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VIA Rail

More maintenance activity on the Havelock Sub.

20200714_125827.jpg
 
AlbertC said:
Via to temporarily layoff about 1,000 workers as pandemic impacts its business

July 8, 2020

Via Rail is temporarily laying off about 1,000 unionized employees as the company copes with interrupted routes and reduced travel demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

[...]
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Just in case if you were worrying for me in the same way as many of my friends who heard this news were: I am not unionized and work in the timetabling department, where we've just implemented our seventh timetable change this year today (to compare: we usually have only 4 timetable changes in a normal year, of which 2 are just adjusting the timings for all stations in Saskatchewan, as these clever people don't participate in the annual idiocy called "Daylight Saving Time"), which means we are experiencing a rather busy year. However, with only 25% of the regularly scheduled train-mileage being operated at the moment, you can imagine that it is very difficult to keep the entire workforce of your locomotive engineers, mechanics or on-train, station and call center staff active and the best way to do so is by adding additional trains, like we've did with trains 28 and 35 (as a second daily round-trip between Quebec City, Montreal and Ottawa) today...


kotsy said:
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The video certainly raises some valid points, even though I had to laugh when he called Canadian Pacific the (prior to VIA's inception) largest passenger railroad in Canada, without mentioning Canadian National (you know, the actual largest passenger railroad in pre-VIA Canada and owner of more than 80% of the rail network VIA operates on) even once in the entire video. However, he did thankfully point out that the new fleet and HFR addresses the most pressing issues with Canada's passenger rail network (i.e. frequency, punctuality and reliability) where it matters most (i.e. in the Corridor)...


Allandale25 said:
More maintenance activity on the Havelock Sub.

View attachment 257300
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Just before some people get too excited here: this has nothing to do with HFR yet... ;)
 
robmausser said:
Not only that, its probably all going to get ripped out and re-done when HFR construction begins as they will want it to be Class 6 rail.
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CP continues to do maintenance that is necessary to maintain freight operation. But I'm sure they are very judicious about what is necessary and what is only nice-to-do.

No different than how one might maintain a car that will come off lease in six months.....

- Paul
 
Allandale25 said:
ici.radio-canada.ca

Le projet de train à grande fréquence mis en veilleuse faute de mobilisation?

Le ministre François-Philippe Champagne aimerait plus de mobilisation pour le projet de train à grande fréquence Québec-Windsor.
ici.radio-canada.ca
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Link from above filtered through Google Translate:


Essentially, Minister Champagne is on a bit of rant that Mayors along the route and both provincial governments need to make the case to Ottawa that the project is important.
 
^ Wonder if we'll hear the same from any Ontario Minister or MP. You'd think with the amount of commuting they do to Ottawa they'd really get the benefits of HFR. Plus, I wonder if some of them are thinking is better to travel by train than plane in the covid-19 world.
 
Allandale25 said:
^ Wonder if we'll hear the same from any Ontario Minister or MP. You'd think with the amount of commuting they do to Ottawa they'd really get the benefits of HFR. Plus, I wonder if some of them are thinking is better to travel by train than plane in the covid-19 world.
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You should see how many of them travel by air. They don't give a damn about HFR. And HFR becoming a reality would hurt their Air Canada Elite status.
 
kEiThZ said:
You should see how many of them travel by air. They don't give a damn about HFR. And HFR becoming a reality would hurt their Air Canada Elite status.
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Honestly if the feds and province wanted to environmentally put their money where their mouth is, there would be a rule that ministers had to take the train to anywhere that had a station. I wonder how fast we'd see rail travel improve then.
 
kEiThZ said:
I don't get it. Are they saying there's a lack of public support?
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(warning: politically inflammatory content)

I think it’s fair to say that Ontario municipal and Provincial pols have made only moderately supportive noise about this project without really joining ranks and driving anything forward as a must-have. That’s true even in Peterboro, where they seem to naively view HFR as a fait accompli, but show absolutely no impatience or angst with Ottawa‘s not getting on with it.

The Quebec Minister clearly wants the train to leave the station, which is refreshing, but he seems willing to bash Ontario to make that happen. That’s not normally how one wins friends and builds common purpose. One wonders if he is equally happy with not getting HFR so long as he gets the political benefit of making it all Ontario’s fault.

It also reflects an entitlement which the Minister from a narrow Quebec vantage point may not really appreciate. ie When Quebec stands up and says they really, really, really want something, Ottawa jumps to deliver it. Whereas when Ontario says they really, really, really wants something, Ottawa says “Meh” and waits to see how much grovelling Ontario is prepared to deliver. Can’t blame Ontario pols if they don’t jump to declare impatience and outrage when that’s not how things get done outside La Belle Province.

Yes, I’m jaded, and perhaps grinding an axe, but I would suggest there is more reality in my comments than some may be willing to admit. #Bombardier #SNCLavalin

- Paul
 
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