littlewill1166
Active Member
I can't believe that VIA waited until 2019 to publish their 2018-2022 corporate plan. https://m.viarail.ca/sites/all/file...company/corporate-plan/Corporate_Plan2018.pdf
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VIA Rail
- Thread starter ehlow
- Start date
Urban Sky
Senior Member
Can’t publish anything before the government agencies concerned have approved the Corporate Plan and its summary. Some years it takes longer, other years it takes less long. These reports ensure full accountability of a Crown Corporation towards the government (and taxpayers) and this is reflected by the approval process. As we speak, my colleagues are probably already writing the 2020-2024 Plan, while awaiting comments on the 2019-2023 Plan...
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littlewill1166
Active Member
I noticed that the fleet section was a bit less detailed than last year. I'm guessing that there were a bunch of last minute changes because of the announcement related to the new fleet.
SaugeenJunction
Senior Member
Not directly VIA, but CN Rail is rolling out their 2019 Capital Investments Plan, which like 2018, includes lots of new double tracking projects. They seem to be announcing it province by province, so we'll get a better picture over the next few weeks. Hopefully more double track helps speed up the Canadian.
CN investing approximately $370 million to expand and strengthen Alberta’s rail infrastructure in 2019
CN investing approximately $345 million to expand and strengthen B.C.’s rail infrastructure in 2019
CN investing more than $245 million to expand and strengthen Saskatchewan’s rail infrastructure in 2019
CN investing approximately $370 million to expand and strengthen Alberta’s rail infrastructure in 2019
CN investing approximately $345 million to expand and strengthen B.C.’s rail infrastructure in 2019
CN investing more than $245 million to expand and strengthen Saskatchewan’s rail infrastructure in 2019
innsertnamehere
Superstar
That does strike me as a lot of additional crossings - it will result in 7 new "passing spots" in Alberta and Saskatchewan. I would imagine that it would reduce delays - maybe only a 2 hour passing wait instead of 4 now! (woohoo..)
dowlingm
Senior Member
Those CN per-province announcements seem very American where companies are sure to have tailored state-by-state messaging to give to Governors/Senators/Congressmen. But then the congestion is becoming political - the grain trains, of course, who cares about VIA...
SaugeenJunction
Senior Member
Streety McCarface
Senior Member
Can we get the Chicago-Sarnia-Toronto service back as well?
Bureaucromancer
Active Member
Let's get anything before we start pushing too hard for multiple services. Moving the Windsor Via terminal to Detroit is relatively quick and easy without any serious complications.
Ideally I'd want to see a funding package that extends Via to Detroit and GO to Niagara Falls with Canadian preclearance on the American side (this has yet to be done anywhere, but the preclearance treaty does provide for Canadian customs in the States, it's a funding issue not really a negotiation one) as a single project.
Ideally I'd want to see a funding package that extends Via to Detroit and GO to Niagara Falls with Canadian preclearance on the American side (this has yet to be done anywhere, but the preclearance treaty does provide for Canadian customs in the States, it's a funding issue not really a negotiation one) as a single project.
lenaitch
Senior Member
Given that GO is struggling to provide daily commuter service within the GTA, is running an international tourist/shopping/casino service good use of limited public funds?
Bureaucromancer
Active Member
The thing is that it's an extension of only a few hundred metres. There's really no impact on go ops, but the service fills a pretty big gap in service terms. The distance is very short, but it's simply not practical to make the cross road transfer on foot.
Northern Light
Superstar
Not so sure about that.
To access Detroit via the tunnel they would have to permission to use CNs and then CPs trackage and the tunnel.
The current Detroit Amtrak station is not on that piece of track. (either requiring a new station/rehabbing M-Central) or a very circuitous route to the current Amtrak Station.
VIA will not cease to have a station in Windsor (imagine telling Windsorites they need a passport to access a domestic train) ...........and the current VIA station is not on the track that accesses Detroit, and is past the last turnoff to link to said track.
That's not to say I wouldn't support Amtrak/VIA running such a service, but it will involve overcoming a few challenges.
nfitz
Superstar
The article that started this discussion today says that there are significant hurdles to go through, including "moving VIA Rail station to former site of Canada Southern station site".
littlewill1166
Active Member
Here's a track schematic of the Chatham sub for everyone's reference: https://mega.nz/#!IFFz1KSA!YgsZ0oHHpVIcrzupEDywHlljK5UyFSVCRbLv_IMLSHo
Slightly off topic, but if anyone has a copy for the CN Dundas or CN Oakville sub, I'd really appreciate it if you could send it to me.
Slightly off topic, but if anyone has a copy for the CN Dundas or CN Oakville sub, I'd really appreciate it if you could send it to me.
Bureaucromancer
Active Member
I really wouldn't call any of those serious challenges. Significant costs sure, but there's no particular difficulty other than negotiating track time in a place it's available and building a couple of stations. This is a question of spending the money, largely an issue of finding a time when support is available on both sides of the border.
As far as service within Detroit goes, the current station isn't directly at the border no, but it's not so far that pre-clearance would be unimaginable. Far better to shift everything to Michigan Central yes...
Extending the streetcar up Michigan Ave has already been talked about, and seems like a prerequisite for any substantial use of Michigan Central.
As for cutting the Wolverine short in Detroit, no one's talked about it, but I've suggested more than once that a frequent DMU (Hydrail anyone?) from Michigan Central to Pontiac with a couple trains a day to Flint and Saginaw is both the best single transit project for Detroit and a far better option than the weird Pontiac extension of Chicago trains that exists now. For all the usual reasons of Detroit politics good luck getting this done, but given the cost involved it seems more reaslistic to me than another crack at Woodward light rail (and frankly BRT in Detroit is a distraction that isn't going to amount to anything more than express buses for the foreseeable future).