VIA Rail

[p_xavier]

So much faster? VIA stopped service on the main line (through Edmonston - at least on the Edmonston to Quebec leg) in the 1970s ... looking back at 1976, the travel time from St-Foy to Edmonston was about 7 hours, and then (after overnighting in Edmonston) it was 5 hours from there to Moncton. Perhaps a couple of hours faster than the current Ocean time. But back in 1976 the Ocean was a couple of hours faster too.

Probably a wash really ... I'd think the loss of service to many communities would be more significant. How many years since there was direct service through Edmonston that didn't require changing trains in Edmonston?

Rivière-du-Loup to Moncton is about 11h10 according to VIA and that's with no delays (lol). Going through Edmundston would probably be 6 hours; it's a significant difference. The speed on the Newcastle sub is often below 40kmph.

 

[nfitz]

Rivière-du-Loup to Moncton is about 11h10 according to VIA and that's with no delays (lol). Going through Edmundston would probably be 6 hours; it's a significant difference. The speed on the Newcastle sub is often below 40kmph.

6 hours seems optimistic. Edmonston to Moncton was 5 hours by VIA in 1977. But 7 hours might be realistic, if travel time on the mainline were similar.

In retrospect, it's more likely that travel times are better on the line through Edmonston. So I can see how this might gain, perhaps 4 hours.

October 31 1976 to April 23 1977 VIA/CN Timetable

 

[Admiral Beez]

Well, that’s a bummer.

Halifax council kills commuter rail proposal

Halifax council kills commuter rail proposal

Councillor Tim Outhit said the federal and provincial governments were supportive of commuter rail, but they couldn’t come to a deal with Canadian Nat...

www.thestar.com

 

[cplchanb]

Well, that’s a bummer.

Halifax council kills commuter rail proposal

Halifax council kills commuter rail proposal

Councillor Tim Outhit said the federal and provincial governments were supportive of commuter rail, but they couldn’t come to a deal with Canadian Nat...

www.thestar.com

shame... my bet is that CN was proposinig exorbent taxes to use their rail line....for shame. Too bad Via and govt is to cash strapped to do anything on their own.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Commuter rail would be useful in NS where the winters can render driving very dangerous.

 

[crs1026]

^I am not surprised, as the price tag is far too great for a municipality the size of Halifax to shoulder on its own. No mention whatsoever of provincial or federal interest.
I’m not up to speed on Halifax’s traffic situation, but one doesn’t hear about highway congestion or plans to build new expressways into the city. Remember, the original impetus for GO Transit ( and Vancouver, and Montreal) was the need for additional highway capacity, which was cost prohibitive. For Halifax, commuter trains may be nice to have but they are not mission critical at this time.
I am far more interested in seeing VIA do something on a regional basis.... as noted, highway travel in bad weather is literally life threatening down that way, and a regional train system could improve that. I bet the capital proposition is much more favourable.

- Paul

 

[Northern Light]

shame... my bet is that CN was proposinig exorbent taxes to use their rail line....for shame. Too bad Via and govt is to cash strapped to do anything on their own.

Halifax council kills commuter rail proposal

Councillor Tim Outhit said the federal and provincial governments were supportive of commuter rail, but they couldn’t come to a deal with Canadian Nat...

www.thestar.com

From the article:

Outhit said the federal and provincial governments were supportive of commuter rail, but they couldn’t come to a deal with CN.
“We just couldn’t agree to the terms and conditions that CN, who owns the track, would want,” he said.
“Even if we were to put down the track, for example, they would still own it and control how and when we would use it.”

 

[crs1026]

Halifax council kills commuter rail proposal

Councillor Tim Outhit said the federal and provincial governments were supportive of commuter rail, but they couldn’t come to a deal with Canadian Nat...

www.thestar.com

“Even if we were to put down the track, for example, they would still own it and control how and when we would use it.”[/I]

The $75M overall price tag makes me think that there wasn’t much work being done to add track....$75M doesnt stretch very far if it includes stations, rolling stock, etc. So likely the trains would have used CN’s capacity and rails rather than being a new line parallel to the CN mainline. One can see why CN would insist on keeping control of the use of their tracks.

I thought that the map that came out recently about the Halton Sub was a big win for ML because it captured the work that ML had funded in the past, which CN would not have considered or invested in absent GO Transit. We need this overview on all our discussions about shared use of freight lines. CN doesn’t need more capacity near Halifax - in fact they have torn out a lot of stuff from past decades. So they are likely not proposing things just to benefit themselves. (OK, maybe they slipped a little bit of stuff in, but that’s just greasing the wheels......).

- Paul

 

[drum118]

The $75M overall price tag makes me think that there wasn’t much work being done to add track....$75M doesnt stretch very far if it includes stations, rolling stock, etc. So likely the trains would have used CN’s capacity and rails rather than being a new line parallel to the CN mainline. One can see why CN would insist on keeping control of the use of their tracks.

I thought that the map that came out recently about the Halton Sub was a big win for ML because it captured the work that ML had funded in the past, which CN would not have considered or invested in absent GO Transit. We need this overview on all our discussions about shared use of freight lines. CN doesn’t need more capacity near Halifax - in fact they have torn out a lot of stuff from past decades. So they are likely not proposing things just to benefit themselves. (OK, maybe they slipped a little bit of stuff in, but that’s just greasing the wheels......).

- Paul

The last I was there a few years ago, the yards were 3/4 empty with a lot of unused track on the mainline. Can't speak to the areas where the commuter rail was to go for wear and tear as well use. Now, maybe it was a down turn time for the area. Even St John had a lot of empty track under the control of the short line.

 

[mdrejhon]

Breaking News!

Canada Infrastructure Bank to work with Via Rail on high-frequency passenger rail plan

On the eve of a federal election and after years of study, federal ministers, the bank and Via are expected to announce that the bank will contribute funds toward further work on how to 'de-risk’ the project

www.theglobeandmail.com

Infrastructure Bank to Support VIA Rail Expansion

(stevetoronto gave this heads-up)

 

[cplchanb]

Breaking News!

Canada Infrastructure Bank to work with Via Rail on high-frequency passenger rail plan

On the eve of a federal election and after years of study, federal ministers, the bank and Via are expected to announce that the bank will contribute funds toward further work on how to 'de-risk’ the project

www.theglobeandmail.com

Infrastructure Bank to Support VIA Rail Expansion

(stevetoronto gave this heads-up)

Good news potentially. Lets see if this survives the election. However as per the article the huge issue is still that the travel times are too slow to be competitive.
IIRC from a presentation by via, they were touting a 10-15min reduction in travel time on this line from Toronto to Montrea. Thats not enough simply. They need to get times to under 4 hours in order for this to be competitive
with car travel, possibly in the low 3s. Hopefully their estimate is based off of stopping at every station and that they have express services planned

 

[kEiThZ]

Breaking News!

Canada Infrastructure Bank to work with Via Rail on high-frequency passenger rail plan

On the eve of a federal election and after years of study, federal ministers, the bank and Via are expected to announce that the bank will contribute funds toward further work on how to 'de-risk’ the project

www.theglobeandmail.com

Infrastructure Bank to Support VIA Rail Expansion

(stevetoronto gave this heads-up)

Let's see if this survives the election.

 

[salsa]

IIRC from a presentation by via, they were touting a 10-15min reduction in travel time on this line from Toronto to Montrea. Thats not enough simply. They need to get times to under 4 hours in order for this to be competitive with car travel, possibly in the low 3s.

The article implies that the reduction in travel time would be more than that:

"Running trains on a Via-owed dedicated passenger rail line would, according to Via, slice travel times by a quarter and allow for trains to arrive on time more than 95 per cent of the time."

 

[cplchanb]

The article implies that the reduction in travel time would be more than that:

"Running trains on a Via-owed dedicated passenger rail line would, according to Via, slice travel times by a quarter and allow for trains to arrive on time more than 95 per cent of the time."

Really depends on what metrics they are using. From the presentation screenshot (buried somewhere in this thread) the targetted time is 4:45 which then I assume they were using 6hrs as the starting time for their 1/4 reduction.
Regardless. They need to go under 4 hrs to be competitive

 

[nfitz]

Really depends on what metrics they are using. From the presentation screenshot (buried somewhere in this thread) the targetted time is 4:45 which then I assume they were using 6hrs as the starting time for their 1/4 reduction.
Regardless. They need to go under 4 hrs to be competitive

Given that VIA used to run it in just under 4 hours historically, before the freight issues started to become so significant, then surely if it's 45 minutes slower when this is finished then that would be a big failure!