Northern Light
Superstar
You have so many skills and talents, not merely those your professional history would indicate; you do magic as well!
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VIA Rail
- Thread starter ehlow
- Start date
You have so many skills and talents, not merely those your professional history would indicate; you do magic as well!
chrisvazquez7
Active Member
And what about Edmonton - Calgary. How come that isn't on the list?
lenaitch
Senior Member
Either that or keyboard boredom while watching the Olympics.You have so many skills and talents, not merely those your professional history would indicate; you do magic as well!
p_xavier
Active Member
Seems a bit silly for such a name change.
crs1026
Superstar
^The meat of the legislation is hard to discern to we sidewalk observers. I presume that the changes in which Acts apply to VIA affects how it receives funding and how it is positioned in the Federal bureaucracy… maybe someone can explain?
The Schedule of routes to be served appears to be left at the mercy of the Governor in Council…. ie the Cabinet. That’s not much of an improvement from today. I don’t see anything explicit that sets a level of transparency or a process for public input. Nor does it declare (in plain words, anyways) how much autonomy and arms-length policymaking and freedom to offer independent and objective analysis and advocacy it can exercise. (mumble Metrolinx mumble) Does it have the ability to seek its own investment capital?
If the Board is set by Cabinet and the routes are set by Cabinet, the business remains highly political and not really free to pursue an aggressive business development strategy or act in its own best interest. But maybe the legalese is beyond me ?
So while I have long wanted to see VIA get this kind of footing, I’m still looking for the assurance that this legislation corrects the things that have held VIA back. I’m very eager to stand corrected on all of the above.
- Paul
The Schedule of routes to be served appears to be left at the mercy of the Governor in Council…. ie the Cabinet. That’s not much of an improvement from today. I don’t see anything explicit that sets a level of transparency or a process for public input. Nor does it declare (in plain words, anyways) how much autonomy and arms-length policymaking and freedom to offer independent and objective analysis and advocacy it can exercise. (mumble Metrolinx mumble) Does it have the ability to seek its own investment capital?
If the Board is set by Cabinet and the routes are set by Cabinet, the business remains highly political and not really free to pursue an aggressive business development strategy or act in its own best interest. But maybe the legalese is beyond me ?
So while I have long wanted to see VIA get this kind of footing, I’m still looking for the assurance that this legislation corrects the things that have held VIA back. I’m very eager to stand corrected on all of the above.
- Paul
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Urban Sky
Senior Member
Because it's a list of VIA's current network and Montreal-Gaspé and Victoria-Courtenay are simply "indefinitely suspended" (due to unsafe track conditions) without having fallen victim to any budget cuts.
That list merely protects the Status Quo, nothing more...
innsertnamehere
Superstar
Also for Toronto - Niagara Falls Service.. which hasn't operated in nearly 2 years now and even when it did operate, it was only on technicality using Amtrak equipment from the Maple Leaf on a once daily trip at odd hours. It's been years since an actual VIA train went to Niagara Falls. There is a reason Niagara is pushing for the GO Train so much.
Bordercollie
Senior Member
Go train to Niagara is being worked on.
Bordercollie
Senior Member
What about restoring the Canadian to daily service? Would that be a possibility?
roger1818
Senior Member
Even though the Maple Leaf used Amtrak equipment, it was still operated as a VIA Rail train with VIA Rail crew. As a result unless Amtrak plans to cancel the train permanently (which I highly doubt), it still counts as a VIA Rail service.
Bordercollie
Senior Member
There used to be 4 trips a day before cut backs....
Fritter
Active Member
How many VIA Rail Acts have died on the order paper over the years? This seems like such a broken record in Ottawa during my lifetime.
Urban Sky
Senior Member
By the count of our friends at High Speed Rail Canada, at least five:
VIA RAIL CANADA ACT Introduced Again In Parliament
Another VIA RAIL CANADA ACT has been introduced into parliament in Canada
EnviroTO
Senior Member
This is an amendment to legislation from 1996 and the only change is that they are dropping "Inc." from their name. The above bill points out all the places in the original legislation where the words "VIA Rail Canada Inc" occurs. and replaces that with "VIA Rail Canada" and that is it. There is no new "meat". The legislation (like all others passed in government) is available online: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-10.4/fulltext.html .
Urban Sky
Senior Member
Even though I take pride in being probably the most vocal defender of VIA's existing non-Corridor services on this forum, my problem with extending any non-Corridor service levels beyond the current ones is that investing the same incremental subsidy in intercity bus rather than rail services would almost certainly represent a dramatically higher utility and value-for-money, as this comparison of VIA Rail's and ONTC's unit costs suggests:
| Metric | VIA Rail (2018, entire network) | VIA Rail (2018, Corridor only) | Ontario Northland (2018, Motor Coach Services only) | VIA Rail (rail) vs. ONTC (bus) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled timetable volume | 10,983,773 km | 8,701,131 km | 3,821,706 km | 2.9 (Corridor: 2.3) times |
| Direct operating expenses | $328.8 million | $217.0 million | $11.6 million | 28.3 (18.7) times |
| - per timetable-km | $29.94 | $24.94 | $3.04 | 9.9 (8.2) times |
| Fully-allocated operating expenses | $665.2 million | $448.8 million | $14.5 million | 45.9 (31.0) times |
| - per timetable-km | $60.56 | $51.58 | $3.80 | 15.9 (13.6) times |
| Operating deficit (Subsidy) | $272.6 million | $143.4 million | $3.6 million | 76.5 (40.3) times |
| - per timetable-km | $24.82 | $16.48 | $0.93 | 26.7 (17.7) times |
Compiled from: previous posts here on Urban Toronto, using figures from VIA Rail's Summary of the 2019-2023 Corporate Plan (pp. 18-22) and its Annual Plan 2018 (p.9), as well as Ontario Northland's 2017-2018 Annual Report (p. 34)
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