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VIA Rail

kEiThZ said:
HFR is listed among the projects they are committed to building. You can't on one hand accept they are going to contribute to GO RER and Yonge North, but then dismiss a commitment made in literally the same paragraph, to HFR. Did you read their platform? I did.

I get being partisan. But I take exception when people try and misrepresent what was actually said.



What "west corridor"? There's nothing beyond a commitment to study HFR West from the Liberals. And nothing in that commitment ever said anything about electrification.
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Bordercollie said:
There will likely be a bid to replace the rolling stock with new Superliners, and they could order more Viewliner Sleepers.
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When VIA ordered the P42's where F59's not on their radar? Apparently they are capable of 110mph running (never seen this in reality in Canada) and they are body in frame construction making them easier to maintain. Plus GO transit have them with a proven track record in Canada.

What was the reason for going with the GE's? Amtrak also ordered some F59PHI's around the same time as well but what was it about the genesis that made them more successful than the F59?
 
Bordercollie said:
When VIA ordered the P42's where F59's not on their radar? Apparently they are capable of 110mph running (never seen this in reality in Canada) and they are body in frame construction making them easier to maintain. Plus GO transit have them with a proven track record in Canada.

What was the reason for going with the GE's? Amtrak also ordered some F59PHI's around the same time as well but what was it about the genesis that made them more successful than the F59?
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There were likely a variety of factors, but probably the biggest one was that VIA purchased their P42s in 2001, the same year that EMD delisted their F59PHI as it didn’t meet the EPA’s tier 1 emission standards.

Here are a couple of interesting videos if you want to know more about their histories.


 
roger1818 said:
I don't see how HFR service is viable north of the Ottawa River between Gatineau and Montreal. The best hope for Argenteuil to get rail service would be for EXO to extend a branch of the Saint-Jérôme line to Lachute, but with a CA population of 12,862 (compared to Saint-Jérôme's population of 77,146), I am not sure that even that is viable. Even if you look at all of Argenteuil, its population is only 32,389. The only reason why Casselman and Alexandria (which admittedly are significantly smaller) will be getting service with HFR is they coincidentally happen to be on the ROW between Ottawa and Montreal that VIA already owns and uses.
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They're not advocating for HFR. They want a study done on relaunching the Montreal-Gatineau line. If anything it could be a regional rail line with 3-4 roundtrips per day.

Gatineau is the third largest urban area in Quebec after all. I truly believe every CMA in Quebec should have rail service to Montreal (Saguenay and Quebec City are already served, Trois-Rivières is part of HFR, Sherbrooke has a study being done. Only Gatineau is left, even though technically it is part of the Ottawa CMA and is already served by Via).
 
Xav said:
⁹They're not advocating for HFR. They want a study done on relaunching the Montreal-Gatineau line. If anything it could be a regional rail line with 3-4 roundtrips per day.

Gatineau is the third largest urban area in Quebec after all. I truly believe every CMA in Quebec should have rail service to Montreal (Saguenay and Quebec City are already served, Trois-Rivières is part of HFR, Sherbrooke has a study being done. Only Gatineau is left).
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Gatineau's CMA is already served by VIA and has always been:
20210914_111112.jpg

 
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Urban Sky said:
I got your point, but the mere presence of an interprovincial border is not a sufficient justification for creating an intercity corridor...
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That's why the Argenteuil MRC wants a study done I guess. See if it's viable. The provincial government is planning on improving Highway 50 because traffic has increased significantly since it was completed in 2012. It's not realistic, but one can dream :)
 
Xav said:
That's why the Argenteuil MRC wants a study done I guess. See if it's viable. The provincial government is planning on improving Highway 50 because traffic has increased significantly since it was completed in 2012. It's not realistic, but one can dream :)
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What is the problem such semi-rural intercity lines are trying to fix and why can't it be fixed just as well (if not: even better) but with dramatically less operating and capital subsidies though a coach rather than rail service?
 
Urban Sky said:
What is the problem such semi-rural intercity lines are trying to fix and why can't it be fixed just as well (if not: even better) but with dramatically less operating and capital subsidies though a coach rather than rail service?
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What is the problem with being a railfan and dreaming of rail service? Plus there's no coach service along the north shore of the Ottawa river... Maybe Via should offer that, same as Thruway
 
Xav said:
What is the problem with being a railfan and dreaming of rail service? Plus there's no coach service along the north shore of the Ottawa river... Maybe Via should offer that, same as Thruway
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Nothing wrong with dreaming, but if you want buyin from folks in this thread you may have to limit your scope to dreams that might actually attract serious interest and study from government, operators, or communities, and that might actually be capable of attract funding and commitment from same at some point in the future.

Not that we don’t ever offer our own wonky theories and ideas now and then, mind you….

- Paul
 
Xav said:
What is the problem with being a railfan and dreaming of rail service?
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Feasibility studies cost money. Unless there is evidence that it might be feasible, it would be a waste of money. We can't even get funding for intercity rail plans that have passed their feasibility studies. We should spend our money on building those before studying pipe dreams.

Xav said:
Plus there's no coach service along the north shore of the Ottawa river... Maybe Via should offer that, same as Thruway
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Prior to COVID, Greyhound offered north shore bus service between Ottawa/Gatineau and Montreal. It was temporarily suspended during COVID, which became permanent when Greyhound pulled out of Canada. There is a chance that one of the other bus operators will take over this route once things return to normal (whatever new normal that might look like).
 
Xav said:
What is the problem with being a railfan and dreaming of rail service? Plus there's no coach service along the north shore of the Ottawa river... Maybe Via should offer that, same as Thruway
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Here is the last pre-Covid Greyhound schedule for the Montreal-Lachute-Gatineau-Ottawa service and here is the last pre-Covid VIA schedule. Why don't you sketch down a Amtrak-style throughway bus timetable and present to us what new intermodal connections it would allow for?
 
roger1818 said:
Prior to COVID, Greyhound offered north shore bus service between Ottawa/Gatineau and Montreal. It was temporarily suspended during COVID, which became permanent when Greyhound pulled out of Canada. There is a chance that one of the other bus operators will take over this route once things return to normal (whatever new normal that might look like).
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This is the reason why we need a public option for coach service.
 
Urban Sky said:
Here is the last pre-Covid Greyhound schedule for the Montreal-Lachute-Gatineau-Ottawa service and here is the last pre-Covid VIA schedule. Why don't you sketch down a Amtrak-style throughway bus timetable and present to us what new intermodal connections it would allow for?
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I'm sorry, did I offend you or something? I didn't know comments need to be perfectly realistic in order to be worthy of this thread.
 
Xav said:
I'm sorry, did I offend you or something? I didn't know comments need to be perfectly realistic in order to be worthy of this thread.
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My apologies, I really didn't intend to come across as abrasive. This is just what I do here whenever I want to proof my point or to proof someone else wrong: I sketch down how a thing might look in reality.

And this is the problem I have with your idea: I struggle to imagine how it could be practical and would allow for door-to-door travel times which are remotely competitive with driving. However, I am genuinely curious about what you might come up with, so why don't you give it a "quick and dirty" try? I promise nobody will laugh... :)
 
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