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VIA Rail

VIA Train#42 with mechanical issues this aft........

~2hr delay, no a/c, no washrooms before the next train came along joined the consist.


Management in the company can't seem to set a foot right; the mechanical failure is not their fault; and 2 hours isn't the end of the world.....but still one does not get the impression of a proper handling of things.

If you promise to get me somewhere on time in exchange for my money; if you're materially late, you're in breach of contract, if the conditions for which I contracted are not delivered (working washrooms, a/c on a hot day), you're going to pay me.
Sending customers the message that there would be no compensation is asinine.

That's how you get negative publicity and a dive in repeat business that costs you more than the compensation would have.
 
VIA Train#42 with mechanical issues this aft........

~2hr delay, no a/c, no washrooms before the next train came along joined the consist.


Management in the company can't seem to set a foot right; the mechanical failure is not their fault; and 2 hours isn't the end of the world.....but still one does not get the impression of a proper handling of things.

If you promise to get me somewhere on time in exchange for my money; if you're materially late, you're in breach of contract, if the conditions for which I contracted are not delivered (working washrooms, a/c on a hot day), you're going to pay me.
Sending customers the message that there would be no compensation is asinine.

That's how you get negative publicity and a dive in repeat business that costs you more than the compensation would have.
Why not just allow their tickets to be valid on Go transit? That would have been faster.

Imagine this happened at Kingston? It would have been a 7 hour delay.
 
Why not just allow their tickets to be valid on Go transit? That would have been faster.

Imagine this happened at Kingston? It would have been a 7 hour delay.
They are, at least that's what service managers tell me when I get delayed. I never got fare inspected, so I'm not 100% sure.
 
Why not just allow their tickets to be valid on Go transit? That would have been faster.
How would GO be of any help in getting the passengers from Oshawa to Ottawa or to any city inbetween?

More generally: a post on BlogTO is not a reliable news article and an individual Twitter account not a reliable eyewhitness to base a news story on…
 
How would GO be of any help in getting the passengers from Oshawa to Ottawa or to any city inbetween?

More generally: a post on BlogTO is not a reliable news article and an individual Twitter account not a reliable eyewhitness to base a news story on…
Only if the train was heading to Toronto and became disabled at the station.
 
A little context - somebody was apparently working diligently on corrective action, because a replacement loco was taken off the next train to reach the scene (which was headed in the other direction) and the train did continue its run. I can't see how they could have beat that performance.

I would not expect the on-board train service manager to be able to make a call about any compensation, and certainly not within the short timeframe of the delay. If you expand that Twitter thread you would see that VIA did in fact offer the passengers a travel voucher for 50% of the fare. That was likely a decision further up the food chain and the decision makers undoubtedly waited to see what the end delay was before making a decision. I would not expect that offer to be made until after the delay was over.

The train was eastbound out of Toronto, so by Oshawa it most certainly still had a supply of food and drink to bridge the delay.

The particular locomotive model in question draws the Head End Power from the main prime mover (unlike VIA's older units, which have a separate genset for train power). Losing the prime mover on a hot day is going to kill both HVAC and toilets. Something to ponder given that the arriving Charger/Venture design also draws HEP this way - but ultimately, there is no redundancy in power supply so things are going to fail some times.

Unpleasant, but no agency can make decisions as fast as social media can spread the less pleasant view of a situation.

As soon as more Siemens deliveries arrive, the offending locomotive will be razor blades anyways.

- Paul
 
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How would GO be of any help in getting the passengers from Oshawa to Ottawa or to any city inbetween?

More generally: a post on BlogTO is not a reliable news article and an individual Twitter account not a reliable eyewhitness to base a news story on…
It doesn't, but if let's say you have a meeting, class, appointment, etc. and you're 100% going to be late for it because of a delay. And you're still lucky enough to be in GO's coverage. Then, It's good to have the option to turn back and return to Toronto. This actually happened to me a couple of times.
A little context - somebody was apparently working diligently on the breakdown, because a replacement loco was taken off the next train to reach the scene (which was headed in the other direction) and the train did continue its run. I can't see how they could have beat that performance.

I would not expect the on-board train service manager to be able to make a call about any compensation, and certainly not within the short timeframe of the delay. If you expand that Twitter thread you would see that VIA did in fact offer the passengers a travel voucher for 50% of the fare. That was likely a decision further up the food chain and the decision makers undoubtedly waited to see what the end delay was before making a decision. I would not expect that offer to be made until after the delay was over.

The train was eastbound out of Toronto, so by Oshawa it most certainly still had a supply of food and drink to bridge the delay.

The particular locomotive model in question draws the Head End Power from the main prime mover (unlike VIA's older units, which have a separate genset for train power). Losing the prime mover on a hot day is going to kill both HVAC and toilets. Something to ponder with the Charger/Venture design, but ultimately there is no redundancy in power supply so things are going to fail some times.

Unpleasant, but no agency can make decisions as fast as social media can spread the less pleasant view of a situation.

As soon as more Siemens deliveries arrive, the offending locomotive will be razor blades anyways.

- Paul
The P42s are horrible for HEP cutouts the service managers would joke and say someone forgot to pay the power bill. I've never had one happen on an F40.
 
It doesn't, but if let's say you have a meeting, class, appointment, etc. and you're 100% going to be late for it because of a delay. And you're still lucky enough to be in GO's coverage. Then, It's good to have the option to turn back and return to Toronto. This actually happened to me a couple of times.

The P42s are horrible for HEP cutouts the service managers would joke and say someone forgot to pay the power bill. I've never had one happen on an F40.
At least with the new fleet they did a test to ensure that GO trains can tow a disabled VIA trainset. Not sure they they can't do that now.

It should just be standard practice that you can use your VIA ticket on the Lakeshore line.

And if there is an incident such as this Via can make a payment for X number of passengers on board the time times the fare from Oshawa to Union for example.
 
It should just be standard practice that you can use your VIA ticket on the Lakeshore line.
“Show any VIA ticket and ride any Lakeshore East GO train for free?”

The devil is in the details or how would you as GO prevent that passengers book VIA tickets and refund them minutes later just to ride your train for free?
 
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“Show any VIA ticket and ride any Lakeshore East GO train for free?”

The devil is in the details or how would you as GO prevent that passengers book VIA tickets and refund them minutes later just to ride your train for free?
Maybe the VIA attendant notify the control center to inform Metrolinx that VIA passengers will be traveling from X to Y today and is only valid for the next two hours?
 

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