VIA Rail

[Bordercollie]

We entered GO train territory and right off the bat we got a red signal. Even the conductor got on the comm and announced we're in GO transit territory and to expect delays. The train was stopped long enough for me to snap this pic of the CN 401 bridge. Longest delay on the trip so far.

We didn't start moving again until a north bound GO train passed. This spot seems like a choke point for VIA and GO. Maybe the Feds and Metrolinx should work together to triple track LSE all the way to the CN 401 bridge with a flyover track connecting GO and CN tracks. Allowing for quicker/ smoother transitions between GO and CN tracks for VIA.

View attachment 607425

There is a plan to add more tracks between Rouge Hill and Guildwood. Funding is an issue.

If J-ing trains is not an issue why couldn't they tow the disabled Train?

 

[micheal_can]

CN rail is worth over $100 Billion dollars.
We'd be better off building a dedicated HSR line with that money. $100 Billion would just buy CN. We'd still need to pay another $100 billion to convert track to HSR.

Might as well just build your own trackage elsewhere.

That would do nothing to tell CN they need to get their act together and bring up their equipment to modern standards.

Why do you think this country has a government structure which would take on CN when it won’t take on Rogers, Bell and Telus, or the major banks, or Galen Weston. Give your head a shake. This issue is simply not at a scale of importance to spend that sort of money, no matter how deeply you or anyone else on here loves passenger trains.

If this was the US, there would be no notion of nationalizing CN or any other class Is for a regulatory issue of this scale. In the case of CN-IC Amtrak has essentially knuckled under by deploying axle count cars, but faced with Chatsworth America did (clumsily) legislate for and roll out PTC (something Canada decided to believe was somehow not of sufficient gravity to follow suit).

The stakes here are higher of course than on a small proportion of Amtrak territory, but are also partially a factor of how many grade crossings have been permitted to be built/ to continue in operation across trackage on which >90mph trains have been running for decades on the basis that it’s “safe enough”, and a failure to commit to a national or at least regional program of high quality train detection and control infrastructure in order to shield both taxpayers and freight rail shareholders from the spending that would require.

I do know that no government will do anything as this is not a hot button subject that is dear to their base. The fact nothing has been done with the grocery near monopolies shows that even when it comes to hot button issues, the government of the day, and likely the next one is ado nothing government. I know this is not the place to fantasize about the government doing anything about anything.

 

[Bordercollie]

That would do nothing to tell CN they need to get their act together and bring up their equipment to modern standards.


I do know that no government will do anything as this is not a hot button subject that is dear to their base. The fact nothing has been done with the grocery near monopolies shows that even when it comes to hot button issues, the government of the day, and likely the next one is ado nothing government. I know this is not the place to fantasize about the government doing anything about anything.

Unifor is trying to lobby the Minister of Transportation

 

[micheal_can]

Unifor is trying to lobby the Minister of Transportation

To do what?

 

[Bordercollie]

To do what?

Unifor calls on CN to prioritize passenger rail services

OTTAWA – Unifor is urging Canadian National Railway (CN) to prioritize the effective management of its rail infrastructure to ensure the safe and efficient operation of VIA Rail’s passenger services.

www.unifor.org

 

[micheal_can]

Unifor calls on CN to prioritize passenger rail services

OTTAWA – Unifor is urging Canadian National Railway (CN) to prioritize the effective management of its rail infrastructure to ensure the safe and efficient operation of VIA Rail’s passenger services.

www.unifor.org

Well.. this is new.

Thank you.Maybe this will be what is needed to smarten the big wigs in CN up for them to do what they should have done a long time ago.

Thank you for sharing this.

 

[Bordercollie]

Well.. this is new.

Thank you.Maybe this will be what is needed to smarten the big wigs in CN up for them to do what they should have done a long time ago.

Thank you for sharing this.

Not sure how much clout they have

 

[micheal_can]

Not sure how much clout they have

Agreed. However, the case can be built to show that CN has a deficiency with their safety equipment,which may make the issue more pressing. This would be different it it was not a thing that affects public safety.

 

[Bordercollie]

Agreed. However, the case can be built to show that CN has a deficiency with their safety equipment,which may make the issue more pressing. This would be different it it was not a thing that affects public safety.

Yeah but I didn't see them retrofitting every crossing in their network just to please via. The more likely scenario would be a waiver for venture equipment since there has been no record of crossings not activating.

 

[micheal_can]

Yeah but I didn't see them retrofitting every crossing in their network just to please via. The more likely scenario would be a waiver for venture equipment since there has been no record of crossings not activating.

That would likely be good enough, but I would hope that they are given a reasonable timeline that the crossings used by these trains are fixed by.With the incident in Ottawa about a decade ago, my guess is no one wants to ignore crossing safety.

2013 Ottawa bus–train crash - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Bordercollie]

That would likely be good enough, but I would hope that they are given a reasonable timeline that the crossings used by these trains are fixed by.With the incident in Ottawa about a decade ago, my guess is no one wants to ignore crossing safety.

2013 Ottawa bus–train crash - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But that was not a crossing Gate activation issue. It was a driver's view issue.

 

[micheal_can]

But that was not a crossing Gate activation issue. It was a driver's view issue.

You know that. I know that, but the public may not. They hear problem with crossing and Via. Those in the Ottawa area likely remember the incident but not necessarily the facts around it. TBH, I didn't remember. That's why I posted the link to the Wikipedia page on it. The other thing playing on the public are the 2 incidents of stranded new trains. So, this defective crossing thing just adds to it. For someone to come out and say they are fixing the problem and the trains and crossings are safe goes along way.

 

[Urban Sky]

If J-ing trains is not an issue why couldn't they tow the disabled Train?

Jaying trains is not an issue as long as the train brakes release as they are supposed to. The same is true for towing a disabled train.

Yeah but I didn't see them retrofitting every crossing in their network just to please via. The more likely scenario would be a waiver for venture equipment since there has been no record of crossings not activating.

From what I gather, the issue is that certain rolling stock configurations operated by VIA over certain CN level crossings cause safety problems when the VIA equipment is not reliably detected by CN’s level crossing activation mechanisms. We can discuss all we want whether it is CN’s level crossing equipment which is unsafe (because it doesn’t reliably detect all thinkable rolling stock configurations, unlike seemingly the equipment used by other railroads) or VIA’s Venture trainsets (because they can’t get reliably detected, unlike other equipment used by VIA).

However, I see only four possible solutions for this problem:

1. TC orders CN to ignore the issue and refrain from imposing speed restrictions on Siemens trainsets at level crossings.
2. CN modifies their level crossing mechanisms to reliably detect shorter trains.
3. VIA orders additional Siemens cars to lengthen their Siemens trainsets.
4. VIA equips its Siemens trainsets with Shunt Enhancers.

I would straight rule out #1 because of the obvious bad optic and of TC’s obsession to avoid any responsibility for anything.
Then, I would rule out #2 because CN would likely demand an absurd amount to fix the issues with its level crossing mechanisms and it would just take years to upgrade many dozens of level crossings.
For similar reasons, I would rule out #3, because it would involve a considerable investment by the federal government and because it has a lead time of multiple years.
This means that only the Shunt Enhancers are a viable solution and given that they only seem to amplify whatever current runs through the wheel to which they are attached without interfering with any on-board electronics or systems affecting the operation of the train, I would assume that equipping 32 different cars would not cost more than, say, $10 million and would not take longer than, say, a year.

I therefore believe that #4 is the only medium-term solution to the problem, whereas #1 could be the short-term solution (provided that no dangerous incidents are recorded) and #2 could be a long-term solution (if CN decides to install upgraded technologies whenever a new level crossing gets built or an existing one’s mechanisms needs to be replaced).

 

[yrt+viva=1system]

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/con...cle_891d0d08-9239-11ef-bff4-67e65474570c.html

Opinion | This mega-project could be Canada’s next great nation-building exercise​

“For many people these days, it’s unclear from which tributary of history we have sprung, in which world we now live,” Stephen R Brown wrote last year. “It shouldn’t be unclear to which world we should aspire.”I was thinking about that line when I walked into the shiny new offices of VIA HFR last week. Brown wrote it in the introduction of “Dominion,” his history of the “triumph of imagination, vision, politics and engineering” that was the Canadian-Pacific Railway, Canada’s first real mega-project. VIA HFR is the Crown corporation tasked with continuing that legacy for a new-ish century.“We’re going to build a thousand kilometers of new railway easement,” Pierre-Yves Boivin, VIA HFR’s senior vice-president of communications, public affairs, and Indigenous relations, told me, “which has not been done in decades.”This new railway will carry an estimated 17 million passengers from Quebec City to Trois Rivieres, Montreal, Ottawa, Peterborough, and ultimately Toronto. It promises to be three things, Boivin said: “Fast, frequent, reliable.” Fully electrified trains could run as fast as 300km/h, cutting travel times in half.​

The knock-on benefits could be enormous. A high-frequency, high-speed passenger rail service running through Quebec and Ontario could reduce Canada’s carbon footprint, ease congestion, move freight faster, boost productivity, encourage tourism, boost inter-provincial trade, and be a vehicle for reconciliation. At the risk of over-selling this project: this could be a nation-building exercise akin to the Canadian Pacific Railway.
That’s if it’s done right. But it could be done very wrong — or, worse yet, not at all.
The idea of beefing up Canadian passenger rail, particularly along the Quebec City-Windsor corridor, has been on the table for decades. Despite a strong case for it, the idea has remained in limbo.
That has left our existing rail service in purgatory. Because VIA Rail’s Quebec-Ontario service relies on tracks leased from private rail companies, service is slow, delayed, and infrequent, whilst its other coast-to-coast routes are expensive and less practical. VIA Rail has become a symbol of national decay.
I’m a frequent, if long-suffering, rail rider. I have been known to get a scoop in the business lounge, and I write this column aboard the train to Toronto. I perked up when I heard that the Trudeau government finally, in 2022, announced plans to revitalize passenger rail.
The Liberals quickly founded VIA HFR as a subsidiary of VIA Rail, a sign that things were actually moving. By the time Ottawa sent out procurement documents to industry, however, the plan had changed: VIA HFR had been suddenly spun off as a whole new Crown corporation, with VIA Rail cut out entirely. (“Our name is still a bit confusing,” Boivin says. “We’re working to change it.”)
Under this new plan, VIA HFR will partner up with a consortium of private firms. Canada will pay for the rail, and this consortium will build the network, then manage and operate the rail service.
The selection process for the winning consortium is already underway. One bid includes an array of big Canadian firms, including the CDPQ, the Quebec pension fund; AtkinsRéalis, formerly SNC-Lavalin; and Air Canada. The other two consortia include a mix of Canadian, European and American companies, including Spanish and German state-owned rail companies. An industry source tells me the Trudeau government will be selecting the winning bid in mid-November.
Whoever is chosen, they’ll link up with VIA HFR to undergo a five-to-six-year phase of “co-development,” Boivin said, when they’ll figure out the particulars of the business plan. If Ottawa agrees to fund it, they’ll start surveying the route, consulting with locals and Indigenous nations, and buying up some necessary land.


A clear sign that VIA HFR is pursuing this project seriously is that they are engaging, not just consulting, First Nations. Boivin said they are already in talks with several First Nations to go further and “integrate them financially, as business partners.” Given that the Canadian Pacific Railway both precipitated and enabled the removal of Indigenous people from their land, making First Nations partners in a plan to renovate the country for the next century could be a genuine act of reconciliation.
But there’s reason to be skeptical of the government’s plans. As with so many things in government today, the core philosophy of this quasi-private plan is risk-management. While it’s not quite “privatization,” this new rail service won’t really be public, either. It is a public-private partnership, where Ottawa will try to offload as much financial risk as possible.

This approach isn’t always bad. Montreal’s expansive REM project is owned and being built by the CDPQ, while Vancouver’s Canada Line, partially owned by AtkinsRéalis, has proved to be a big success. But this public-private model also led to calamity, such as with Ottawa’s LRT and Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown.
Public-private transportation projects go awry when governments take on too much risk and their private partners see too little reward — so they cut corners, reduce service, and increase prices in order to maximize returns. Long-distance passenger rail offers a huge amount of public benefit, but not much profit. Florida’s recently-built fully-private rail network, Brightline, has been a boon for the state but is still solidly in the red, despite ample public investment.
Why not drop the pretense and just accept that passenger rail, like public transit, is something that delivers enough reward to the public that it’s worth having governments pay for?

Trudeau can, and should, change tracks and increase the speed of this project. We should pony up the money to build everything ourselves. We have nearly $20 billion inside the coffers of the Canada Infrastructure Bank that has been unused — probably enough to cover the whole project. Purpose-issued bonds and Indigenous investment could help round out the financing. Private partners would be contracted to do the construction, of course, but the eventual service should be run by VIA Rail.
By increasing VIA Rail’s funding, instead of taking away its most profitable service and spinning it off into a whole new entity, we could actually improve and expand cross-country service. This approach would also allow Canada, not just private companies, to benefit from building transit-oriented housing along the new line. We could, in other words, have ambition again.
I know, VIA Rail is not the image of modernity. But over the last few years, VIA Rail’s Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto stations have all been connected to major new municipal and regional public transit systems, including better connections to our busiest airports. And, thanks to smart federal investments, VIA Rail’s newly-acquired fleet of rail cars is rolling out — they are, I can tell you, quite nice. (They are also accessible and have reliable Wi-Fi.)
As popular transit geek Reece Martin remarked in a recent YouTube video, the Quebec-Windsor corridor is already becoming a “transit megalopolis.” VIA Rail, with the right investments, is poised to integrate into it right now — not just in a decade.
I sent a list of questions about why Canada opted for this public-private approach to Transport Minister Anita Anand. Her office ignored those questions and responded with talking points explaining the project and attacking Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.

Indeed, it may be Poilievre in power this time next year — and I hope he recognizes the promise of good transportation infrastructure. His fellow populist, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, certainly does: She’s pursuing a provincial high-speed rail service, and is contemplating both fully public and fully private options.
VIA HFR might yet get this trade-off between risk and reward right. And there may well be a private plan that makes sense. But right now we have a unique opportunity for Ottawa to step up and start designing the world to which we aspire.
As the British Colonist paper declared in 1870: “If the railway scheme be utopian, so also is Confederation. The two must stand or fall together.”

 

[Bordercollie]

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/con...cle_891d0d08-9239-11ef-bff4-67e65474570c.html

Opinion | This mega-project could be Canada’s next great nation-building exercise​

"Fiscally responsible" conservatives would never build such a project with tax payers money. They would get the private sector to fund it and build it.