VIA Rail

[reaperexpress]

Then how about increasing the speeds from 60 to 80-90mph?

The speed on the VIA portion (west of Chatham) is already 100 mph (161 km/h), and if I'm not mistaken, the CN portion is already 80 mph (129 km/h).

The analysis above of the Glencoe siding situation is good, although complicated if we want both trains to make a station stop. Starting from the principle that investments should be designed to make CN dispatchers happy by improving freight fluidity and keeping VIA trains on-time and in their slots is a good way to keep passengers happy. In my experience, 73 is also often held out on the Strathroy Sub main track at Komoka awaiting 76, thereby tying up both tracks until 76 shows up. That causes avoidable inconvenience to both freight and passengers. A siding at the old Komoka station location would at least allow a late-running 73 to get out of the way of CN without going all the way to Glencoe and delaying 76.

I don't think we need to maintain so many scheduled stops at Glencoe. Ridership (and potential ridership) from that station is minimal, to the point that trains often don't have any boardings or alightings. It doesn't seem like too much of a stretch that if two trains are scheduled to meet at or near Glencoe, only one of them is scheduled to stop. The potential benefit to thru passengers would far outweigh the disbenefit to the people in/around Glencoe.

 

[TerryJohnson]

I don't think we need to maintain so many scheduled stops at Glencoe. Ridership (and potential ridership) from that station is minimal, to the point that trains often don't have any boardings or alightings. It doesn't seem like too much of a stretch that if two trains are scheduled to meet at or near Glencoe, only one of them is scheduled to stop. The potential benefit to thru passengers would far outweigh the disbenefit to the people in/around Glencoe.

I could argue that if Glencoe and the surrounding villages has half-decent transit into London and Chatham, a train stop would be unnecessary. However, if they had half decent transit into Glencoe and more trains called there, providing a decent set of travel options, then the on/offs there would be rather better. There's also something to be said for having a stop outside London, because a much of the advantage of not driving into Toronto is lost if you have to drive into London and fork out for expensive downtown parking before catching the train.

Balancing service coverage over end to end travel time is a bit easier if intermediate stops don't take so long, but we're stuck with low-level platforms at most locations for the foreseeable future...

 

[Bordercollie]

The speed on the VIA portion (west of Chatham) is already 100 mph (161 km/h), and if I'm not mistaken, the CN portion is already 80 mph (129 km/h).



I don't think we need to maintain so many scheduled stops at Glencoe. Ridership (and potential ridership) from that station is minimal, to the point that trains often don't have any boardings or alightings. It doesn't seem like too much of a stretch that if two trains are scheduled to meet at or near Glencoe, only one of them is scheduled to stop. The potential benefit to thru passengers would far outweigh the disbenefit to the people in/around Glencoe.

I just felt that it was slow because there was a problem with two crossings where someone damaged the wires resulting in someone being required to flag the crossing.

At the same time there was damage to the signal system resulting in a slow order from Glencoe to Chatham.

 

[drum118]

The past year has come with its fair share of challenges, but as the country begins to reopen, we’re looking forward to regaining a sense of normalcy—together. We know that we haven’t been in touch as often, but we’re happy to be able to share some positive news. We kept moving forward with our modernization projects, and our brand-new fleet will begin to arrive in the Québec City–Windsor corridor in late 2022. The new fleet was designed to offer our passengers a more comfortable, accessible, sustainable and reliable travel experience, and we can’t wait to share more. Here is a first sneak peek below. Stay tuned for more information, and we hope to see you soon! ​

Building the train of tomorrow didn’t start yesterday. Our teams have been working on it for 4 years. How long will our new trains last? 30 years or 9,600,000 km. A cleaner fleet equipped with state-of-the-art diesel engines. 1 brand new train is nice. But 32 in the next few years is even better!

 

[OntarioOnTheMove]

Another announcement about improving passenger service to the southwest today, but more noteably, this one took place in Brantford.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1423277429125226496

Government of Canada to explore opportunities to enhance passenger rail services in Southwestern Ontario

The Government of Canada is committed to working towards enhancing and modernizing intercity passenger rail services in a way that will best meet the transportation needs of travellers, as outlined in the vision for Transportation 2030.

www.canada.ca

 

[Bordercollie]

Another announcement about improving passenger service to the southwest today, but more noteably, this one took place in Brantford.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1423277429125226496

Government of Canada to explore opportunities to enhance passenger rail services in Southwestern Ontario

The Government of Canada is committed to working towards enhancing and modernizing intercity passenger rail services in a way that will best meet the transportation needs of travellers, as outlined in the vision for Transportation 2030.

www.canada.ca

How about starting with increasing train trips on the corridor now? I heard that they are bringing back trains that were suspended during covid sometime in August.

 

[ManyQuestions]

How about starting with increasing train trips on the corridor now? I heard that they are bringing back trains that were suspended during covid sometime in August.

They recently brought back third ottawa-montreal train but I'm still driving despite having tons of via points because they are missing times that work with my work and classes... I like the train but I can't justify using it much anymore with the higher covid prices, reduces frequencies, and longer queues. I understand that it's because of pandemic, the new id rules, and that people generally shouldn't be traveling for leasure now, but I'm still disappointed that we now seem to get have indefinitely lost much of the intercity public transit service in the Toronto-Quebec corridor. (Idk about West of Toronto)

Hopefully this announcement is good news.

 

[allengeorge]

Another announcement about improving passenger service to the southwest today, but more noteably, this one took place in Brantford.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1423277429125226496

Government of Canada to explore opportunities to enhance passenger rail services in Southwestern Ontario

The Government of Canada is committed to working towards enhancing and modernizing intercity passenger rail services in a way that will best meet the transportation needs of travellers, as outlined in the vision for Transportation 2030.

www.canada.ca

I don’t believe anything the Federal government says about VIA until there’s construction happening. So many announcements about studies and vision. Who cares. I want action.

 

[Garuda]

Another announcement about improving passenger service to the southwest today, but more noteably, this one took place in Brantford.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1423277429125226496

Government of Canada to explore opportunities to enhance passenger rail services in Southwestern Ontario

The Government of Canada is committed to working towards enhancing and modernizing intercity passenger rail services in a way that will best meet the transportation needs of travellers, as outlined in the vision for Transportation 2030.

www.canada.ca

Never go full Steven Del Duca.

you can tell the Liberals are in full election mode with empty promises no actual actions.
At least Metrolinx ran a train to London to test potential service.

 

[Bojaxs]

I know it's outdated technology (at least for everywhere in the world, except Canada), but would Via's HFR be quicker and cheaper to implement if we used HS diesel trains? The British did it with the Class 43 trains. Fastest diesel trains in the world (125mph/ 200km/h). Plus the trains look better without all the over hanging cables, wires, etc.

 

[reaperexpress]

I know it's outdated technology (at least for everywhere in the world, except Canada), but would Via's HFR be quicker and cheaper to implement if we used HS diesel trains? The British did it with the Class 43 trains. Fastest diesel trains in the world (125mph/ 200km/h). Plus the trains look better without all the over hanging cables, wires, etc.

These also go 125 mph / 200 km/h:

Electrification of the HFR route is purely a greenwashing exercise. There's no way the cost/benefit makes sense with 1 intercity train per hour. You could reduce far more emissions if that money were instead spent electrifying rail lines with frequent local service, such as the O-Train Trillium line, and setting up battery-bus charging infrastructure for local bus services.

 

[kEiThZ]

Electrification of the HFR route is purely a greenwashing exercise.

Yep. That $2B would have bought a whole lot of track improvements. They could have easily saved electrification for 10-15 years down the road when electrification could have been paired with a fleet replacement and they had an idea of where the Charger fleet could be redeployed.

 

[cplchanb]

Yep. That $2B would have bought a whole lot of track improvements. They could have easily saved electrification for 10-15 years down the road when electrification could have been paired with a fleet replacement and they had an idea of where the Charger fleet could be redeployed.

well, regardless... its moving forward and hopefully if the govt changes we wont see a flip flop like the ontario hsr. we really need this whatever the direction is.

 

[reaperexpress]

well, regardless... its moving forward and hopefully if the govt changes we wont see a flip flop like the ontario hsr. we really need this whatever the direction is.

Definitely. While I think the electrification is wasteful as part of the initial buildout, I certainly won't be opposing the project on that basis. We also don't know the details of the project plan yet. It's possible that electrification will be included as a later stage that could easily be cut if a more budget-conscious government were elected.

 

[felix123]

Definitely. While I think the electrification is wasteful as part of the initial buildout, I certainly won't be opposing the project on that basis. We also don't know the details of the project plan yet. It's possible that electrification will be included as a later stage that could easily be cut if a more budget-conscious government were elected.

I'm looking forward to electrification for that satisfying acceleration.
It's also always bothered me that Canada now has no mainline electrification, and on the corridor the source is all hydro and nuclear, whereas Australia has tons of mainline electrification despite primarily powering their network with coal and gas. Finally, there will be some sanity in the world