VIA Rail

[TerryJohnson]

It's absolutely obscene, especially when considering that the public pays for more than half of the construction costs directly and the operating subsidy payments are guaranteed over a period of - effectively - 198 (!) years...

Even more obscene if we add the opportunity costs, like retiring the MR-90 train fleet early and squandering the only recently opened Mascouche project, let alone what a new tunnel to Parc for HFR and Saint-Jérôme trains would cost.

 

[Darwinkgo]

In the menagerie of project risks for HFR as a whole , most of the elephants are "government fails to get its act together about X" which would really worry me if I was trying to write a DBFOM bid because Transport Canada's record is not great. They've failed on track access regulation for decades. Yet the redacted "top risks" section of the JPO report is only half a page, which is less than we see in VIA's corporate reports.

Yeah, the government won't be able to transfer government risk that is for sure.

f I was writing it, the spec would accommodate the service plan already developed, but with future-proofing

Danger is inflexibility, would never be able to see the innovation we have seen in the Go Expansion award if it is too prescriptive.

 

[Allandale25]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1517903054682611716

 

[Bordercollie]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1517903054682611716

I think it's supposed to resume in June.

 

[roger1818]

I stumbled across this video apparently filmed today at the Walkley Yard in Ottawa and if you jump to the 0:15 mark, it shows a train with only a cabcar, locomotive and 1 coach from the new fleet.

 

[Bordercollie]

I stumbled across this video apparently filmed today at the Walkley Yard in Ottawa and if you jump to the 0:15 mark, it shows a train with only a cabcar, locomotive and 1 coach from the new fleet.

I thought they are semi permanently coupled together? Could be doing some testing by breaking up the trainset and towing part of it with another train. But then they wouldn't they park it at the station spur track?

 

[APTA-2048]

I thought they are semi permanently coupled together? Could be doing some testing by breaking up the trainset and towing part of it with another train. But then they wouldn't they park it at the station spur track?

Maybe Via’s Venture sets can be broken up. I believe certain Venture sets for Amtrak are able to be broken up and expanded like their Amfleet cars.

 

[roger1818]

I thought they are semi permanently coupled together?

As you said, semi permanently not permanently. They can be uncollected and recouped, it just takes hours, not minutes like the tight-lock couplers used on the LRC and HEP coaches (the Renaissance coaches have a type of semi permanent couplers).

Could be doing some testing by breaking up the trainset and towing part of it with another train. But then they wouldn't they park it at the station spur track?

It must be in preparation of some type of test, but given that it has both a locomotive and a cab car, I doubt if it is a broken train tow test. Maybe they are doing more testing at the NRC and can’t handle a full length train.

 

[crs1026]

It must be in preparation of some type of test, but given that it has both a locomotive and a cab car, I doubt if it is a broken train tow test. Maybe they are doing more testing at the NRC and can’t handle a full length train.

Reported to be headed for the NRC’s cold weather test facility. A single prototype Siemens coach was tested there a while back, but this would be the first test of an “intact” trainset.

- Paul

 

[Undead]

Saw a Via consist on the RH line today going south at Old Cummer GO. Does this happen often?

 

[Voltz]

Saw a Via consist on the RH line today going south at Old Cummer GO. Does this happen often?

The Lakeshore East Go line is closed this weekend for construction, this would be Via diverting because of the closure.

 

[EnviroTO]

I stumbled across this video apparently filmed today at the Walkley Yard in Ottawa and if you jump to the 0:15 mark, it shows a train with only a cabcar, locomotive and 1 coach from the new fleet.

A locomotive with only two cars is the "Sarnia Special"

 

[Urban Sky]

A locomotive with only two cars is the "Sarnia Special"

More like #85 and #88…

 

[Bordercollie]

I wonder if any of that money earmarked for VIA will go to improving the jointed rail at London and Windsor. I'm sure they could make trip times faster by 10-15 minutes if they could improve those track conditions.

 

[crs1026]

I wonder if any of that money earmarked for VIA will go to improving the jointed rail at London and Windsor. I'm sure they could make trip times faster by 10-15 minutes if they could improve those track conditions.

Jointed rail by itself is not a problem, depending on how worn it is. Stratford-London has never been a heavy traffic line. I have no idea whether the rail is end of life - only the Sperry car knows for sure!

The condition of the subgrade, ties, ballast, and crossings needs to be improved first.

We are talking six zeroes per mile to really get it right.

Not a lot in the scope of GO Expansion, really.

- Paul