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Ontario Northland/Northern Ontario Transportation

micheal_can said:
Not sure why an engine would need to be sent south.
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For the same reason why the trainsets were hauled dead for delivery behind a freight locomotive all the way from California, rather than being run on their own power.... as of today, no one at CN or Ontario Northland knows how they work.

No doubt, once they are taken north, there will be training and crew familiarization, and likely some publicity open house movements.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
For the same reason why the trainsets were hauled dead for delivery behind a freight locomotive all the way from California, rather than being run on their own power.... as of today, no one at CN or Ontario Northland knows how they work.

No doubt, once they are taken north, there will be training and crew familiarization, and likely some publicity open house movements.

- Paul
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Ah. That makes some sense. However, wouldn't it be easier to just send a crew who knows the line to Toronto and have a Via crew operate the engine with the CN/ONR crew navigating the line for them? Really, you would only need this north of Washago as south of it could be all Via crew.
 
micheal_can said:
Ah. That makes some sense. However, wouldn't it be easier to just send a crew who knows the line to Toronto and have a Via crew operate the engine with the CN/ONR crew navigating the line for them? Really, you would only need this north of Washago as south of it could be all Via crew.
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Why would VIA want to do this? Leave it to ONR and CN to move the train north on their own. Any CN crew that is qualified for the USRC, Bala and Newmarket Subdivisions can handle the movement. CN has brought the ON loco south, without needing anyone's involvement. It can run back just as easily. Maybe a Siemens rider will go along, but likely not.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
Why would VIA want to do this? Leave it to ONR and CN to move the train north on their own. Any CN crew that is qualified for the USRC, Bala and Newmarket Subdivisions can handle the movement. CN has brought the ON loco south, without needing anyone's involvement. It can run back just as easily. Maybe a Siemens rider will go along, but likely not.

- Paul
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I get the point. I just don't see the need of an additional move of an engine when it is not needed.
I do look forward to see how it is moved.
 
micheal_can said:
Ah. That makes some sense. However, wouldn't it be easier to just send a crew who knows the line to Toronto and have a Via crew operate the engine with the CN/ONR crew navigating the line for them? Really, you would only need this north of Washago as south of it could be all Via crew.
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I assume any movement of ONR power south of North Bay would have to be either tacked onto a CN train or operated light by a CN crew. I doubt there are any ON personnel still qualified to operate in CN/USRC territory, and no VIA crew would be qualified to operate on the Newmarket sub. As mentioned, why get VIA involved and force a crew change at Washago?

I don't know what is involved in introducing new equipment into new territory but I suspect it is done very cautiously.
 
lenaitch said:
I don't know what is involved in introducing new equipment into new territory but I suspect it is done very cautiously.
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We don't know for a fact that ONR even owns the trainset at this point. Some of the VIA trainsets remained as Siemens for quite a long time after delivery. Possibly ONR will not sign off until after further testing etc.

Given that the new trains have all sorts of microprocessors and equipment configurations that are totally new to ONR, I would expect they would not want to risk even starting up the engine until Siemens is on hand to guide them.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
We don't know for a fact that ONR even owns the trainset at this point. Some of the VIA trainsets remained as Siemens for quite a long time after delivery. Possibly ONR will not sign off until after further testing etc.

Given that the new trains have all sorts of microprocessors and equipment configurations that are totally new to ONR, I would expect they would not want to risk even starting up the engine until Siemens is on hand to guide them.

- Paul
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It's often impossible to interpret the tealeaves from words used in a presser, but a quick look at the ONTC/Ontario government announcements of the arrival of the first trainset make no reference to terms like 'accept' or 'taken delivery of'; they simply herald the arrival. One ONTC release says the trainset will undergo "months" (plural) of testing.
 
lenaitch said:
It's often impossible to interpret the tealeaves from words used in a presser, but a quick look at the ONTC/Ontario government announcements of the arrival of the first trainset make no reference to terms like 'accept' or 'taken delivery of'; they simply herald the arrival. One ONTC release says the trainset will undergo "months" (plural) of testing.
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It will take months to fully shake the trainsets out. This was just the first tentative steps, as required by Transport Canada.

It sounds like most of the rest of the testing is happening up north, and possibly quite soon.

Dan
 
micheal_can said:
March in Northern ON...That can be all 4 seasons in one month.
If Via has been having issues, unless those issues have been rectified, what makes anyone think they wont' have breakdowns?
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well maybe they did some modifications at the factory based on feedback from the last couple years of via operations?
 
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