robmausser
Senior Member
Hey look its the Sarnia Train 85!
Oh wait sorry my mistake that train is much too large and nice.
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VIA Rail
- Thread starter ehlow
- Start date
Hey look its the Sarnia Train 85!
Oh wait sorry my mistake that train is much too large and nice.
smallspy
Senior Member
Josh really needs to update his profile photo.
That car is #3 of the CALIDOT order, and currently on the way to an NRC facility in Ottawa for cold-weather testing - this is apparently a stipulation of the Illinois-part of the contract.. Cars 1 and 2 are currently at the TTCI in Pueblo.
Dan
cplchanb
Senior Member
curious, is it by regulations that the windows be that small? Compared to other similar coaches in europe and asia it seems like our coach windows are minute for the the overall dimensions of the car.
littlewill1166
Active Member
They replaced the HEPII with an LRC (last week at least), so its slightly better now.
robmausser
Senior Member
Last time I rode it was a HEP1!
littlewill1166
Active Member
Yup, HEP1 in front HEP2 Club Car in the back.
smallspy
Senior Member
The only regulations directly affecting windows are those regarding emergency entry and egress from them.
But as the size of the window can also affect the structural integrity of the body of the vehicle, it may be required to make them smaller than might otherwise be the case to be able to maintain a strength regulation (for instance, the Class 390 Alstom Pendolinos in England).
Dan
littlewill1166
Active Member
This probably sounds really trivial, but I just ordered a Table d'hote. An old lady across from me wanted a tea, but the service attendant passed by way to quickly. I ordered my meal with the service manager as she was scanning tickets. Service manager brings me my porchetta and coca cola, and offers me tea or coffee for after my meal. I said that I'd pass. Service attendant comes back with the cart and to pick up my tray, the service manager is right behind him. I ask the service attendant to confirm if my meal comes with a tea or coffee and I tell him I want to get one for the old lady across from me. The service attendant says no, shook his head at me like I was doing something wrong, and I could swear that he winked at me (I've had him on at least 20 trains so he knows me). The old lady pays for her tea. The service manager who was standing right behind the cart the whole time and somehow didn't hear a word I just said, offered me a coffee or tea. I really want to know, do the $15 meal trays in economy come with coffee or tea after the meal with a drink with the meal? Also, do service attendants get commission?
P.S. the porchetta was great, liked the turkey cranberry, and wild rice more though.
P.S. the porchetta was great, liked the turkey cranberry, and wild rice more though.
kEiThZ
Superstar
Probably not going to happen, but I really wish the new trains came with seatback screens like airlines and we were able to order and pay from the seat and just have the attendant serve the food. Would vastly improve service speed and quality.
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SFO-YYZ
Active Member
Or a cheaper option: build the meal ordering system into the existing VIA Rail app, so people can order on the go, pay via mobile, and have it directly delivered to their seat number. Similar to how certain airlines now allow you to pre-order meals from their apps upon online check-in (Singapore Airlines). China Highspeed Rail has also been doing this for a few years now and works really well.
Urban Sky
Senior Member
I know the tweet is an eternity old already, but I didn't want to comment on it as long as the election campaign was running:
Since we are already speaking about the fleet:
And finally a comment about the implications of rerouting the Canadian:
He is of course free in his right to be outraged about a free trade agreement (CETA), which explicitly prohibits a federal agency from imposing local content requirements on its rail rolling stock procurements, while only allowing an exemption to the provinces of Quebec and Ontario for the procurement of "mass transit vehicles" (Annex 19-4 of CETA), or that Bombardier provided only an offer which (according to YDS in the press conference where the winning bidder was announced) was beaten "by a margin", but to criticize a federal agency (i.e. a de-facto part of the government) to apply the rules it's bound to by the law and international agreements is in my view pathetic...
Since we are already speaking about the fleet:
If Bombardier hadn't had any product to offer which fell into the specs which were listed in the RFQ, then they wouldn't have been qualified for the RFP, let alone short-listed as one of the two strongest applicants. According to YDS in aforementioned press conference, the quality of the trains, their cost and the ability to deliver within the required time frame were the dominant selection criteria and the offer submitted by Siemens was superior in all three counts "by a margin", therefore I would assume that Bombardiers offer was not inacceptable, but simply only the second-best offer received.
No. Can't piggyback on an order if your specs and requirements are very different. I believe even the HEP voltage differs between Amtrak and VIA and therefore makes their rolling stock incompatible.
And finally a comment about the implications of rerouting the Canadian:
They are as ideally suited to Sudbury-White River as they were to Victoria-Courtenay: a one-trainset service isolated from the rest of the network and therefore with little maintenance synergies...
No, they aren't, as best illustrated by the Canadian: LE crew change points are (IIRC) Capreol, Hornepayne, Sioux Lookout, Winnipeg, Melville, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Jasper, Kamloops and Hope/Boston Bar, whereas the on-train crews only change at Winnipeg.
The problem is that residents of isolated ("remote") communities don't only need a transport link to the nearest road, but to the city where the reason for their trips (accessing shops, health or other public services) are located. This means that they need to go to Sudbury or Winnipeg, not just Sioux Lookout or Hornepayne. Thankfully, this also makes more sense operationally, as VIA Rail already has maintenance centers in Montreal and Winnipeg, while it would be difficult to perform the necessary maintenance if the "remote" services never traveled south of Hervey Junction (Senneterre/Jonquierre service) or The Pas (Churchill service)...
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dowlingm
Senior Member
This is not correct. The voltage is the same between VIA and Amtrak (480V) - as demonstrated by the loaning of VIA equipment for Adirondack after Hurricane Sandy - but there is a power cabling difference which means that a mixed trainset of VIA and Amtrak has to be ordered in a specific fashion.
Have a look here: http://www.gntrains.com/Documents/ViaHEP.pdf
smallspy
Senior Member
Except that isn't specifically true.
First off, as noted, the line voltage is the same. (Wiring and configuration is different, but not vastly so, and VIA's equipment is capable of operating with Amtrak's and vice-versa.)
Second off, there has been precedence of VIA piggy-backing on an order from Amtrak. The 900-series P42s were ordered as options on Amtrak's last P42 order.
In the case of the Siemens' equipment, it didn't make sense to piggyback on the CALIDOT order for any number of different reasons, not the least of which is the fact that VIA's order is larger and thus subject to Siemens pricing the order accordingly.
Dan
dowlingm
Senior Member
If there was an Amtrak order I would like to see VIA cooperate on, it is one for new generation Superliners for west-of-Toronto to replace the legacy single level stock. The Midwest Bilevel order might have formed a basis for that, except for Nippon Sharyo's cratering that project and it being switched to single-levels.
kEiThZ
Superstar
Also a fantastic option. Whatever it is, I just wanna see them move away from just driving the cart around and taking forever to cover the whole car because they have to canvass each passenger individually.
Politicians gonna politic. I wouldn't get too worked up about it. Once you have a few years in the public sector, you'll get used to some politicians spewing nonsense like this every election.