VIA Rail

[Allandale25]

VIA Rail's new fleet makes its Toronto debut

Running between Toronto and Ottawa, the 'state-of-the-art' train will be stationed and serviced at the Toronto Maintenance Centre

nationalpost.com

 

[Urban Sky]

With today marking the the first regular deployment of Siemens sets West of Ottawa and a further step towards post-Covid normalcy, it's a good moment to look at the evolution of VIA's Corridor mileage:

At this point, the only pre-Covid trains missing are:

• Montreal-Ottawa: 34 and 635.
• Ottawa-Toronto: 644&646 and 43&647 (all these trains run again, but less frequent than pre-Covid)
• Kingston-Toronto: 650 and 651/655.
• Toronto-London: 88 and 85.

On the other hand, there have been some service expansions, bringing the mileage for certain segments beyond 100% of pre-Covid levels:

• Quebec-Montreal: 28 and 39 now operate 7 and not just 6 days per week
• London-Windsor: 70 and 79 now operate 7 and not just 6 days per week

Edit: Maybe one more final thing to add: Ottawa=>Toronto is now at 8 departures on Saturdays and 9 on Sundays, which is one departure more than ever and Toronto=>Ottawa is now 10 departures on Sundays, which is even two departures more than ever:

 

[micheal_can]

VIA Rail's new fleet makes its Toronto debut

Running between Toronto and Ottawa, the 'state-of-the-art' train will be stationed and serviced at the Toronto Maintenance Centre

nationalpost.com

We shouldn't be celebrating new equipment. However, the way the Canadian government tends to be, every new piece of equipment for any federal department/agency is time for celebration.

 

[Urban Sky]

We shouldn't be celebrating new equipment. However, the way the Canadian government tends to be, every new piece of equipment for any federal department/agency is time for celebration.

90% of the VIA-related announcements I‘ve heard from the current government did not mark any measurable improvement for VIA. To anyone not obsessed with seeing daily passenger rail service restored over rural (and thus absurdly unsuitable) corridors, the arrival of the first new fleet of intercity passenger cars or trainsets in 40 years is certainly a welcome exception from that depressing rule…

 

[crs1026]

With today marking the the first regular deployment of Siemens sets West of Ottawa and a further step towards post-Covid normalcy, it's a good moment to look at the evolution of VIA's Corridor mileage:

Superb contribution and a great reality check.The glass is more than half full in terms of VIA squeezing in every train it can given budget and CN/CP constraints.

Now if we could attack timekeeping......

- Paul

 

[reaperexpress]

The Ventures should improve timekeeping somewhat thanks to their higher permitted speeds and ability to run in both directions.

I was reminded of the latter watching train 26 do that time consuming three-point turn to back out of Montréal and head towards Québec, costing the train 10 minutes while it was already 25 minutes late.

Has anyone heard any updates on the booking system which would allow Siemens trains to reverse directions at Montréal in the middle of their route, avoiding the need for this three-point turn?

 

[micheal_can]

90% of the VIA-related announcements I‘ve heard from the current government did not mark any measurable improvement for VIA. To anyone not obsessed with seeing daily passenger rail service restored over rural (and thus absurdly unsuitable) corridors, the arrival of the first new fleet of intercity passenger cars or trainsets in 40 years is certainly a welcome exception from that depressing rule…

I have not heard any announcements for Via from the government. TBH, they really could say nothing so long as things get better. Reality is, until a new long distance fleet is ordered, not much will 'excite' me.

 

[Urban Sky]

I have not heard any announcements for Via from the government. TBH, they really could say nothing so long as things get better. Reality is, until a new long distance fleet is ordered, not much will 'excite' me.

We all know, but your extremely narrow focus makes for frustratingly repetitive, tiring and boring discussions with you…

 

[reaperexpress]

We all know, but your extremely narrow focus makes for frustratingly repetitive, tiring and boring discussions with you…

I'm telling you, the ignore function will do wonders for your mental health. There's no need to see posts from people who never have valuable contributions to the discussion and/or are incapable of internalizing new information.

 

[micheal_can]

I'm telling you, the ignore function will do wonders for your mental health. There's no need to see posts from people who never have valuable contributions to the discussion and/or are incapable of internalizing new information.

It is why there is minimal back and forth with me.

 

[reaperexpress]

Revisit those trains with implausible travel times we previously identified and you should see that the departure times at some intermediary stations have been substantially modified to make them more realistic…

It's interesting how Via manages to change the timetables between Toronto, Ottawa and Montréal so quickly, meanwhile the timetable Via 87 (Toronto-Kitchener-London-Sarnia) still hasn't been updated to reflect changes to track speeds which occurred three years ago.

In September I emailed Via the following:

The schedule for VIA 87 is unrealistic to the point that it is physically impossible for the train to arrive in London on time. This is due to the inadequate time between Kitchener and London.

Meanwhile, there is excessive time scheduled between Toronto and Kitchener, which results in trains often arriving in Brampton, Guelph and Kitchener early and sitting around waiting for the scheduled time to catch up. Cutting about 10 minutes off the Toronto-Kitchener travel time and increasing the Kitchener-London time by the same amount would significantly improve on-time performance without needing to negotiate new schedules for the segment west of London.

As an optional additional suggestion, I think VIA 87 should skip Georgetown on weekdays, since serving it requires switching manoeuvres which reduce speeds and increase conflicts with CN freight trains. On weekdays passengers from Georgetown can easily take the 18:11 GO train to Guelph and catch VIA 87 there with a brief and convenient transfer.

Thank you for your consideration, and I hope that the schedule for VIA 87 can be improved in the relatively near future.

They responded:

Thank you for your email concerning our schedules between Toronto (Union Station) and London.

We regret that the current schedule does not suit your needs. Schedules are made with an objective of increasing ridership by responding to the needs of the market and better serving the majority of our customers. Our schedules are reviewed periodically in an attempt to match customer demand as perceived through marketing surveys and ridership studies, according to the options presented by VIA resources and constraints. Examples of the latter include the time slots allotted to us on CN and CP tracks, as well as equipment cycling and servicing. We realize that every schedule has some drawbacks, and we must select the most convenient for the majority of our customers. I apologize for the inconvenience this causes you.

Again, thank you for writing. Customer feedback is a valuable tool in our continuing efforts to provide a service that meets and exceeds our customers’ expectations. We would welcome the opportunity to serve you again soon.

This is clearly a canned response from the PR group given that it talks about the schedule "not suiting my needs". I wasn't saying that the schedule was inconvenient for me, I was saying that it is objectively incorrect.

The portions about "customer demand", "marketing surveys and ridership studies" also have nothing to do with my request to adjust schedules between Toronto, Kitchener and London to reflect actual travel times. Something GO has done half a dozen times for the Kitchener/London line since VIA 87's current schedule was written. That portion of the response was presumably written for someone who was requesting more service or service at a different time of day.

The most annoying part of this response is that it sounds like my comment was tossed out by the PR group and never actually made it to the scheduling group who might have actually found it useful.

 

[Urban Sky]

I'm telling you, the ignore function will do wonders for your mental health. There's no need to see posts from people who never have valuable contributions to the discussion and/or are incapable of internalizing new information.

Thank you for your suggestion and just a quick note to everyone else: it doesn’t have to be May (mental health month) to actually do something for your mental health and the more people join me and @reaperexpress, the less we‘ll have to watch you jump over every stick he‘s holding for you…

It's interesting how Via manages to change the timetables between Toronto, Ottawa and Montréal so quickly, meanwhile the timetable Via 87 (Toronto-Kitchener-London-Sarnia) still hasn't been updated to reflect changes to track speeds which occurred three years ago.

In September I emailed Via the following:


They responded:


This is clearly a canned response from the PR group given that it talks about the schedule "not suiting my needs". I don't email transit agencies when their schedules aren't convenient to me in particular, I email them when their schedules are objectively incorrect.

The portions about "customer demand", "marketing surveys and ridership studies" also have nothing to do with my request to adjust schedules between Toronto, Kitchener and London to reflect actual travel times. Something GO has done half a dozen times for the Kitchener/London line since VIA 87's current schedule was written. That portion of the response was presumably written for someone who was requesting more service or service at a different time of day.

The most annoying part of this response is that it sounds like my comment was tossed out by the PR group and never actually made it to the scheduling group who might have actually found it useful.

I must admit that the inertia in VIA‘s scheduling department (one just has to remember the obscure Friday-only stop of train of Train 26 in Coteau which - unlike all other non-daily stops on the Corridor - refuses to die, more than 30 years after it first appeared in 1992) and the great firewall between VIA‘s passenger-facing and operations-facing departments were two reasons why I quit VIA after six years (the last three of which in the aforementioned department). I’m still paying for that decision though with heavy withdrawal symptoms from no longer having access to their employee rail pass, which granted me and (in Economy Class) my family and (if they were travelling with me) friends free VIA travel almost at will…

 

[Urban Sky]

It's interesting how Via manages to change the timetables between Toronto, Ottawa and Montréal so quickly, meanwhile the timetable Via 87 (Toronto-Kitchener-London-Sarnia) still hasn't been updated to reflect changes to track speeds which occurred three years ago.

In September I emailed Via the following:


They responded:


This is clearly a canned response from the PR group given that it talks about the schedule "not suiting my needs". I wasn't saying that the schedule was inconvenient for me, I was saying that it is objectively incorrect.

The portions about "customer demand", "marketing surveys and ridership studies" also have nothing to do with my request to adjust schedules between Toronto, Kitchener and London to reflect actual travel times. Something GO has done half a dozen times for the Kitchener/London line since VIA 87's current schedule was written. That portion of the response was presumably written for someone who was requesting more service or service at a different time of day.

The most annoying part of this response is that it sounds like my comment was tossed out by the PR group and never actually made it to the scheduling group who might have actually found it useful.

I have been contacted by a silent reader of this forum, who reported to have received a response from VIA back in 2011 (!), which „was absolutely identical to the one reaperexpress received, except it said "newly announced schedule" instead of "current schedule" in its first sentence“, despite having made „a quite different suggestion“ than what you‘ve made. He also reported that he knows someone who received exactly the same reply as you, despite the fact that his question pertained the Sleeper accommodation types loaded into ReserVIA and had therefore absolutely zero to do with scheduling.

Make from that what you will…

 

[EnviroTO]

Or we could assume this wasn't a PR style auto response and is a statement of policy...

We regret that the current schedule does not suit your needs.

You stated a need that the schedule represent reality... they feel bad about that but....

Schedules are made with an objective of increasing ridership by responding to the needs of the market and better serving the majority of our customers.

they make schedules to give the illusion of customers getting what they want in order to increase ridership. You could say it is purposeful false advertising. Time to talk to the press and lawyers

 

[roger1818]

Edit: Maybe one more final thing to add: Ottawa=>Toronto is now at 8 departures on Saturdays and 9 on Sundays, which is one departure more than ever and Toronto=>Ottawa is now 10 departures on Sundays, which is even two departures more than ever:
View attachment 515398

Could you show a similar chart for Montreal-Ottawa? I would love to see an increase of the westbound Saturday service. Even in 2019 there were only 3 trains a day (oddly there were 4 trains eastbound). Sundays had 5 trains both ways and, as previously discussed, weekdays had 6 each way. This route is mostly on track owned by VIA, but, as also previously discussed, it has to deal with the congestion at Coteau.