VIA Rail

[DirectionNorth]

Are there no spare diners that could be used on the skeena since it's low season?

They don't have ovens in the coach cars to heat up meals? There must be another solution.

National Post: Chris Selley: Via Rail trains so decrepit they need 'buffer cars' in case of a collision.

Chris Selley: Via Rail trains so decrepit they need 'buffer cars' in case of a collision

Taxpayers should not be funding cruise ships on rails — or any rail service that's as unnecessarily terrible as Via

nationalpost.com

National Post: "We should be underfunding an underfunded service."

Why do they think that VIA has such old cars?

 

[Bordercollie]

National Post: "We should be underfunding an underfunded service."

Why do they think that VIA has such old cars?

It would be a PR nightmare to cancel the national railway when south of the border they are spending billions on passenger rail.

The question is will they choose to fix the fleet as an interim solution and order a new fleet or do nothing.

Would a new fleet investment result in an operational savings?

I also think that during a recession this fleet repair and replacement might be used as an infrastructure investment project. To help boost the economy, and one of the conditions would be that a portion of the components must be from Canada or assembly must be in Canada or something to that extent.

 

[SaugeenJunction]

Looks like VIA’s new trainsets are in revenue service now:

 

[Bordercollie]

Looks like VIA’s new trainsets are in revenue service now:

What a horrible job at doing PR for them. No announcement?

 

[nfitz]

What a horrible job at doing PR for them. No announcement?

I'd assume they are waiting for them to be in regular service.

The video seems to focus more on the food than the train!

 

[lenaitch]

I'd assume they are waiting for them to be in regular service.

The video seems to focus more on the food than the train!

Ya, it looked like a private recording, and near the beginning a graphic said 'business class test'. Soft launch?

 

[Urban Sky]

Ya, it looked like a private recording, and near the beginning a graphic said 'business class test'. Soft launch?

It indeed seems to not have been a revenue run and there is speculation that it was an internal VIA run to shuttle VIA employees to that champagne-bottle-breaking ceremony in Ottawa earlier this month, which would mean that that celebration marked the first run with passengers (even if these were not yet paying members from the public) on board:

Montreal-Ottawa in new Siemens train

groups.io

Note also the train number “627”, which I don’t recall being ever used for anything else in the last 25 years than charter runs between Montreal and Ottawa:

 

[Allandale25]

I noticed this discussion about HFR on the Canadian Passenger Rail group on groups.io.

On October 1 I wrote:

The federal government's Request for Expressions of Interest for High-Frequency Rail, published in March, included a timeline fort he procurement process (paper p. 50, PDF p. 51). It says, "RFQ issued by Canada -- September 2022". September has come and gone. I haven't seen any Request for Qualifications issued by the government.

On October 27, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra appeared before the Senate to answer questions. The Senate adopted an new procedure in December 2021 that allows a minister to appear for an extended question and answer session, more akin to a parliamentary committee hearing than to the House of Commons Question Period that we see on television newscasts.

In response to a question about high-frequency rail, Alghabra said: "As for your question on the expression of interest, today, in fact, Transport Canada was supposed to release, and it
hopefully did release, a summary of the information and the lessons collected from interested private-sector partners.

That information will inform the next step of the request for quote -- RFQ -- which we hope will be issued in the coming months.

So the plan continues as expected."

I haven't found the Transport Canada summary that was supposed to be released last Thursday. If anyone finds it on line, please post a link to it.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the RFEOI said the RFQ was to be issued in September 2022. Now the story is "we hope [the RFQ] will be issued in the coming months."

There were some other questions about passenger trains that you can find by scrolling up and down from the above link. The minister avoids saying anything interesting. When asked when a permanent replacement for Cynthia Garneau will be named to head VIA, he says it's a human resources matter, so he can't comment.

When asked whether the HFR line will have two main tracks for its entire length, and what will be done about roadc rossings at grade, he says it's too early to tell. And so on.

 

[reaperexpress]

Looks like VIA’s new trainsets are in revenue service now:

Not according to the maker of that video:

 

[Bordercollie]

I noticed this discussion about HFR on the Canadian Passenger Rail group on groups.io.

Where is the report?

 

[Allandale25]

^ you'll probably have to contact VIA or Transport Canada. Or join that above-noted group and clarify with the author of the post.

 

[Bordercollie]

^ you'll probably have to contact VIA or Transport Canada. Or join that above-noted group and clarify with the author of the post.

And what was the result of the RFQ for the heritage fleet replacement? Why was that never released?

 

[Allandale25]

^ Maybe others here know but my recommendations for your other questions apply to this one. You may enjoy being part of that groups.io group.

 

[cplchanb]

hopefully by next June, they will have several sets in service. I bought a ticket on train 668 Toronto to Montreal. Looking forward to seeing it in person!

 

[Allandale25]

I noticed this discussion about HFR on the Canadian Passenger Rail group on groups.io.

Urban Toronto gets action.

Government of Canada advances the procurement process for High Frequency Rail

High Frequency Rail will transform passenger rail service in Canada through the creation of a faster, more frequent, accessible, and sustainable rail service among the major centres of Québec City, Trois-Rivières, Montréal, Ottawa, Peterborough, and Toronto.

www.canada.ca