VIA Rail

[Urban Sky]

There are lots of examples of Amtrak providing commuter service in the US. How does that get funded?

Almost by definition, Amtrak doesn’t operate commuter rail services, as it is America’s largest intercity rail provider (by a wide margin). The structuring of its three mandates is not that different from VIA’s, with its operations in the Norteast Corridor being self-sufficient and with the rest of its network being splitbetween State-supported and longhaul routes. The crucial difference is that Amtrak’s non-Corridor routes are split by their length, with every route exceeding 750 miles (1207 km) being a federally-funded “Long-Distance Route”, whereas everything shorter counts as a “State-Supported Route. Conversely, in VIA’s network, non-Corridor routes are only distinguished by whether they link Halifax or Vancouver with the rest of the country (“longhaul”) or remote communities (“regional” or “remote” services).

Conversely, commuter rail networks are generally operated by State or Metropolitan agencies with funding from federal, State and local taxpayers:

Source: AAR


What would such an arrangement mean for Canada? VIA’s Corridor services would operate as they do, but with a slightly stronger focus on reinvesting the operational surplus (direct revenues covered more than 130% of direct operating costs pre-pandemic) in improved service levels. As for the non-Corridor routes, federal taxpayers would only fund the operation of the Canadian (4466 km), Ocean (1356 km) and Winnipeg-Churchill (1697 km), whereas MTRL-HERV-JONQ/SENN (510/717 km), SUDB-WHTR (484 km) and JASP-PHEO-PRUP (1160 km) would be funded by the taxpayers of Quebec (same applies to the 1057 km long MTRL-MTPD-GASP service, if it ever gets reinstated), Ontario and Alberta&BC, respectively. GO, exo and West Coast Express would still fall in the “Commuter Rail” category, but now co-funded by federal and not just provincial and municipal taxpayers…

 

[reaperexpress]

Amtrak does operate commuter rail services in the sense that commuter rail tickets are accepted on certain Amtrak services through arrangements with agencies such as Metrolink (Los Angeles), Coaster (San Diego) and Sounder (Seattle), which are presumably at least partly funded by regional or state governments.

Plus all the state-funded Amtrak services which act partly as commuter services, such as the Capitol Corridor in California or the Hartford line in Connecticut.

 

[Urban Sky]

Amtrak does operate commuter rail services in the sense that commuter rail tickets are accepted on certain Amtrak services through arrangements with agencies such as Metrolink (Los Angeles), Coaster (San Diego) and Sounder (Seattle), which are presumably at least partly funded by regional or state governments.

Plus all the state-funded Amtrak services which act partly as commuter services, such as the Capitol Corridor in California or the Hartford line in Connecticut.

I didn’t know about any of these arrangements and I also don’t find any mention in Amtrak’s own company profile:

 

[reaperexpress]

I didn’t know about any of these arrangements and I also don’t find any mention in Amtrak’s own company profile:

Sorry, I didn't have time to add references my last post, here they are now:

Metrolink Rail2Rail:

Under the Rail 2 Rail® program, Orange and Ventura County corridor Metrolink Monthly Pass holders can travel on Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains, within the station pairs of their pass, at no additional charge, including Saturday and Sunday. Metrolink Monthly Pass holders who travel outside of station pairs identified on their pass are required to purchase an Amtrak ticket for the portion of the trip not within the Monthly Pass station pairs. Metrolink passengers simply show their Monthly Pass and board any Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train to their destination. These additional trains are not available to holders of One-Way and Round-Trip tickets or 7-Day Passes, except for Shared Service trains (A768 and A759) on the Ventura County Line. A Shared Service train is an Amtrak train that operates in a Metrolink train slot. All Metrolink tickets (One-Way, Round-Trip, 7-Day and Monthly passes) are accepted on those trains at any time.

Blackout dates do not affect shared service on Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains 761, 770, 777 and 784 on the Ventura County Line

The Rail 2 Rail® program does NOT include travel on Coast Starlight trains.

Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Monthly Pass holders may ride any Metrolink train, within the station pairs on their pass, at no additional charge.

Amtrak 10-Trip tickets are only accepted on Metrolink trains that operate on the Ventura County Line between Burbank Airport-South and Los Angeles Union Station. All Metrolink ticket types are accepted on Amtrak trains that operate between Burbank Airport-South and Los Angeles Union Station.

Coaster Rail2Rail:

Ride Amtrak Pacific Surfliner® trains with your COASTER Regional Day or Monthly/30-Day Pass between Oceanside and downtown San Diego, with stops at Oceanside Transit Center, Solana Beach, Old Town, and Santa Fe Depot. Board any Pacific Surfliner® train for an express trip along the coastal corridor. See blackout periods below.

• Memorial Day Weekend Friday through Tuesday
• Labor Day Weekend Friday through Tuesday
• Thanksgiving Week November 23 – 30, 2020
• Christmas Week December 23 – 28, 2020

During complete blackouts, Pacific Surfliner trains listed on the COASTER schedule will not accept COASTER fare. Passengers who wish to use Pacific Surfliner trains must purchase an Amtrak ticket.

All Amtrak policies apply to Pacific Surfliner trains. Complete policy information is available at www.Amtrak.com/onboard or by calling 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).

Advance reservations and Amtrak ticket required for passengers with bikes.

Sounder Rail Plus

If you have an ORCA card with a monthly pass, you can ride four weekday Amtrak Cascades trains between Seattle, Edmonds, and Everett free of charge.

You can get a rail plus ticket at Sounder station ticket machines or International District Station.

1. Choose your destination as Everett, Edmonds, or Seattle-King Street
2. Select "Amtrak Rail Plus.
3. Drop your ORCA card into the card slot, and the machine will print a ticket.
4. Show your ticket to Amtrak conductors when boarding and boom, you're on your way.

Virginia Rail Express Step-Up (currently suspended)

Our cross honor agreement with Amtrak allows VRE multi-ride passengers the ability to use the Amtrak trains listed on our schedule, in conjunction with a Step-Up ticket, for commuter travel. Be sure that your ticket is for the proper zones that you are travelling between. For example, if you're detraining at Fredericksburg, and you normally detrain from Leeland Road, the ticket that you're using in conjunction with your Step-Up must cover Fredericksburg. Accepted ticket types are:

• VRE-TLC Ticket
• Monthly Ticket/31-Day Pass
• Seven-Day Pass
• Ten-Trip Tickets

If any of the following Amtrak train numbers are operating: 66, 67, 83, 85, 86, 84, 87, 93, 94, 95, 125, 171, 174, 176, Monday through Friday, even on a weekday holiday when VRE is not running, an Amtrak step-up ticket with a properly zoned VRE Monthly, 5 day pass or 10 ride ticket, will be accepted by Amtrak for travel on that train.

Amtrak numbered trains that are different from any of the above are not considered cross honor trains and cannot be ridden by a VRE passenger with a VRE ticket or step-up. These trains can only be ridden with an Amtrak ticket.

Maryland Area Rail Commuter Cross-Honoring

MARC passengers can use monthly (including TLC tickets) and weekly tickets, on days that MARC operates, on Amtrak trains shown in the current MARC timetable. Travel is restricted to the points indicated by the footnotes in the timetable. Please note that many trains have restrictions on what city pairs MARC tickets are accepted. Tickets must also be of the same or longer destinations to be honored. For example, a Washington-Edgewood ticket is NOT good between Washington and Aberdeen. Please note that Amtrak train 151 WILL NOT accept MARC passengers at Baltimore or BWI, regardless of the origin of the ticket.

MARC monthly and weekly ticket holders may ride select Amtrak Reserved Regional trains that operate Monday through Friday on days that MARC operates. No additional step up fee is required. This rule presently applies to Amtrak trains 137, 151, 181, 85, 148, and 188.

On weekends, monthly and weekly tickets are good on CERTAIN Amtrak reserved Regional trains for no additional charge. Monthly and weekly tickets are NOT valid on any premium service (Metroliner or Acela Express) or Reserved Regional trains 87, 135, 152, 156, 192 & 194; or any long distance trains operating outside of the MARC Penn Line service area.

MARC monthly and weekly tickets are ONLY good on certain Amtrak trains Monday through Friday on days MARC operates and on days MARC does NOT operate as long as they are NOT Federal Holidays, such as the day after Thanksgiving, the day after Christmas, and other similar days. These trains are AMTRAK Trains 137, 151, 181, 85, 148 and 188 and are listed in the MARC schedule. Please read the footnote for all applicable restrictions.

Connecticut Rail Cross-Honoring

Beginning 09/27/2021, Amtrak will honor CTrail Shore Line East monthly and ten-ride tickets on Amtrak Regional trains 86, 93, 94, and 137 between New Haven and New London.

• CTrail Shore Line East monthly and 10 ride customers wishing to use their tickets on approved Amtrak trains must make confirmations through Amtrak’s RideReserve Program prior to boarding a train.
• Amtrak’s RideReserve program requires CTrail Shore Line East customers with Monthly or Ten-Ride tickets to pre-select their intended trip(s) on cross-honored Amtrak trains to ensure ample seating space onboard.
• RideReserve confirmations can be canceled and rebooked, but they cannot be modified.
• A Metro-North UniRail pass will require RideReserve confirmations on Amtrak trains only when a CTrail Shore Line East passenger is traveling between New Haven and New London. CTrail Shore Line East customers with UniRail tickets for travel on these trains will need to make RideReserve confirmations using the UniRail ticket number on Amtrak.com or the Amtrak app.

 

[p_xavier]

VIA did propose a commuter train project for Halifax but the city eventually declined if I remember correctly.

 

[Urban Sky]

Sorry, I didn't have time to add references my last post, here they are now:

Metrolink Rail2Rail:


Coaster Rail2Rail:


Sounder Rail Plus


Virginia Rail Express Step-Up (currently suspended)


Maryland Area Rail Commuter Cross-Honoring


Connecticut Rail Cross-Honoring

Holy moly, my head smokes from just trying to understand some of these policies. Does anyone here have any suggestions how equivalent procedures with VIA and Metrolinx could look like?

VIA did propose a commuter train project for Halifax but the city eventually declined if I remember correctly.

If it had been interested, the city of Halifax would have just contracted VIA to operate its commuter rail service, just like commuter rail networks in Maryland, Southern California and Connecticut contract Amtrak for operation (and eslewhere for track access) or how West Coast Express contracts CP for track access, Bombardier for crewing and VIA for maintenance:

CP used to provide crews, with VIA providing maintenance services as well as on-demand equipment loan as necessary.

Bombardier now provides crews for WCE trains, and has for several years.

Dan

 

[DirectionNorth]

Holy moly, my head smokes from just trying to understand some of these policies. Does anyone here have any suggestions how equivalent procedures with VIA and Metrolinx could look like?


If it had been interested, the city of Halifax would have just contracted VIA to operate its commuter rail service, just like commuter rail networks in Maryland, Southern California and Connecticut contract Amtrak for operation (and eslewhere for track access) or how West Coast Express contracts CP for track access, Bombardier for crewing and VIA for maintenance:

If my memory is correct, it failed because CP rail declined access to tracks very early in the process.

 

[crs1026]

If my memory is correct, it failed because CP rail declined access to tracks very early in the process.

That, and the price tag was out of reach for a municipality the size of Halifax. Neither the province nor Ottawa stepped upto offer funding.

- Paul

 

[lenaitch]

If my memory is correct, it failed because CP rail declined access to tracks very early in the process.

Do you mean CN? I though CP's last holding in Nova Scotia, the Dominion Atlantic Railway, was sold off in the 1990s

 

[crs1026]

Do you mean CN? I though CP's last holding in Nova Scotia, the Dominion Atlantic Railway, was sold off in the 1990s

The confusion may be, CP were consultants to the Halifax proposal. It was CN who would not guarantee the schedule.

- Paul

 

[Allandale25]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1524528927582138369

 

[Bordercollie]

Still doesn't add up unless if the right of way already exists they don't consider it "new"

 

[Urban Sky]

Still doesn't add up unless if the right of way already exists they don't consider it "new"

Why would anyone consider an already existing right-of-way as an entirely new ROW like the proposed bypass around Lac-Mégantic?

 

[Bordercollie]

Why would anyone consider an already existing right-of-way as an entirely new ROW like the proposed bypass around Lac-Mégantic?

Sorry I was talking about the other comment about HFR.

 

[Krypto98]

CP used to provide crews, with VIA providing maintenance services as well as on-demand equipment loan as necessary.

Bombardier now provides crews for WCE trains, and has for several years.

Dan

Isn't it Alstom now? After Alstom bought Bombardier