VIA Rail

[Frank_Lee]

Offtopic somewhat, but it's good to hear someone talking about commuter rail expansion here in BC: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/wes...ommuter-rail-advocacy-vancouver-fraser-valley

 

[lenaitch]

One advantage of the 'two-path' route choice at the Victoria railway bridge in LaSalle is that it only has the contend with vessel traffic in one direction; whereas Locks 4,5 and 6 are all twinned. Any bridge that was intended to be south of the locks would have to be built over a residential area to the west. At least with diverging to the north of Lock 4 it is largely industrial or brownfield.

 

[Bureaucromancer]

Agreed that WCE expansion is long overdue, but yeah, two way service west of Coquitlam is really hard. I’d be very much focused on short term full service east of Skytrain and a southern extension to Abbotsford and Coquitlam first.

 

[Allandale25]

Great to see this accessibility feature of the new fleet.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1572586098743988225

 

[Bordercollie]

Great to see this accessibility feature of the new fleet.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1572586098743988225

How many wheel chair positions per long/short trainset?

 

[WillTo]

How many wheel chair positions per long/short trainset?

Fleet Replacement Program | VIA Rail

With our new bi-directional trains, we’ll take you where you need to go while providing a comfortable, accessible, eco-friendly experience.

corpo.viarail.ca

 

[Bordercollie]

Fleet Replacement Program | VIA Rail

With our new bi-directional trains, we’ll take you where you need to go while providing a comfortable, accessible, eco-friendly experience.

corpo.viarail.ca

View attachment 428190

Is that the right number even for the shorter trains?

 

[nfitz]

Is that the right number even for the shorter trains?

Presumably longer trains would be 2 trainsets.

That's looking like one spot per car - which if correct, seems a bit inhuman if you have two people in wheelchairs travelling together!

 

[Bordercollie]

Presumably longer trains would be 2 trainsets.

That's looking like one spot per car - which if correct, seems a bit inhuman if you have two people in wheelchairs travelling together!

Wasn't that the exact issue with the existing trains?

 

[Urban Sky]

Presumably longer trains would be 2 trainsets.

That's looking like one spot per car - which if correct, seems a bit inhuman if you have two people in wheelchairs travelling together!

Refer back to the discussion we had in January 2021. When you look at the drawings, you can spot which bathrooms are larger (i.e. accessible) and which ones are not:

Nice work! I hadn't realized that the trains would be arranged in different lengths. I thought I'd read somewhere that they would all be 5-car semipermanently-coupled sets, but I guess not.

http://www.highspeed-rail.org/Documents/Via%20Rail_New%20Fleet%20Update.pdf

It's interesting that the standard 5-car set is called "long", because:
- it's the standard length
- I don't think 5 cars is long by any standard
- it doesn't leave a name for a theoretical 6-car set



[…]

I don't know if the configuration of any of the cars is publicly known, but if I had to guess (it is just a guess), the special features of each type are as follows:

Car type	Class	Services	Trainsets
1A	Economy	Galley	All (2x Extra Long)
1B	Economy	Accessible (+ bike rack?)	Short, Long & Extra Long (2x Extra Long)
3A	Business	Accessible	All
3B	Business	Galley	Long & Extra Long
4A	Economy	Accessible, Cab	All

This would mean:

• The Short and Extra Short trains would have the business car use the Galley in the 1A car (presumably at the front of the car) and there are accessible seats and washrooms available in both classes of service (the short would have a second economy accessible car).
• The Long train would have separate galleys for business and economy and the same number of accessible cars as a short train.
• The Extra long train would add a second economy galley and a third economy accessible car.

This would allow the appropriate service growth as the train gets longer. If my guess is correct. the 3B could be considered a replacement for a 1A (though the galleys might be configured differently) but it wouldn't be a replacement for 1B.


[…]

Is that the right number even for the shorter trains?

Honestly, I wouldn’t bother about anything else than the 5-car configuration at this point. The other configurations may provide some limited flexibility, but I don’t see much use for them, given that you apparently can’t configure two trainsets into a 7-car and a 3-car set without stealing cars from a third set…

 

[Bordercollie]

Refer back to the discussion we had in January 2021. When you look at the drawings, you can spot which bathrooms are larger (i.e. accessible) and which ones are not:




Honestly, I wouldn’t bother about anything else than the 5-car configuration at this point. The other configurations may provide some limited flexibility, but I don’t see much use for them, given that you apparently can’t configure two trainsets into a 7-car and a 3-car set without stealing cars from a third set…

Well you could just couple them together like a Jtrain....you would need more staff.

 

[Bordercollie]

Quinte News: Bring the damn train back !.

Bring the damn train back !

"Bring the damn train back!" That was the loud demand made of VIA Rail by Northumberland-Peterborough South MP...

www.quintenews.com

What happened to GO transit operating on demand services to this area?

 

[drum118]

Refer back to the discussion we had in January 2021. When you look at the drawings, you can spot which bathrooms are larger (i.e. accessible) and which ones are not:




Honestly, I wouldn’t bother about anything else than the 5-car configuration at this point. The other configurations may provide some limited flexibility, but I don’t see much use for them, given that you apparently can’t configure two trainsets into a 7-car and a 3-car set without stealing cars from a third set…

You do what they do in Europe and that add a 2nd train to the first one with still one crew. A waste of resources until there is enough coaches to increase the length of the train. Seen trains with 3 or 4 sets setup as one train that are various lengths. As trains get replace from single coaches, they are now coming as a 5 pack to 11 cars long. Even the DD trains run from 2-5 car sets

Even trams/streetcar/LRV are join as 2 sets together both in Europe and NA. Only have to look at LA to see the 2-3 cars LRT. One reason various systems are going to 45-55m units. 35m is the best you can do for TTC.

With the current setup for the new VIA trains, how hard as well how long will it take to add or remove a car from the current setup as not my field?? That was the major issue for GO trains, as it was too costly to take them apart to add or remove cars based on ridership demands until COVID hit.

As for washrooms, having one per car is all you are going to get unless you remove seating and it should be for "EVERYONE"

 

[smallspy]

With the current setup for the new VIA trains, how hard as well how long will it take to add or remove a car from the current setup as not my field??

10 Minutes. Three wrenches to undo a number of bolts and fittings. Air components are the same as regular equipment, the only change is the use of a drawbar instead of a coupler and different cables and plugs for MU and COMM.

That was the major issue for GO trains, as it was too costly to take them apart to add or remove cars based on ridership demands until COVID hit.

That issue was operational, nothing to do with the equipment itself. The physical process of removing a car from a GO train takes a matter of seconds - the longest part of the process is shutting down the HEP. There are no tools required.

Dan

 

[Bordercollie]

You do what they do in Europe and that add a 2nd train to the first one with still one crew. A waste of resources until there is enough coaches to increase the length of the train. Seen trains with 3 or 4 sets setup as one train that are various lengths. As trains get replace from single coaches, they are now coming as a 5 pack to 11 cars long. Even the DD trains run from 2-5 car sets

Even trams/streetcar/LRV are join as 2 sets together both in Europe and NA. Only have to look at LA to see the 2-3 cars LRT. One reason various systems are going to 45-55m units. 35m is the best you can do for TTC.

With the current setup for the new VIA trains, how hard as well how long will it take to add or remove a car from the current setup as not my field?? That was the major issue for GO trains, as it was too costly to take them apart to add or remove cars based on ridership demands until COVID hit.

As for washrooms, having one per car is all you are going to get unless you remove seating and it should be for "EVERYONE"

It's easier to couple a shorter trainset and one train attendant in the second train. Since the doors are electric you don't need an attendant to open multiple doors on multiple cars.