EnviroTO
Senior Member
The EA for GO Transit to K-W is almost done and the one for Milton hasn't even started.
I wouldn't personally be surprised. Due mainly to the fact GO owns the rail corridor in question.
This is definitely the coolest thing about European trains that North American trains lack. In terms of those other points, VIA really takes away a bit of the freedom that one's supposed to have while on rails. I would love to see Canada get back on the rails, something like RR's Rail Ontario thing he posted a while back. I think that High Speed Rail in a dense corridor is the most logical place to start.- you can disembark at a station along the way, as long as it is en route and doesn't exceed the trip length you paid for. For example, if I was traveling between Toronto and Montreal, I could get off at Kingston and wander around that city for a few hours and then catch a later train to Montreal without paying for two tickets.
Basically, passenger rail in Canada is like flying, only you trade more legroom and the lack of a security check for a much longer travel time and less flexible schedules. If VIA ever wants to be competitive with air travel - especially given the rise of niche operators like Porter - it not only has to improve its speed and reliability but it has to completely rethink the way customers are treated.
- you have to line up to gain access to the train. Five or ten minutes before departure, they open the doors and you go to a car that is designated for your destination. You then search for a seat in that car only while others are frantically doing the same.
It should be noted though, that this is largely practiced only at terminus stations (union, Ottawa, Montreal). If you use the suburban stations (Guildwood, Fallowfield, Oshawa, Dorval) this problem is not there. This practice drives me nuts. That's why I always travel from Guildwood whenever I can.
As for the seat numbering thing they only do it for some of the trains. I don't understand what the reasoning is. They can obviously run without it because they do for many of their runs (all the end of the day ones for example).
Basically, passenger rail in Canada is like flying, only you trade more legroom and the lack of a security check for a much longer travel time and less flexible schedules. If VIA ever wants to be competitive with air travel - especially given the rise of niche operators like Porter - it not only has to improve its speed and reliability but it has to completely rethink the way customers are treated.
I wonder how it would be like if we privatized the entire system. Would a private operator do a better job? In Japan the railroads are privatized.
Taking another page out of other countries, in some places, it's frequent that track time is subcontracted out to various companies so multiple types of trains might run on the same track. Would it even be possible to do this for us? Wouldn't be cool if say a porter-like company rented out the right of way for a train here and there but with good service.
Canadians by and large can't imagine European style spartan rail systems. They generally think of trains as mini airplanes. I am skeptical that most Canadians would willing trade in VIA's service today for a less comfortable European style service if it meant saving just a few bucks.
I wouldn't misconstrue giving people free reign to move in and out of the train as a "Spartan" or "less comfortable" system. On the contrary, that is precisely what makes train travel in Europe attractive. Right now, VIA treats its customers like they are elementary school children on a field trip.
Ah yes! Good example - that's kind of an oddball one isn't it. That land was all reserved for the GO-ALRT, so when GO-ALRT was cancelled, GO just went ahead with regular rail instead ... but your right, it's strictly passenger.... or between Pickering and Oshawa for GO Transit.
I'd have thought there was no way that Niagara Falls would get express GO trains before Milton ... but they have.Yeah there's no way Kitchener will be getting express GO trains before Milton LOL.
Europe:
- train sits on platform with open doors, you walk onto train yourself and find a seat
- you are free to walk up and down the length of the train and sit anywhere as long as the seat is in the same class and is not reserved. Meals can be bought at a dining car, subcontracted to a private catering operator.
- only one or two conductors are on board a train, walking up and down the length and they generally don't care if you are not in your seat
- you can disembark at a station along the way, as long as it is en route and doesn't exceed the trip length you paid for. For example, if I was traveling between Toronto and Montreal, I could get off at Kingston and wander around that city for a few hours and then catch a later train to Montreal without paying for two tickets.
Canada:
- you have to line up to gain access to the train. Five or ten minutes before departure, they open the doors and you go to a car that is designated for your destination. You then search for a seat in that car only while others are frantically doing the same.
- you are confined to your car for the duration of the trip. Meals can only be purchased by a VIA conductor who pushes a cart through the aisles according to his/her schedule.
- There is a conductor for more or less every car. Their job is similar to the cabin crew of an airline: they serve food, collect tickets and make announcements.
- Your ticket is only valid for your final destination city. Even if you wanted to get out and forfeit your ticket, you couldn't because the conductor will only open the door at its designated stop.
I dunno. I took a train from Munich to Oberammergau (about 2 hrs away) in Bavaria and even the first class didn't really compare to VIA's Economy service let alone VIA 1. All I got was slightly less leg room than VIA, no food or even an offer of food by an onboard vendor and a seat that was about as comfortable as a regular VIA seat. And that was first class.
Wow ... I guess it HAS been a while since I took VIA; when did they finally go to reserved seating? They've had the seat labels up their on some of the trains since the 1970s, but I didn't think they'd ever go for it. I guess they got rid of the free food then too?
To be fair, part of the reason the ticket in Europe is good for several stations, is that the stations are a lot closer together on many services - there's more of a spectrum between GO-type service and VIA-type service; and for the many, many years I took VIA regularily, there was never any issue if your ticket said Guildwood and you got of at Union, or it said Montreal, and you boarded at Dorval. So that's the same here, really. And really there isn't the density of trains here, that you would ever simply have a ticket from A to B, and take whatever trains get you there (though GO can work that way).
In addition, though I certainly think VIA could improve, VIA never allow more people onto a train than there are seats. In Europe there is usually no such rule (except on the more expensive "seat rerservation essential' trains) and I have stood for several hours on several trips there.