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I would think it is well understood what DND is. As for NRE, as an engineer, I was a little surprised that its use isn't common knowledge. It certainly is used by more than those in military or public procurement. It is also widely used in private industry. A better way of explaining NRE, is...

The NRE on one off customizations would be very high per trainset. It might also trigger the need for an updated TC safety approval. There is a reason the Northlander is using the same design as VIA Rail, without any customizations. VIA's priority is to replace the LD fleet. This would...

I beleive it is twice a week all year now, as VIA doesn't have enough equipment to run the third east of Edmonton.

While I agree with you, the provincial governments have a very different view on these things. They tend to want the federal government to do most of the funding, but then turn around and say that the provinces should have all of the control on how that funding is used. I would feel very...

I've also said this before, but part of the problem is the politics stemming from us being such a large country. While half of the population could very well benefit from improved passenger rail in the Quebec-Windsor corridor, half of the population wouldn't benefit from that investment and have...

Ahh. That makes sense. I wasn't aware of that.

I just thought it was interesting that they were Siemens trucks on scene. I guess they could also have the contract to support the crossing signals, but I was wondering if it was something to do with the Venture trainsets.

I’m currently on train 35 (one of the Venture trainsets) and we came to a complete stop to “protect the crossing” at Dunning Rd (between Castleman and Ottawa). My first thought was that the gates weren’t working but when we did cross it, they were down with the lights flashing. I did notice a...

So what you are saying is if they book through a tour operator they likely aren’t spending much money in Canada other than the cost of the train. Since not everyone is likely booking through one of these tour operators, but could be booking through VIA instead, this googling of itineraries...

I would hope that they have both couchette and sleeper cars. There is a tendency by bureaucratic institutions to loose track of the objective of making things accessible and think that they can't have anything that isn't accessible. A common thing here is replacing stairs with ramps instead of...

Everything I have heard up to now indicated to me that, as you said, the new Viewliner II cars would not be replaced in Amtrak's Long Distance Fleet Replacement, but reading this page seems to indicate that they will be replaced as well. My guess is that they realized that by the time this...

I would assume no. From what I have heard they are rust buckets and the money spent doing the conversion would be better spent on a replacement fleet. Also, it isn't as if the conversion could be done overnight. The better solution would have been to build up more of the shells they bought...

The problem with this idea is that it isn’t HEP coaches that VIA has a lack of, it is sleepers, and this will be even more true once they start removing HEP coaches from corridor service. They might keep them around as spares (or for spare parts), but that’s about it.

Ottawa Stsrion has 4 through tracks (all of which are long enough for two Venture trainsets) plus 4 terminal tracks (2 facing each direction), Since there are only 2 routes served by the station, there is plenty of excess track space for a static display. In fact, this has been done before on...

I picked Alaska since the Aleutian Islands extend past the International Date Line, so technically it is the most eastern, western and northern State (Hawaii is the most southern). You are right though and a more valid comparison would be California. I am going to Montreal with my daughter in...

You are correct, and the ROI just isn't there at the moment. That isn't to say that it will never be there, but my crystal ball on future diesel prices (one of the key factors in the economics) is rather murky. While there could (in theory) be a future where hydrogen locos make sense, today...

It comes to value for money. Quoting the Railway Association of Canada: There are much bigger fish to fry than spending billions (if not trillions) of dollars for a maximum of a 1% reduction in GHG emissions. The railways will be electrified when the economics make sense.

Not sure if this is related to the Northlander, but Ontario Northland has an RFP for "Grade Crossing Warning System Upgrades." https://www.merx.com/solicitations/open-bids/Grade-Crossing-Warning-System-Upgrades/0000262763

That is a bit of a strawman argument. Just because you provide an example of one country outside of North America that has long, electric freight trains, that doesn't mean that "most of the world" doesn't focus on passenger trains. I will admit that the Scandinavian countries also has some long...

It isn't common, but is occasionally used for hauling iron and coal. According to Wikipedia, it is/was used in: South Africa Northern Cape, Western Cape Sishen–Saldanha railway line opened in 1976 and hauls iron ore Canada British Columbia Tumbler Ridge Subdivision of BC Rail (Now Canadian...