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VIA Rail

MP 0.47 is indeed the switch at the east end of Niagara Falls station and MP 0.34 is the border (MP 0.0 is where the former CP Hamilton Sub splits off the CSX Niagara Branch).

In the meanwhile, this happened:
Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced that, as of October 30, the Government of Canada will require employers in the federally regulated air, rail, and marine transportation sectors to establish vaccination policies for their employees. Also effective October 30, travellers departing from Canadian airports, and travellers on VIA Rail and Rocky Mountaineer trains, will be required to be fully vaccinated in order to travel.
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Mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirements for federally regulated transportation employees and travellers - Canada.ca

Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced that, as of October 30, the Government of Canada will require employers in the federally regulated air, rail, and marine transportation sectors to establish vaccination policies for their employees. Also...
www.canada.ca www.canada.ca
 
Urban Sky said:
MP 0.47 is indeed the switch at the east end of Niagara Falls station and MP 0.34 is the border (MP 0.0 is where the former CP Hamilton Sub splits off the CSX Niagara Branch).
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Thanks. I kind of guessed that. Did Amtrak purchase the track from MP 0.0 to 0.34? Makes sense that Amtrak wouldn't want to own track in Canada and VIA Rail track in the USA.

Why did CN keep the track east of the east of their yard? Do they use the track for switching?
 
^The Whirlpool Rapids Bridge is actually owned by the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission, a binational agency.

Amtrak assumed responsibility for maintaining the bridge some years ago, in 2012 I believe.

I don't know exact mileages, but one assumes that what VIA acquired is the rail and the right of way leading to the bridge, which CN would otherwise tear up. One has to assume that Amtrak is paying for or has bought the line east of the bridge as CSX would not be using the line on that side.

- Paul
 
From here:

North of the Buffalo Terminal Subdivision, CSXT owns the Niagara Subdivision as far as CP-28. In December
2012, Amtrak took over ownership, control, and maintenance of approximately 0.37 mile of
of former CSXT and Canadian National Railway track from immediately west of CP-28 to the U.S.- Canada international border on the Whirlpool Bridge. The Whirlpool Bridge, a railroad and vehicular passenger bridge located at the international border crossing, is owned and maintained by the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission
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- Paul
 
EastYorkTTCFan said:
It could also be some sort of requirements from the state of Florida as well and not something that is required or practical here in Canada.
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There is no requirement for the aerodynamic covering of underbody appliances by the FRA, who would be in charge of mandating that for Brightline.

No, they just wanted a sleek, aerodynamic look and are willing to pay more for it. Just like the nose cones on their locos.

Dan
 
Does anybody know if the stainless corridor refurbishment is still ongoing or if it's been canceled in expectation of the new fleet? There's multiple mixed refurbished and unrefurbished stainless trains leaving the Montreal station now.

Doesn't seem to make sense to configure l continue the refurb if the trains will be taken out of service within the next two years. Plus, even though the grinding is reduced, the new seats are extremely uncomfortable so I always try to change to an unrefurbished car.

Also, track installation and initial tamping for the rem has begun at on the approach to gare Central.

Edit: my train is late again. After doing the backup maneuver. I really hope this is removed with hfr
 
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smallspy said:
There is no requirement for the aerodynamic covering of underbody appliances by the FRA, who would be in charge of mandating that for Brightline.

No, they just wanted a sleek, aerodynamic look and are willing to pay more for it. Just like the nose cones on their locos.

Dan
Click to expand...
It's probably easier to justify purely aesthetical extras to a private than a public shareholder and its inclusion in the RFP could have been seen as trying to steer the contract award towards a specific bidder...

ManyQuestions said:
Does anybody know if the stainless corridor refurbishment is still ongoing or if it's been canceled in expectation of the new fleet? There's multiple mixed refurbished and unrefurbished stainless trains leaving the Montreal station now.

Doesn't seem to make sense to configure l continue the refurb if the trains will be taken out of service within the next two years. Plus, even though the grinding is reduced, the new seats are extremely uncomfortable so I always try to change to an unrefurbished car.

Also, track installation and initial tamping for the rem has begun at on the approach to gare Central.
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As long as there is no procurement and delivery of a new non-Corridor fleet, there will be a need for life-extending measures for the existing HEP fleet...
 
Urban Sky said:
It's probably easier to justify purely aesthetical extras to a private than a public shareholder and its inclusion in the RFP could have been seen as trying to steer the contract award towards a specific bidder...


As long as there is no procurement and delivery of a new non-Corridor fleet, there will be a need for life-extending measures for the existing HEP fleet...
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I thought it was established that they could not do that, or that it's not economically feasible?
 
ManyQuestions said:
Does anybody know if the stainless corridor refurbishment is still ongoing or if it's been canceled in expectation of the new fleet? There's multiple mixed refurbished and unrefurbished stainless trains leaving the Montreal station now.
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Yes......and no.

There are still cars being done internally at MMC and by CAD. But there seems to be no movement on getting the cars done that were supposed to be rebuilt by Bombardier.

Dan
 
smallspy said:
Yes......and no.

There are still cars being done internally at MMC and by CAD. But there seems to be no movement on getting the cars done that were supposed to be rebuilt by Bombardier.

Dan
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I refer to this section and table in VIA's Annual Report 2018:

Screenshot_20211010-134336_Drive.jpg

Of the four contracts above, only one seems to have been cancelled (the one with Bombardier, about a year ago), but I recall frequent reports of car movements from and to CAD Lachine and GD Rail in the Gaspésie, which leads me to believe that these contracts are going ahead as originally planned (no idea about the timeline, though). Unfortunately, I don't recall seeing anything on the HEP2 projects, but it is much less obvious to outsiders what happens within MMC than it is for external suppliers, as you just need to track and document the respective equipment moves...


Bordercollie said:
Does ONR's North Bay shops not have the expertise to do this kind of work?
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I have no reason to believe that ONR would have had a magical workaround for the severe constraints Bombardier apparently discovered when preparing the first two cars for the HEP3 rebuilt...
 
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Urban Sky said:
I refer to this section and table in VIA's Annual Report 2018:

View attachment 354935
Of the four contracts above, only one seems to have been cancelled (the one with Bombardier, about a year ago), but I recall frequent reports of car movements from and to CAD Lachine and GD Rail in the Gaspésie, which leads me to believe that these contracts are going ahead as originally planned (no idea about the timeline, though). Unfortunately, I don't recall seeing anything on the HEP2 projects, but it is much less obvious to outsiders what happens within MMC than it is to track and document equipment moves from and to suppliers...



I have no reason to believe that ONR would have had a magical workaround for the severe constraints Bombardier apparently discovered when preparing the first two cars for the HEP3 rebuilt...
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I guess there are delays to the projects due to COVID? A year past the tentative deliver date of the last car less than half have been completed. Considering that the LRC's where used for the majority of the pandemic they should have had more cars available to rebuild.
 
Bordercollie said:
I guess there are delays to the projects due to COVID? A year past the tentative deliver date of the last car less than half have been completed. Considering that the LRC's where used for the majority of the pandemic they should have had more cars available to rebuild.
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I would guess that Covid certainly didn't help, and what you describe as a higher-than-anticipated availability of cars for projects is probably be true for any other contract they had in their books, at least where they concerned passenger rail equipment...
 
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