News   Dec 12, 2025
M City Sunrise
 215     0 
News   Dec 11, 2025
241 Church Emerges Above Grade at Church and Dundas
 836     0 
News   Dec 11, 2025
UrbanToronto Leads Panel at The Buildings Show
 289     0 

VIA Rail


Looks like the charger consist that broke down and the passengers stayed the night at the station.

So did the morning train from Ottawa to Toronto not stop at Brockville?

I wonder when and how they plan to tow this train to TMC.
 
Bordercollie said:
A train became disabled and they couldn't rescue it so they moved everyone to Brockville station for the night .
Click to expand...

Just so no one misinterprets, according to the news article, the train retained heat and light and passengers spent the night on the train, albeit at the Brockville station platform.

Bordercollie said:
If they could move them to Brockville why not take them to Ottawa or Toronto? Crew hours?
Click to expand...

The news article quotes VIA as saying crew hours were an issue.

Note also that 669 is the last westbound train of the evening, so no following trains to pick people up. Worst case scenario.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
Just so no one misinterprets, according to the news article, the train retained heat and light and passengers spent the night on the train, albeit at the Brockville station platform.



The news article quotes VIA as saying crew hours were an issue.

Note also that 669 is the last westbound train of the evening, so no following trains to pick people up. Worst case scenario.

- Paul
Click to expand...
This morning it's still parked there. So how did the 4am train get to Toronto? The track would be blocked? And they couldn't J those trains together to get to Toronto?
 
Bordercollie said:
This morning it's still parked there. So how did the 4am train get to Toronto? The track would be blocked? And they couldn't J those trains together to get to Toronto?
Click to expand...

Brockville has more than one track.

If the train hasn't moved - there is likely a mechanical reason why not. I won't speculate, but there are certainly things that might need on-location attention before one would move the train. It might take time to assemble the necessary people and equipment. Or, the preliminary steps might be beyond simply coupling up and J-training.... so not advisable to delay that next train to drag it home.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
Brockville has more than one track.

If the train hasn't moved - there is likely a mechanical reason why not. I won't speculate, but there are certainly things that might need on-location attention before one would move the train. It might take time to assemble the necessary people and equipment. Or, the preliminary steps might be beyond simply coupling up and J-training.... so not advisable to delay that next train to drag it home.

- Paul
Click to expand...
So how did the morning train pass the station with a disabled train blocking the platform?
 
crs1026 said:
The article indicates that the disabled train was pushed out of the way, presumably for a short distance. How or where, it doesn't say. But a path was clearly made available.

- Paul
Click to expand...
I would guess it has to do with the fact that the legacy fleet is not compatible with the simens train preventing it from being towed.

So they might have to deploy another Siemens set to rescue that train. And find a crew to operate it and have CN give them a slot. I guess I they could J train an Ottawa or Montreal train to Brockville.

But they should tow it to a siding because it's blocking the platform.
 
lenaitch said:
I believe we have been told here that the end couplers are NA standard. Depending on what the issue is, wouldn't it have to be towed to Montreal? Is the TMC ready for Seimens equipment?
Click to expand...
But they did a static test with a GO trainset and towed it around the yard so that shouldn't be the case
 
Bordercollie said:
A train became disabled and they couldn't rescue it so they moved everyone to Brockville station for the night .
Click to expand...
December 10 - No 669 broke down near Mallorytown and had no power. (No 669's equipment arrived in Montreal as No 62 in the morning, departing Toronto 2 hours late, swapped from Set 6 to Set 14 in Toronto, then continuing back west as 669. No 48 (Set 7/25) pushed disabled 669 to Brockville. At first they couldn’t couple 48 to 669 so that caused a delay. After 48 and 669 got to Brockville, they could not get them uncoupled. Passengers from dead 669 got on 54's equipment on adjacent track. Passengers from 48 squeezed onto 54. Engineers had to be swapped out due to length of shift and replacements had to travel to Brockville. Mechanics sent to uncouple 48 from 669. No 669 arrived in Toronto 8 hours late. Buses sent from Montreal to take passengers to Ottawa. No 48 still had not arrived in Ottawa by noon December 11 having spent the night in Brockville (Set 7/25 still there at 1100 Dec.11 and the ETA for passengers was Ottawa noon - 13 hours, likely aboard No 50! Passengers were allowed to find their own means at Brockville. December 11: No 641 running 5 hours late; No 41 4 hours late, J-trained. Exceptional service recovery for 669's passengers, due to loss of HEP for a significant duration: full refund and 100% travel credit.
 
Trackside_Treasure said:
December 10 - No 669 broke down near Mallorytown and had no power. (No 669's equipment arrived in Montreal as No 62 in the morning, departing Toronto 2 hours late, swapped from Set 6 to Set 14 in Toronto, then continuing back west as 669. No 48 (Set 7/25) pushed disabled 669 to Brockville. At first they couldn’t couple 48 to 669 so that caused a delay. After 48 and 669 got to Brockville, they could not get them uncoupled. Passengers from dead 669 got on 54's equipment on adjacent track. Passengers from 48 squeezed onto 54. Engineers had to be swapped out due to length of shift and replacements had to travel to Brockville. Mechanics sent to uncouple 48 from 669. No 669 arrived in Toronto 8 hours late. Buses sent from Montreal to take passengers to Ottawa. No 48 still had not arrived in Ottawa by noon December 11 having spent the night in Brockville (Set 7/25 still there at 1100 Dec.11 and the ETA for passengers was Ottawa noon - 13 hours, likely aboard No 50! Passengers were allowed to find their own means at Brockville. December 11: No 641 running 5 hours late; No 41 4 hours late, J-trained. Exceptional service recovery for 669's passengers, due to loss of HEP for a significant duration: full refund and 100% travel credit.
Click to expand...
What a disaster.

How were they not able to uncouple the trains?

I'm sure that this is due to compatibility between old and new equipment.

They need to work on deploying more Siemens trains to the corridor and improve their reliability.
 
Interesting timing based on the Brockville tribulations. Anyway, if you've been wondering about just how serviceable VIA's Ventures are, I just published citizen-science figures for the past 11 months:
tracksidetreasure.blogspot.com

VIA Venture Sets' Serviceability in 2025

For the last year, I've been doing some 'citizen science' to find out what VIA couldn't or wouldn't share - Siemens Venture serviceability d...
tracksidetreasure.blogspot.com tracksidetreasure.blogspot.com
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top