VIA Rail

[Bordercollie]

That equipment was replaced several years ago with a high-rail school/activity bus.

In any case, it wasn't considered a train but a "track unit", and so was not required to shunt any signals.

Dan

Cancellation of VIA’s Canadian leaves passengers to find own way home (corrected) - Trains

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Passengers on VIA Rail Canada’s Canadian who found their trip disrupted by a freight-train accident in Saskatchewan on Wednesday were eventually taken to Winnipeg, but left to find their own way home from there, the CBC reports. The collision between a CN freight train and a...

www.trains.com

I understand that it's not Visa's fault but by simply saying find your own way home is not the best way to handle the situation.

 

[Urban Sky]

Cancellation of VIA’s Canadian leaves passengers to find own way home (corrected) - Trains

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Passengers on VIA Rail Canada’s Canadian who found their trip disrupted by a freight-train accident in Saskatchewan on Wednesday were eventually taken to Winnipeg, but left to find their own way home from there, the CBC reports. The collision between a CN freight train and a...

www.trains.com

I understand that it's not Visa's fault but by simply saying find your own way home is not the best way to handle the situation.

I don’t know when that changed, but during my (still rather recent) time at VIA, passengers would routinely get placed onto a Calm Air flight to get shuttled to Churchill and/or back whenever that line was interrupted…

 

[Jonny5]

I don’t know when that changed, but during my (still rather recent) time at VIA, passengers would routinely get placed onto a Calm Air flight to get shuttled to Churchill and/or back whenever that line was interrupted…

How frequently was that line interrupted? Could VIA have some kind of retainer with that airline to move people because it was frequently interrupted?
I assume also there were not too many people making that trip all the way there on any one train?

 

[lenaitch]

That equipment was replaced several years ago with a high-rail school/activity bus.

In any case, it wasn't considered a train but a "track unit", and so was not required to shunt any signals.

Dan

Thanks for that. I didn't notice the dates on the articles/images.

 

[lenaitch]

This whole thing is turning into a 'he said - she said' affair. CN seems quite happy with the technology for the equipment it runs and seems to have little sympathy with the concerns of a tenant operator. Maybe it's time for the the regulator to say something.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

This whole thing is turning into a 'he said - she said' affair. CN seems quite happy with the technology for the equipment it runs and seems to have little sympathy with the concerns of a tenant operator. Maybe it's time for the the regulator to say something.

Maybe it's time to go a lot further than that - I am not convinced the current arrangement is in the national interest.

AoD

 

[lenaitch]

Maybe it's time to go a lot further than that - I am not convinced the current arrangement is in the national interest.

AoD

I'm not sure it's that dire - yet. Adding X minutes to schedules doesn't strike me as a national crisis. The regulator needs to step up and, you know, regulate. The US imposed PTC and it seems none of the railways packed up their toys and went home. What we don't know, sitting on the outside looking in, is whether there is a relatively quick and inexpensive solution just around the corner.

 

[roger1818]

This whole thing is turning into a 'he said - she said' affair. CN seems quite happy with the technology for the equipment it runs and seems to have little sympathy with the concerns of a tenant operator. Maybe it's time for the the regulator to say something.

My gut feeling when reading the article was that since there are no documented incidences, this is a ploy by CN's senior management to use safety as an excuse to call wolf and slow VIA trains down to freight train speeds. This will help improve their freight operations, and nudge the government to fund HFR and to get VIA off of their tracks. Just speculation on my part.

 

[Bureaucromancer]

My gut feeling when reading the article was that since there are no documented incidences, this is a ploy by CN's senior management to use safety as an excuse to call wolf and slow VIA trains down to freight train speeds. This will help improve their freight operations, and nudge the government to fund HFR and to get VIA off of their tracks. Just speculation on my part.

And then that stupid article leading with a line about being unable to question safety calls; it got my back up faster than just about anything else I’ve seen recently, and frankly I’ve seen that attitude way to often lately. “Someone claims this is a safety issue so we HAVE to do it, what do you mean you want to check if it actually is one? Don’t you care about SAFETY?”

 

[dowlingm]

I'm not sure it's that dire - yet. Adding X minutes to schedules doesn't strike me as a national crisis. The regulator needs to step up and, you know, regulate. The US imposed PTC and it seems none of the railways packed up their toys and went home. What we don't know, sitting on the outside looking in, is whether there is a relatively quick and inexpensive solution just around the corner.

I don’t think it’s fair to say it was an easy process either, as I recall it.

The implementation outside the NEC was largely radio frequency based and the feds left it to individual companies to contract for spectrum licenses rather than require FCC to reserve it centrally to meet the federal mandate.
There was a lack of standardization (ACSES, IETS, I-ETMS)
PTC was not imposed above a certain daily frequency of passenger movements (14 IIRC) which resulted in a cap on Downeaster movements so the host railroad wouldn’t have to implement it.

 

[Allandale25]

Nothing really new in this column for those following the issue here. But it does have this passage which again has already been posted here.

Chris Selley: Our government rail line spent $1B to somehow get even slower and less reliable

Its brand-spanking-new trains have to slow down at level crossings

nationalpost.com

The mind boggles as to how this issue could have been missed, and it’s not clear whose fault it is. CN warned Via of the 24-axle issue way back in 2021, according to CN spokesperson Ashley Michnowski, and confirmed the issue once it became official that the Siemens trains wouldn’t meet the 32-axle requirement. Via counters that this all came “without prior notice.”

 

[micheal_can]

Who to blame?
Let's look at something different that is the same.
If you drive a motorcycle, eventually you will find that a set of lights won't turn no matter how long you are there. It is due to the old technology not able to detect the motorcycle. So,you treat it as a 4 way stop. Then the road is rebuilt and new technology is installed. Now,you ride up to the stop line, and the lights work properly when you are riding the motorcycle. Wasn't the motorcycle's fault that the lights would not work. It was the owner of the road's fault.
So,if we take this back to the issue with Via's trains and the issue that is happening on CN's lines,it is not Via's fault. It is CN's.

 

[ManyQuestions]

This still seems to be an issue even though there’s been no info to travelers. I’m currently on train 33 from Montreal to Ottawa. Just left Coteaux at 10:30, rather late, and immediately accelerated up to 130km/h after being stuck at 70-90km/h since Montreal. I only found of the delays here when looking up if it’s already discussed.

Interestingly, the train just slowed to 70 for the CP line crossing before reaccelerating to 140, the top speed of the journey so far.

 

[Urban Sky]

This still seems to be an issue even though there’s been no info to travelers. I’m currently on train 33 from Montreal to Ottawa. Just left Coteaux at 10:30, rather late, and immediately accelerated up to 130km/h after being stuck at 70-90km/h since Montreal. I only found of the delays here when looking up if it’s already discussed.

Go to VIA’s main page, click on “Service Status” and then expand the rider for “Québec-Windsor Corridor”:


It could be shown more prominent (e.g., already at the point of booking), for sure, but you can easily find it when you suspect that something might be more delayed than usual…

 

[ManyQuestions]

Go to VIA’s main page, click on “Service Status” and then expand the rider for “Québec-Windsor Corridor”:
View attachment 606102View attachment 606103

It could be shown more prominent (e.g., already at the point of booking), for sure, but you can easily find it when you suspect that something might be more delayed than usual…

I can find it now that you pointed it out but didn’t see it when booking on Saturday, I only learned of the delay when boarding hadn’t started by 8:55 but only direct communication I received was the 9am departure was updated on the departure board to 9:26 at 8:58.

Not a big complaint, just noting that it seems to be being treated as a regular delay and not a longer term schedule change. Honestly has been a great trip, my first time in economy on the venture sets. Much better ride quality than the LRCs and better seats. Haven’t used VIA much since I had a student pass but I had certainly improved greatly despite getting more expensive and still having the same delays from shared tracks.