Allandale25
Senior Member
But it's it possible to extend the Wye? Do they have enough space? I've drawn a very rough sketch of what it could look like. I'm not a civil engineer so some of the curves I've drawn might not work.
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VIA Rail
- Thread starter ehlow
- Start date
But it's it possible to extend the Wye? Do they have enough space? I've drawn a very rough sketch of what it could look like. I'm not a civil engineer so some of the curves I've drawn might not work.
dowlingm
Senior Member
If you believe Irish Rail, yes*. If you believe everyone else, no. (It relies on a deeply flawed seat name display system and a lack of onboard staff to enforce disputes)
* not all services are assigned seats and not all seats on assigned services. Also, the longest continuous journey on Irish Rail is maybe 4 hours.
crs1026
Superstar
The wye at Mimico is way too short for the Canadian. If you look at Google, you'll see how much property would be needed to extend it. It's a nonstarter....although, if GO buys the Canpa Sub as rumoured, a wye at Obico might become possible one day. Very long shot.
Riding backwards (yes, with reserved seats) is absolutely common everywhere else but North America. Some rail systems let you choose your exact seats online, so people can suit themselves. (Digression - one of my pet peeves with Railpasses is that one can't always do this from Canada with a pass, you have to be buying a ticket, or you have to wait til you get to your destination country).
Once you get over this fact, it actually is quite acceptable, especially if you are travelling with one or more companions and can find facing seats. For that matter, I have had some of the best conversations of my life with people I ended up facing on trains. On our last trip to the UK, one guy sitting across from us worked for Coca Cola, who are the London Eye sponsors....when he found out we were tourists, he handed us two free VIP passes, we didn't even have to wait in line when we used them.
And yes, kicking people out of your reserved seats is just another ritual of the travel experience. We "too nice" Canadians find it awkward at first, but people over there expect to be booted out and I never found a railway employee reluctant to settle the matter .
- Paul
dowlingm
Senior Member
Of course, we could just run Canadian more often in peak season, somehow dealing with the CTA and Rocky Mountaineer.
In the alternative perhaps cars could be picked up and dropped off in Edmonton or Winnipeg to allow smaller trains to run through to Toronto, which is something I think Empire Builder does in the States. This might be especially advantageous if there are any small sidings Canadian cannot currently use to cross freight traffic which a shortened train could.
SaugeenJunction
Senior Member
Interesting article on VIA Rail's plans to upgrade Ottawa Station for high-platform boarding.
NCC directors call platform project at Ottawa train station 'half measure': http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...-ottawa-train-station-blasted-as-half-measure
NCC directors call platform project at Ottawa train station 'half measure': http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...-ottawa-train-station-blasted-as-half-measure
P23
Active Member
Is that a secondary entrance on the South side? That structure isn't there now.
kEiThZ
Superstar
VIA is going to get something for their HFR proposal. At that point, I get the sense that VIA will be doing a lot more than just raising the platforms in Ottawa.
Filip
Senior Member
They'll need to do the same at Union then, correct? Imagine all that money spent on Union, and now another volley of uber millions to raise the platforms!
nfitz
Superstar
There's already raised platforms for all the VIA platforms at Union for wheelchair accessibility.
Filip
Senior Member
Just the bumpout for the accessibility coach or? I haven't seen the VIA platforms in years.. Cheaper to fly.
Markster
Senior Member
I look forward to those NCC directors announcing the funding that they're going to give VIA in order to build the station that they seem to think that Ottawa needs and deserves.
nfitz
Superstar
Just the ramp and elevated piece. You can see it when you are on the GO platforms.
Seems to be a pattern with the NCC. Big on demands for other people's projects, short on cheques to make those demands a reality.
Aylmer
New Member
Actually, that might not be necessary. As someone quite astutely suggested to me, th reason why they're moving ahead with level boarding in Ottawa might have a lot to do with the HFR routing: Since all Toronto-Montreal trains would also pass through Ottawa, there'll be a need to make boarding times much faster and reduce dwell times. It's not as much of an issue in Toronto, since it's at the end of the line, though I strongly suspect that we'll know in advance which stations will be getting HFR service by looking at which ones are set to get level boarding.
With faster boarding in mind, I actually think that the NCC board member is right, but perhaps not for the reasons he cited. Passenger comfort is important, but from a time-saving perspective, it would make a lot of sense to have heated platforms which people can wait on to further decrease dwell times.