VIA Rail

[nfitz]

How do you know that the stay at home order will be lifted and not extended?

I don't ... but cases are much lower and dropping now, so it's possible.

Personally I hope it's continued - it seems as effective (if not more so) as the curfew in Quebec, but with less unnecessary restrictions.

 

[roger1818]

With the first train of the day from Ottawa to Montreal arriving after 6 pm at night, with the return trip leaving Montreal at noon - that's hard to actually believe, that it's being treated as an essential service. That sounds much more fitted for non-essential excursions, than any necessary daytime activity.

At the same time, perhaps the border should be closed, with the English variant spreading widely in Ontario. But with the stay at home order being lifted next week - the timing does seem backwards.

The problem is that the Ottawa-Montreal trains are combined with the Quebec-Montreal trains and they are optimized for the later route. I am guessing that these two routes are combined because of minimum shift length requirements. It is odd that there are 3 trains a day, each way between Toronto and London, but only 1 train a day, each way between Ottawa and Montreal though.

 

[nfitz]

If minimum shift lengths are an issue, they are worrying more about money than essential services, which would be secondary.

Fair enough, but they should be up front about it.

 

[Urban Sky]

I don't ... but cases are much lower and dropping now, so it's possible.

Personally I hope it's continued - it seems as effective as the curfew in Quebec, but less totalitarian.

I’m not sure what makes our provincial government the repeated target of your unnecessarily harshly-worded and undifferentiated criticism, but my understanding was that the “Stay-at-Home order” requires “all Ontario residents [to] stay at home except for essential reasons”, which to me sounds closer to the rules which apply here in Quebec during the curfew hours (i.e. between 8pm and 5am) than outside of them (where you can still do more or less whatever you want outside, as long as you refrain from gathering with people or traveling outside your region)...

 

[roger1818]

I’m not sure what makes our provincial government the repeated target of your hatred, but my understanding was that the “Stay-at-Home order” requires “all Ontario residents [to] stay at home except for essential reasons”, which to me sounds closer to the rules which apply here in Quebec during the curfew hours (i.e. between 8pm and 5am) than outside of them (where you can still do more or less whatever you want outside, as long as you refrain from gathering with people or traveling outside your region)...

I see significant differences though. This article says in Quebec "Grocery stores and depanneurs must close at 7:30 p.m. every day to allow shoppers time to get home." Also this article says, a Sherbrooke couple were each given $1,500 fines by police for walking outside after curfew near their home (humorously, she claimed she was "walking her dog" as he had a collar and leash).

In Ontario, the hours of grocery stores haven't changed with lockdown and you are allowed to exercise outside anytime. Totalitarian comment aside, it just makes more sense to allow people to shop for groceries and exercise over a wider time period to reduce crowding, since close contact is what we are trying to reduce.

 

[Urban Sky]

I see significant differences though. This article says in Quebec "Grocery stores and depanneurs must close at 7:30 p.m. every day to allow shoppers time to get home." Also this article says, a Sherbrooke couple were each given $1,500 fines by police for walking outside after curfew near their home (humorously, she claimed she was "walking her dog" as he had a collar and leash).

In Ontario, the hours of grocery stores haven't changed with lockdown and you are allowed to exercise outside anytime. Totalitarian comment aside, it just makes more sense to allow people to shop for groceries and exercise over a wider time period to reduce crowding, since close contact is what we are trying to reduce.

My objection was exclusively against the word “totalitarian”, which sounds like military patrolling the streets in tanks and raiding houses to detect and dissolve forbidden gatherings, all while in reality, life moves on probably not that much differently from what you experience in Ontario.

Now that the offensive word has been changed to “unnecessarily restrictive”, I don’t see any reason to burden ourselves with a discussion about how the CoVid measures compare in our respective home provinces, as I believe that all governments in this country are genuinely trying to carefully find the fragile balance to curb the pandemic without undermining the public acceptance which is necessary to have these measures succeed. That said, Quebec’s ban of opening shops on Sundays back in April (to give retail workers “a brief reprieve from the constant work”, as if regulating opening hours were the only way to influence work conditions!) was an extraordinarily counter-productive (and entirely superfluous) measure while simultaneously trying to discourage crowding in shops...

 

[nfitz]

.. life moves on probably not that much differently from what you experience in Ontario.

Probably unchanged for many, especially those with privilege. Quite different I suspect for some. No one has been arrested for taking a walk here at night - which is good, as it's the only time I can get my teenager walking. And of course the homeless were exempt from the order from day one - as one would expect.

And lots of late night trips to the corner store. Quite frankly, I prefer to pop out later when things are emptier. Less people in the store the safer. And if I have to drive over to the office and grab something, it's much easier and safer in the evening.

And of course, schools remain on-line here, with the requirement to stay at home 24/7.

But we digress from the subject of VIA's lack of essential service between Ottawa and Montreal. It's really odd that GO is providing better service on remote (and in some cases longer) routes.

 

[Bordercollie]

Probably unchanged for many, especially those with privilege. Quite different I suspect for some. No one has been arrested for taking a walk here at night - which is good, as it's the only time I can get my teenager walking. And of course the homeless were exempt from the order from day one - as one would expect.

And lots of late night trips to the corner store. Quite frankly, I prefer to pop out later when things are emptier. Less people in the store the safer. And if I have to drive over to the office and grab something, it's much easier and safer in the evening.

And of course, schools remain on-line here, with the requirement to stay at home 24/7.

But we digress from the subject of VIA's lack of essential service between Ottawa and Montreal. It's really odd that GO is providing better service on remote (and in some cases longer) routes.

I dont think you are taking into consideration that GO Transit tends to serve a specific region and mostly commuters. Ottawa and Montreal are different regions (Provinces), so the whole point it to prevent people from travelling between regions unless necessary. So think of it this way, people need the GO train to travel to work and back home usually in the same day.

What mandatory reason would you have to move between regions? Possibly for work (essential worker)? Possibly to meet a family member who is ill? There aren't as many reasons. Even when we where in the grey zone the train was only 25% occupied, and that was before the stay at home order. So I dont think 10% occupancy justifies running every train, but you can still get to your destination and back, it might not be on the same day or as convenient as before but you still can.

If that doesnt work for you, take the bus (Megabus is still running).

 

[roger1818]

But we digress from the subject of VIA's lack of essential service between Ottawa and Montreal. It's really odd that GO is providing better service on remote (and in some cases longer) routes.

Agreed. To bring things back full circle, I find it odd that VIA is cancelling train 24 but keeping train 28 considering the latter arrives in Quebec well after curfew. If VIA must only have 1 train a day and they must have it go from Ottawa to Quebec, then I would suggest that having a train that leaves Ottawa around 8:00, arriving in Quebec by about 2:30. For the reverse trip it could leave around 4:00 and get into Ottawa around 10:00 (the reverse of trains (the reverse of trains 35 and 28). Not perfect, but no curfews will be broken.

 

[smallspy]

Since VIA predominantly uses CN's track (with some exceptions), does CN dictate which numbers VIA can use, or can VIA use any number they want? It seems that, with the exception of the Sudbury-White River train (which uses CP track exclusively), VIA only uses numbers less than 100 and in the 600's.

Yes. Their train numbers need to work within the host railroad's numbering schemes, so that everyone can communicate with everyone else.

Thankfully, VIA's trains on CN already have a pre-set prefix - P. This is then followed by 3 numerical digits, a region code and then a date code. (Anything with less than 3 digits gets prefixed with 1 or 2 zeros.) This allows them to identify every train on their system correctly, even if there are multiple trains with the same number active (such as the Canadian).

Admittedly I know less about CP's dispatching system, but seeing as how CN's can handle 4-digit train identifiers, it may be that in the future we see that become their standard. GO has already done this.

Dan

 

[Urban Sky]

Not perfect, but no curfews will be broken.

To provide yet another example that VIA is recognized as an essential service:

Curfew
Since January 9, 2021, a curfew is in effect. Between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. Quebecers must not leave their homes except in cases that justify travel.

Allowed exceptions:

• A person whose presence is required at the person’s place of work or who is transporting goods needed for the ongoing activities of the person’s enterprise;
• A person who is going to a pharmacy to obtain medication or pharmaceutical, hygienic or sanitary products;
• A person who must go to or return from a hospital, a clinic, or a dentist’s or optometrist’s office;
• A person who must visit a sick or injured parent;
• A student who must participate in a face-to-face evening class or go to a laboratory in a recognized school;
• A parent who must accompany his or her children to the home of the other parent who has custody of them;
• A person who, for final travel to the person’s destination, must take an inter-regional or inter-provincial bus, a train, a plane or a boat providing ferry service on the Matane Baie-Comeau-Godbout, Harrington Harbour-Chevery, Rivière Saint‑Augustin or Île d’Entrée-Cap-aux-Meules route, or a maritime service to Île‑de‑la‑Madeleine, Île d’Anticosti or the Lower North Shore operated by the Société des traversiers du Québec;
• A person who must go out so that his dog can do its business, within a radius of no more than one kilometre from the person’s place of residence or temporary residence;
• A person who must travel in order to comply with a court judgment, to respond to a summons to appear before a court, or to exercise custody or access rights as a parent;
• A person who must accompany to a medical appointment another person who is unable to drive;
• A parent who must accompany a sick child to the hospital;
• A person travelling to give blood under the supervision of Héma-Québec;
• A parent who must accompany an adolescent to his work.

Measures in force

Map of COVID-19 alert levels by region to find out the alert level in your region.

www.quebec.ca

 

[roger1818]

If that doesnt work for you, take the bus (Megabus is still running).

Except Megabus doesn't serve Ottawa (or Quebec City) and Greyhound still isn't offering service to Montreal from Ottawa. While I agree people shouldn't be doing non essential travel (be it intra or inter provincial) right now, there are reasons people need to travel (as @p_xavier highlighted).

 

[Urban Sky]

Except Megabus doesn't serve Ottawa (or Quebec City) and Greyhound still isn't offering service to Montreal from Ottawa. While I agree people shouldn't be doing non essential travel (be it intra or inter provincial) right now, there are reasons people need to travel (as @p_xavier highlighted).

I fully agree, but just a minor nitpick: Orleans Express has resumed service between Montreal and Quebec City and currently offers four round-trips per day (with some of them also taking advantage of its recognition as an essential service, just like VIA with trains 28 and 68):

https://www.orleansexpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/A-Grille-Horaire-OE-MTL-QC-Aout2020-E5.png

 

[roger1818]

I fully agree, but just a minor nitpick: Orleans Express has resumed service between Montreal and Quebec City and currently offers four round-trips per day (with some of them also taking advantage of its recognition as an essential service, just like VIA with trains 28 and 68):
View attachment 297909

https://www.orleansexpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/A-Grille-Horaire-OE-MTL-QC-Aout2020-E5.png

Nice to know. Then why did VIA prioritize same day round trip service from Quebec to Montreal over Ottawa to Montreal where no such alternative exists?

 

[Urban Sky]

Nice to know. Then why did VIA prioritize same day round trip service from Quebec to Montreal over Ottawa to Montreal where no such alternative exists?

You can’t just schedule trains without considering interdependencies with other services and routes, as was pointed out in a different forum:

I suppose there are questions of equipment and crew cycling that have to be taken into account when deciding which trains to keep and which to suspend. And I think some effort has been made to preserve connections; you can still do Quebec - Toronto or Montreal - Windsor in both directions (though Windsor - Ottawa is no longer possible). But the latest schedule is surely less than optimal.

Re: Corridor frequency reduction, Feb 2

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