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VIA Rail

crs1026 said:
I don’t see your point - when VIA assigned underutilised LRCs to conventional trains it was because the LRCs were new and (relatively) reliable while the rest of their locos were junk. Good strategy if you ask me.

The F40s and P42s will not be compatible with some of the Siemens’ onboard tech so I don,’t anticipate their seeing much duty with the new fleet. . If a Charger loco is occasionally used on LRC or HEP trains, what’s wrong with that? They will be newer, more fuel efficient, and greener.

Hell, rent ‘em to CP for peaks, as VIA used to do with the 6400s…. good business.

- Pail
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What about this:

The LRC locos were almost brand new at that time and they were already mix and matched with legacy cars. When you start mixing and matching you affect the image of what's been marketed as fixed trainsets. They are supposed to be semi fixed consists. The sight of mixed lrcs/Renaissance/hep equipment to me just screams disorganized fleet identity, frugal operating model and just patch it up mentality. Maybe it's my old but I would really much prefer to see a complete trainset type stay as the same type from start to finish. Doesn't it look odd to see a mammoth p42 pulling tiny lrc coaches half it's size and vise versa as the attached pic shows? VIA is not a freight train operation. Public image is also important, one being how their fleet looks
 

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Urban Sky said:
There will be a surplus of F40s with the delivery of the Siemens fleet, but only one Charger locomotive for every 5 Viaggio cars. Why would VIA use a scarce Charger locomotive to haul legacy fleet cars?
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So will they be upgrading the F40's? Since we currently do not have any replacements on order?

I guess the P42's are finished then. Would anyone be interested in rebuilding them? ONR?
 
cplchanb said:
What about this:

The LRC locos were almost brand new at that time and they were already mix and matched with legacy cars. When you start mixing and matching you affect the image of what's been marketed as fixed trainsets. They are supposed to be semi fixed consists. The sight of mixed lrcs/Renaissance/hep equipment to me just screams disorganized fleet identity, frugal operating model and just patch it up mentality. Maybe it's my old but I would really much prefer to see a complete trainset type stay as the same type from start to finish. Doesn't it look odd to see a mammoth p42 pulling tiny lrc coaches half it's size and vise versa as the attached pic shows? VIA is not a freight train operation. Public image is also important, one being how their fleet looks
Click to expand...

The average passenger doesn't care a whit. They notice if the train is clean or dirty on the outside (VIA could do better here) and maybe whether the paint scheme looks "snazzy" (which is a concept that most enthusiasts' tastes may not understand or align to). I don't think the roofline of a P42/LRC combo even registers. Sure, some consists that mix LRC and HEP look a little odd, but I doubt they create an aversion to buy a ticket.

Certainly, sleek sells - but VIA has sold more tickets by mixing and matching to optimise the fleet than if they had turned up their noses and kept everything segregated.

Bordercollie said:
So will they be upgrading the F40's? Since we currently do not have any replacements on order?

I guess the P42's are finished then. Would anyone be interested in rebuilding them? ONR?
Click to expand...

P42's are reportedly reaching the end of the spare parts life cycle. The F40's are still mid-lifecycle after the last refurb. Won't know more for another 5-6 years. If HFR goes electric, there may be diesel Chargers to spare.

- Paul
 
crs1026 said:
The average passenger doesn't care a whit. They notice if the train is clean or dirty on the outside (VIA could do better here) and maybe whether the paint scheme looks "snazzy" (which is a concept that most enthusiasts' tastes may not understand or align to). I don't think the roofline of a P42/LRC combo even registers. Sure, some consists that mix LRC and HEP look a little odd, but I doubt they create an aversion to buy a ticket.



P42's are reportedly reaching the end of the spare parts life cycle. The F40's are still mid-lifecycle after the last refurb. Won't know more for another 5-6 years. If HFR goes electric, there may be diesel Chargers to spare.

- Paul
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Amtrak still has at least 100 units left in their fleet so is there not enough units still around for spare parts?
 
crs1026 said:
Those 100 units ARE the spare parts supply. After that....

- Paul
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VIA could possibly sell theirs to Amtrak for spare parts.

As for the F40s, I gather they have recently been refurbished.

Regarding mixing and matching, the LRC and Renaissance cars need to be retired, so they won't be available. That only leaves the HEP cars, and they are also approaching their end of life, and VIA will need them for their regional and long distance services.
 
crs1026 said:
Those 100 units ARE the spare parts supply. After that....

- Paul
Click to expand...
Given the flogging of the 42s up and down the corridor on VIA's highest speed runs, I suspect the main attraction for the P42s will be for parting out engine management circuitry as cheaper than getting more from GE. Amtrak and P40 operators like CTDOT will have more and more locos as Chargers and their long range cousins enter service, but those will be wired for Amtrak electrical standards, PTC and what not (isn't there a difference in use of sanding too?) so as long as they still have fatigue life why bother having to do work on VIA ones to have them meet those requirements?
 
roger1818 said:
See pg. 70 of VIA's Summary of the 2017-2021 Corporate Plan:
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That is an interesting read. I'm not sure how they can call that a "plan" as it talks more about what is currently the situation (and it isn't good) and not much at all about what they are proposing the solution to be. So what is their locomotive strategy outside the corridor? They have corridor train sets now ordered and being delivered starting 2022 supposedly, but they have a long distance fleet that is in bad shape and it looks like the option of refurbishment, especially in light of emissions requirements, is a non-starter. Is this the end of the long haul service or is an announcement coming?
 
dowlingm said:
Given the flogging of the 42s up and down the corridor on VIA's highest speed runs, I suspect the main attraction for the P42s will be for parting out engine management circuitry as cheaper than getting more from GE. Amtrak and P40 operators like CTDOT will have more and more locos as Chargers and their long range cousins enter service, but those will be wired for Amtrak electrical standards, PTC and what not (isn't there a difference in use of sanding too?) so as long as they still have fatigue life why bother having to do work on VIA ones to have them meet those requirements?
Click to expand...

Not sure if I understand your question correctly or not, but the P42s need to be refurbished for reliable operation (having locomotives break down in the middle of a trip isn't good for customer service), but VIA can't refurbish them, as that would trigger the need to update to them to the latest standards.

Given that the Chargers will be better than the P42s. and they will be receiving enough to replace all of their P42s (and more), I don't see any need for VIA to keep their aging P42s.
 
EnviroTO said:
That is an interesting read. I'm not sure how they can call that a "plan" as it talks more about what is currently the situation (and it isn't good) and not much at all about what they are proposing the solution to be. So what is their locomotive strategy outside the corridor? They have corridor train sets now ordered and being delivered starting 2022 supposedly, but they have a long distance fleet that is in bad shape and it looks like the option of refurbishment, especially in light of emissions requirements, is a non-starter. Is this the end of the long haul service or is an announcement coming?
Click to expand...

First of all, that corporate plan is from 2017, prior to receiving approval to order the new fleet. There are 3 newer corporate plans available (and the 2021 one will hopefully be published soon).

As for the long distance fleet, it certainly is an issue (it becomes more apparent how bad it is in the 2020-2024 Corporate Plan). Unfortunately, as the long distance fleet replacement will be more expensive than the corridor fleet replacement, as VIA owns over 250 long distance cars (compared to the 160 corridor cars replaced). I don't know if any government will want to invest that much money in the long distance services. Then again, they won't want the responsibility of cancelling the services either, so they will most likely die a slow and painful death.
 
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