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VIA Rail

Sorry to interject, but I'll be out of work shortly and was planning on posting up in Ottawa for a week or two. Does anyone have experience with what travelling with VIA is like right now?

I'm either going to drive or take the train....I would fly but Porter is still shut down.

Is it a particularly hassle-laden experience on the trains right now?

Much appreciate any input.
 
SunriseChampion said:
Sorry to interject, but I'll be out of work shortly and was planning on posting up in Ottawa for a week or two. Does anyone have experience with what travelling with VIA is like right now?

I'm either going to drive or take the train....I would fly but Porter is still shut down.

Is it a particularly hassle-laden experience on the trains right now?

Much appreciate any input.
Click to expand...
I unfortunately haven’t been on board a train since the pandemic hit, but VIA’s website should give you a good overview over what measures are in place:

Plan your trip

Get the trip you want! Plan and manage your next trip, book your tickets online and get the most up-to-date information on your journey.
www.viarail.ca www.viarail.ca

In general, staff will check that you wear a mask and ask you a few screening questions before boarding, but I haven’t heard anything (neither internally nor through Social Media reports) which would suggest that travelling right now would be a “particularly hassel-laden experience” compared to normally.

However, don’t hesitate to call 1-888-VIA-RAIL if you have any particular concerns and my colleagues will be happy to explain to you what to expect.

In any case, have a safe trip and stay healthy!
 
SunriseChampion said:
Sorry to interject, but I'll be out of work shortly and was planning on posting up in Ottawa for a week or two. Does anyone have experience with what travelling with VIA is like right now?

I'm either going to drive or take the train....I would fly but Porter is still shut down.

Is it a particularly hassle-laden experience on the trains right now?

Much appreciate any input.
Click to expand...
I haven’t been on board since COVID hit (withdrawal pains growing) but friends who have tell me that the experience was painless and they had no anxiety provoking moments.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
I haven’t been on board since COVID hit (withdrawal pains growing) but friends who have tell me that the experience was painless and they had no anxiety provoking moments.

- Paul
Click to expand...
Yeah, I take VIA when I need to go to the office and no issue. Even in economy class I was told that seats are left empty for social distancing.
 
p_xavier said:
Yeah, I take VIA when I need to go to the office and no issue. Even in economy class I was told that seats are left empty for social distancing.
Click to expand...

Finally, 2nd class will be tolerable....saves me some money too.

Yeah, I think I'm going to roll the dice on this one/flip a coin. I'm not sure I can stand wearing my home-made cloth mask for 5 hours. :/
I do prefer the train though.
 
The biggest challenge for VIA over the next 30 years will not be the introduction of HFR as that's really not much of an accomplishment but rather the financial and logistical challenges of de-carbonising the entire network.

VIA must plan to have, at a minimum, the entire Corridor running emissions-free trains by 2040 which is only 19 short years away. The longer routes can be phased out by 2050 as they are so infrequent. Talking about trying to reduce their footprint means squat, the reality is that it must be done and done quickly and VIA has no real plan in place on how to achieve it. As Ottawa expects all transportation to meet zero emissions by 2050, there is no way in hell that they will let a Crown Corporation, of all things, off the hook.
 
ssiguy2 said:
The biggest challenge for VIA over the next 30 years will not be the introduction of HFR as that's really not much of an accomplishment but rather the financial and logistical challenges of de-carbonising the entire network.

VIA must plan to have, at a minimum, the entire Corridor running emissions-free trains by 2040 which is only 19 short years away. The longer routes can be phased out by 2050 as they are so infrequent. Talking about trying to reduce their footprint means squat, the reality is that it must be done and done quickly and VIA has no real plan in place on how to achieve it. As Ottawa expects all transportation to meet zero emissions by 2050, there is no way in hell that they will let a Crown Corporation, of all things, off the hook.
Click to expand...
19 years sounds like a realistic time frame to electrify Corridor operations with a combination of catenary electrification and Hydrogen or batteries, while cascading the Siemens diesel locomotives to other parts of the network. However, the question of how to electrify VIA’s non-Corridor routes is for the host railroads to figure out (as VIA will have little choice than to adopt whatever solution CN and CP implement for their own operations and infrastructure)...
 
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ssiguy2 said:
The biggest challenge for VIA over the next 30 years will not be the introduction of HFR as that's really not much of an accomplishment but rather the financial and logistical challenges of de-carbonising the entire network.

VIA must plan to have, at a minimum, the entire Corridor running emissions-free trains by 2040 which is only 19 short years away. The longer routes can be phased out by 2050 as they are so infrequent. Talking about trying to reduce their footprint means squat, the reality is that it must be done and done quickly and VIA has no real plan in place on how to achieve it. As Ottawa expects all transportation to meet zero emissions by 2050, there is no way in hell that they will let a Crown Corporation, of all things, off the hook.
Click to expand...
If the freight companies don't do it, it will take the electrification of GO to push Via to do their owned ROW Go back a few pages for the mess of that discussion.
 
Urban Sky said:
However, the question of how to electrify VIA’s non-Corridor routes is for the host railroads to figure out (as VIA will have little choice than to adopt whatever solution CN and CP implement for their own operations and infrastructure)...
Click to expand...
There's no way that CN is going to let them put catenary down the Kingston subdivision. Or has VIA backed away from their promise about continuing frequent Kingston-Ottawa, Kingston-Montreal, and Kingston-Toronto services?
 
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