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VIA Rail

Urban Sky said:
The plan involves a preclearance facility in Windsor, where passengers would clear customs and immigration while switching trains. The experience would resemble that on Amtrak’s Cascades, not the Maple Leaf (which is a lot worse than the Adirondack)…
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Cascades is a bit different, no? There are no intermediate stops between the US border and Vancouver, just as the St Lambert stop will be deleted from Adirondack if one day the clearance facility ever opens at Montreal Central.

My suggestion is that if Amtrak absolutely insist on running their equipment to Toronto, that they do so over as an Amtrak crewed non-stop from Windsor, routed over CP from Chatham to Toronto Union via a curve at the diamond west of Chatham itself, and anyone who needs to stop anywhere else are booked on a separate VIA service over the current route. (Edit to add further specificity - my notion would be that Windsor-Toronto only or Toronto-Windsor would not be a valid ticketing option on the Amtrak service)
 
dowlingm said:
Cascades is a bit different, no? There are no intermediate stops between the US border and Vancouver, just as the St Lambert stop will be deleted from Adirondack if one day the clearance facility ever opens at Montreal Central.

My suggestion is that if Amtrak absolutely insist on running their equipment to Toronto, that they do so over as an Amtrak crewed non-stop from Windsor, routed over CP from Chatham to Toronto Union via a curve at the diamond west of Chatham itself, and anyone who needs to stop anywhere else are booked on a separate VIA service over the current route. (Edit to add further specificity - my notion would be that Windsor-Toronto only or Toronto-Windsor would not be a valid ticketing option on the Amtrak service)
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To the best of my knowledge, there is no intention to create a direct Toronto-Chicago train, just to run a Chicago-Detroit-Windsor train, which would connect with a VIA train…
 
Urban Sky said:
To the best of my knowledge, there is no intention to create a direct Toronto-Chicago train, just to run a Chicago-Detroit-Windsor train, which would connect with a VIA train…
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The little train overlapping Kitchener has a label "Chicago-Detroit-Toronto". Now that can be delivered in different ways, but...
https://www.amtrakconnectsus.com/maps/

1721060807865.png
 
dowlingm said:
Cascades is a bit different, no? There are no intermediate stops between the US border and Vancouver, just as the St Lambert stop will be deleted from Adirondack if one day the clearance facility ever opens at Montreal Central.

My suggestion is that if Amtrak absolutely insist on running their equipment to Toronto, that they do so over as an Amtrak crewed non-stop from Windsor, routed over CP from Chatham to Toronto Union via a curve at the diamond west of Chatham itself, and anyone who needs to stop anywhere else are booked on a separate VIA service over the current route. (Edit to add further specificity - my notion would be that Windsor-Toronto only or Toronto-Windsor would not be a valid ticketing option on the Amtrak service)
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Could they instead have only pick ups one way and one side and drop offs the other side? For example Chicago-> Toronto, train only picks up on the USA side and only drops off on the Canada side. For Toronto -> Chicago, it only picks up on the Canada side and only drops off on the USA side? Then have all stops have some sort of way of preclearance?
 
dowlingm said:
The little train overlapping Kitchener has a label "Chicago-Detroit-Toronto". Now that can be delivered in different ways, but...
https://www.amtrakconnectsus.com/maps/

View attachment 580598
Click to expand...
There may be the ambition to eventually provide Chicago-Detroit-Toronto through services, but all of the plans I am aware of and which acknowledge the sensitivies of the relevant border protection agencies assume a cross-border facility in either Detroit or Windsor…
 
Urban Sky said:
There may be the ambition to eventually provide Chicago-Detroit-Toronto through services, but all of the plans I am aware of and which acknowledge the sensitivies of the relevant border protection agencies assume a cross-border facility in either Detroit or Windsor…
Click to expand...
The thing about that article though is that it isn't just the border itself, but the crew changes to permit through service on Amtrak equipment as a VIA operated internal service, and the impacts on/changes to services provided.
 
dowlingm said:
The thing about that article though is that it isn't just the border itself, but the crew changes to permit through service on Amtrak equipment as a VIA operated internal service, and the impacts on/changes to services provided.
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Not sure I follow, are we still talking about that rant/blogpost from Jake Langan you posted?
 
Admiral Beez said:
Does the VIA Rail run from Kamloops to Vancouver truly take 13 hours? By car it's only 3 hr 54 min (354 km).
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I don't think any part of the LDS routes are faster by train than car. Part of that is the padding to keep it on time, and part of is is the need to side it due to freight movements. You would think that isn't a problem as it is directional running in that section.
 
Admiral Beez said:
Does the VIA Rail run from Kamloops to Vancouver truly take 13 hours? By car it's only 3 hr 54 min (354 km).
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The eastbound trip does not take that long though it's still much longer than driving. I believe the train arrives in Vancouver quite early in the morning and waits until a "normal" wake up time, since this is a sleeper train VIA does not want to force passengers to wake up and detrain at 3 or 4 in the morning. I'm not sure if it arrives in Vancouver in advance of the "official" arrival and you can exit early if you wish, or if it just sits in a yard or siding. This also allows the train to end its run "on time" even if it's several hours delayed.
 
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Admiral Beez said:
Does the VIA Rail run from Kamloops to Vancouver truly take 13 hours? By car it's only 3 hr 54 min (354 km).
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I've taken the Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver twice. Part of that is likely because the train is in Jasper in the afternoon one day, and then need to arrive in Vancouver in the morning. So either they arrive super early in the morning, or they go through the Rockies overnight. (This is opinion/conjecture)
 
Looking at the other end of the country. How does VIA from Toronto to Halifax compare to driving? My kid is thinking of taking their graduate studies at Dalhousie and after years living in Fredericton I don’t relish the drive.
 
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