint Ottawa-Montreal run on Sunday nights is one example. I don't see why they can't run two trains an hour apart and speed up each one by having them service different stops. That milk run is horrendous.

At 160 Kph, it would take less than 3 hrs from Union to Ottawa and about 3.5 hrs from Union to Montreal. What VIA needs to provide are express trains with a maximum of two or three stops (ie. Kingston...and maybe suburban stops like Guildwood, Oshawa, Fallowfield or Dorval). That would dramatically improve the popularity of VIA. If VIA can get Union-Ottawa under 4 hours, and Union-Montreal under 5 hours for all regular services and 3.5 hrs and 4.0 hrs for express services respectively, VIA will finally be competitive with the bus and the car (and maybe even the plane for some travelers). If they can keep the prices down while doing that, well, that would only help them further (the price of a train ticket is my other gripe about VIA....it's all subsidizing those useless tourist trains outside the Corridor).
 
I don't have as much issue with VIA's fares although they seem high compared with GO but considering GO gets a 20% operational subsidy and VIA's subsidizes remote and cross-Canada services I guess there should be no surprise about the discrepancy.

The things I would fix at VIA are:
- upgrading all sections of the corridor which aren't 90mph yet
- partner with ONR so that the Northlander is operated by VIA
- better differentiate VIA 1 from economy.

The worst sections of track are around Guelph and Niagara. At least the Ottawa-Montreal-Toronto triangle is competitive with the car for speed. Perhaps VIA will get lucky and GO's improvements will end up making VIA's service more reasonable on those lines although more likely the Niagara run would end up limited only to the Amtrak Maple Leaf service and while VIA might still go to K-W after GO starts running there it might be more frequented with Windsor and London bound passengers than locals if the line speeds are good.

It makes no sense to me that a Renaissance car has 3 seats across in both economy and VIA 1 and the LRC and steel cars have four seats across in both economy and VIA 1. The Renaissance cars are just weird to me... the step up into your seat, the useless overhead bin, and the angled floor space under the seat. The Renaissance cars look great from the outside but I prefer the other cars for interior efficiency. In Japan they have wide cars with 5 seats across in economy and 4 in green (first), but with these new Renaissance cars only 3 across in economy?? Panorama Lounges are a joke as well... I know a government corporation probably would get critisized for spending money on the Panorama Lounge but it they are going to have one they need to get serious. It makes sense to have a nice reclining seat in business class when the train takes longer than the plane... why is business class so similar to economy??

Probably if they separated corridor services into a separately run crown corporation things would be better, not just operationally but optically as well. The government could be seen to be funding the two in equal amounts and that would appease the west and east coast but the money would go further in the corridor.
 
perfect exemple on how to waste 300M$.

We need HSR...

300M for saving 30 minutes...at the same price...:confused::confused::confused:


Only in Canada my friends...

Even the Americans finally stopped being in denial on this.

Quebec will tech the federal government a lesson. Quebec Premier said if the US wants a HSR from NY to Montreal, they wont care for the federal government, they will built HSR from Montreal to the boarder with or without the Feds.

Only in canada...

We do have amateur politicians...mediocre at best...

bailling out a sinking ship like GM instead...

I feel insulted as a tax payer
 
kEiThZ said:
What tunnels? All I heard about was the 4th track.
Click to expand...

Belleville, Cobourg and Brockville are supposed to get tunnels (similar to what exists at Kingston). This will eliminate slow running by these stations, which have a narrow second platform, but no trains can use the track between them. Oshawa might get tunnels as well as part of GO's eastern expansion.
 
While GO will have a market in K-W (mostly students), there will still be a lot of people who would much prefer VIA. The GO service will take at least two hours, and that's simply unreasonably long for most riders.
 
Who generally rides VIA; commuters or travellers, such as salespeople and tourists? I know that GO is mostly commuters.
 
I'd say there's still huge bottlenecks on the T-O-M routes that need to be fixed. My personal pet peeve is Brockville-Ottawa (passing track only at Smith's Falls). Is there anyone here that hasn't waited on a VIA train at Smith's Falls? The longest I've waited for a train to pass is an hour. They need to double track that route or at least add a few passing tracks further south. And there's plenty of room to do it. It's not like the corridor is being squeezed by development.
 
unimaginative2 said:
While GO will have a market in K-W (mostly students), there will still be a lot of people who would much prefer VIA. The GO service will take at least two hours, and that's simply unreasonably long for most riders.
Click to expand...

I don't believe that'll be the case. The fares will make all the difference. People will ride GO for 2 hours. Heck, there's a lot of inter-city trains in Europe at near similar comfort levels. And people ride those for 2 hours or more.
 
Ansem said:
perfect exemple on how to waste 300M$.

We need HSR...

300M for saving 30 minutes...at the same price...:confused::confused::confused:
Click to expand...

Woah...slow down there. This is absolutely not a waste of money. 300 million to save 30 minutes is incredible value actually. It'd be a drop in the bucket for HSR (around 1%) but its impact on VIA's service today will be significant. 30 minutes ain't small potatoes. For example that's 10% of a Toronto-Ottawa trip. This will help make rail a more feasible option for more travelers. Moreover, we'll still need slow rail even when HSR is built (which generally is aimed at replacing airplanes). This is a worthwhile investment and one that will make rail travel more competitive and accessible for many....which only helps build support for HSR down the road.
 
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