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VIA Rail

dowlingm said:
Nine configs seems like a lot. Will be interesting to see who gets tapped to produce them, and whether they are interoperable with existing cars during ramp up.
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The HEP1 fleet currently consists of 9 types of car: Baggage, coach, Diner, Dome-Lounge, 3 kinds of sleeper (Chateau, Manor and Prestige) and the 2 versions of the Park-series tail end dome cars.

Considering that there is likely to be some standardization of types with the new fleet, plus the addition of the HEP2 replacements into this fleet, 9 car types sounds about right.

Dan
 
micheal_can said:
Is that the same number of cars currently in use on the non Corridor routes?
Click to expand...

I did some rough calculations years ago and came up with 33 Locomotives and 253 cars for non-corridor use.There certianly could be issues with my calculations but these order quantities seem much higher.

EDIT: I should add that I didn't include the RDCs in my calculations, but that won't have that much affect.
 
I counted 104 Renaissance cars in the „Canadian Trackside Guide 2021“ and 154 HEP I cars, but these 258 cars include the proportion of Renaissance cars which were actually allocated to the Corridor and are now retired:

Renaissance
9 BAG
14 CLUB
31 COACH
17 SERVICE
3 DINING
27 SLEEPER
3 BAG TRANSITION

HEP I
25 Coach
29 Chateau*
40 Manor
13 Diner
15 Skyline
18 Baggage
14 Park*
*includes 8 Prestige Chateau and 4 Prestige Park
 
roger1818 said:
I did some rough calculations years ago and came up with 33 Locomotives and 253 cars for non-corridor use.There certianly could be issues with my calculations but these order quantities seem much higher.

EDIT: I should add that I didn't include the RDCs in my calculations, but that won't have that much affect.
Click to expand...

Urban Sky said:
I counted 104 Renaissance cars in the „Canadian Trackside Guide 2021“ and 154 HEP I cars, but these 258 cars include the proportion of Renaissance cars which were actually allocated to the Corridor and are now retired:

Renaissance
9 BAG
14 CLUB
31 COACH
17 SERVICE
3 DINING
27 SLEEPER
3 BAG TRANSITION

HEP I
25 Coach
29 Chateau*
40 Manor
13 Diner
15 Skyline
18 Baggage
14 Park*
*includes 8 Prestige Chateau and 4 Prestige Park
Click to expand...

So, it sounds like the order is for a little more than what is currently used.. My thoughts is that is to bring back the 3rd frequency of the Canadian.
 
smallspy said:
The HEP1 fleet currently consists of 9 types of car: Baggage, coach, Diner, Dome-Lounge, 3 kinds of sleeper (Chateau, Manor and Prestige) and the 2 versions of the Park-series tail end dome cars.

Considering that there is likely to be some standardization of types with the new fleet, plus the addition of the HEP2 replacements into this fleet, 9 car types sounds about right.

Dan
Click to expand...
As a replacement for the current LD fleet maybe but I would use a sharper pencil. Each variant means smaller runs for each and a smaller pool to absorb collision or other long term maintenance absence, and being a single fleet should mean no need for transition cars (and if any are needed during ramp up, that it is the legacy cars that are adapted)

1 Baggage
2 Coach
3 Sleeper
4 Dining Car
5 Lounge with a dome, I guess.
6 Maybe an accessible Sleeper if making all Sleepers accessible gave up too much revenue space
7 Crew sleeper/bag-dorm

Even with those lesser variations these trainsets will surely dwarf what is being spent on Corridor per 85 feet of consist. Even more so if they aren’t a joint venture with Amtrak. Perhaps VIA have gotten the idea that if they propose something expensive enough, the Tories will allow them to get out of the LD business entirely and let Rocky run whatever seems profitable.
 
dowlingm said:
As a replacement for the current LD fleet maybe but I would use a sharper pencil. Each variant means smaller runs for each and a smaller pool to absorb collision or other long term maintenance absence, and being a single fleet should mean no need for transition cars (and if any are needed during ramp up, that it is the legacy cars that are adapted)

1 Baggage
2 Coach
3 Sleeper
4 Dining Car
5 Lounge with a dome, I guess.
6 Maybe an accessible Sleeper if making all Sleepers accessible gave up too much revenue space
7 Crew sleeper/bag-dorm

Even with those lesser variations these trainsets will surely dwarf what is being spent on Corridor per 85 feet of consist. Even more so if they aren’t a joint venture with Amtrak. Perhaps VIA have gotten the idea that if they propose something expensive enough, the Tories will allow them to get out of the LD business entirely and let Rocky run whatever seems profitable.
Click to expand...
That would require the government walking away from the remote communities service. I think as UrbanSky has shown us, none of them outside of the corridor are 'profitable', which is probably consistent with many other inter-city services.

Curious why they would need a crew car. I don't think it is something VIA has ever had. I understand Amtrak uses them, but I would imagine it would entail a complete re-working of collective agreements.
 
lenaitch said:
Curious why they would need a crew car. I don't think it is something VIA has ever had. I understand Amtrak uses them, but I would imagine it would entail a complete re-working of collective agreements.
Click to expand...

VIA has always had crew accommodations - by simply allocating one or more sleeper cars to crew use. And/or, by allocating a roomette to the attendant for that car (in the bad old days, sleeping car porters only had a small pull-down seat in the aisle, although many were astute enough to grab a seat in the old mens’ smoking lounge, or a vacant section, in the wee hours when no one would notice).
To my mind a dedicated space may be more suitable as there may be different space requirements for stowage of supplies, crew bags, etc.

- Paul
 
dowlingm said:
By the time 2035 rolls around VIA may have 3 more Siemens sets whose three cars can handle Sarnia and the like, and freeing up 3x5 car sets for increased frequency to reduce the need for 6+ car sets…
Click to expand...
They have already sent 5 f40's to CAD to be overhauled.
 
According to the Invitation to Tender, the current rebuild program is only supposed to extend the service life until 2035:
VIA is operating a fleet of fifty-one (51) GPA-30H locomotives, that were built by General Motors (EMD) from 1986 to 1989. The objective of this project is to further extend the expected lifetime of thirty-nine (39) GPA-30H locomotives until 2035 by restoring system performance and increasing reliability. In order to better respond to its commercial needs and operational constraints, VIA is looking to analyze the possibility of overhauling the locomotives according to a fixed and optional number of units, as explained in the ITT Scope of Work.
It is to be noted that this program is NOT related to VIA’s Long-Distance, Regional and Remote Fleet Renewal project (LDRR).
Click to expand...
IMG_6949.jpeg
 
dowlingm said:
As a replacement for the current LD fleet maybe but I would use a sharper pencil. Each variant means smaller runs for each and a smaller pool to absorb collision or other long term maintenance absence, and being a single fleet should mean no need for transition cars (and if any are needed during ramp up, that it is the legacy cars that are adapted)

1 Baggage
2 Coach
3 Sleeper
4 Dining Car
5 Lounge with a dome, I guess.
6 Maybe an accessible Sleeper if making all Sleepers accessible gave up too much revenue space
7 Crew sleeper/bag-dorm

Even with those lesser variations these trainsets will surely dwarf what is being spent on Corridor per 85 feet of consist. Even more so if they aren’t a joint venture with Amtrak. Perhaps VIA have gotten the idea that if they propose something expensive enough, the Tories will allow them to get out of the LD business entirely and let Rocky run whatever seems profitable.
Click to expand...
As pointed out by others above, there will be no dormitory car.

You're also missing out on replacements for the Prestige equipment. That service can not be discontinued, as it is the only thing propping up the rest of the service and making it even remotely close to profitable.

Bordercollie said:
They have already sent 5 f40's to CAD to be overhauled.
Click to expand...
6. There has been one at CAD for the past 6 or 8 months, acting as a prototype for the rebuild process. The 5 will be the first "production" batch.

Dan
 
smallspy said:
You're also missing out on replacements for the Prestige equipment. That service can not be discontinued, as it is the only thing propping up the rest of the service and making it even remotely close to profitable.
Click to expand...

Agreed. VIA may also want separate cars for economoy sleeping accomodations (i.e. upper and lower births) instead of having them in the same car as the cabins (like they currently are). This would make it easier to provide different services to different accomodation classes, giving more value to for money to those who upgrade and making it more affordable for those who don't.
 
September 3
Just up loaded photos for this day and still running a month behind doing so

In all the years I shot from the Islington overpass, never seen a VIA train do a wye for one, but saw one today doing.

Tracks are being removed to allow new alignment for the new complex and a possible yard beside it
54039083693_7223b0395f_b.jpg

54039083653_98f8be74f4_b.jpg

54039156219_5315be5e17_b.jpg

54039156194_d0d0b718b6_b.jpg

54039156204_24c3398519_b.jpg
54039276635_8be0b633dd_b.jpg
 
roger1818 said:
Agreed. VIA may also want separate cars for economoy sleeping accomodations (i.e. upper and lower births) instead of having them in the same car as the cabins (like they currently are). This would make it easier to provide different services to different accomodation classes, giving more value to for money to those who upgrade and making it more affordable for those who don't.
Click to expand...

Being enthusiasts at heart, we always go to equipment as the thing dearest to us - but perhaps in discussing the LD replacement we are missing the need to start with a service model and work back from it to equipment design.
As it happens I am writing this while riding Amtrak’s Empire Builder. It’s a humbling experience in the sense that it closely resembles the kind of train service that we have been ridiculing a certain poster for advocating.
Having said that, it’s clear that the Builder route works because it has received an enormous investment in off-train infrastructure including both track and signalling and station and support facilities. We stopped making that investment thirty years ago, so that certain poster’s belief that we can make it instantly appear is a bit naive. And there are huge differences between the air travel options of VIA’s city points versus northern Montana and North Dakota….so I’m not switching sides and taking back every thing I have argued in this forum recently. But I do wonder if we have fallen victim to a sort of Stockholm syndrome where we are defending past decisions to structure VIA around Prestige abd Silver and Blue where the Amtrak ssrvice model might actually make sense.
So before we second guess what VIA might be planning for its fleet spec - I wonder if this is an opportunity to recalibrate the goal…. And perhaps that certain poster is simply a tad naive, but not necessarily wrong. I will say, I’m mighty impressed with the Empire Builder, and I’m not too proud to say that changes my views in some reapects.
The point being - is Silver and Blue/Prestige what we most want the new train to offer? Would this
More basic service plan be better value for the country?

- Paul
 
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