VIA Rail

[reaperexpress]

Unfortunately the whole of the former CASO has been ripped up, and the track north of Chatham are also idled and overgrown. However, there plenty of capacity for CN and VIA to share the Chatham Sub, unless the plan becomes to reconnect service to Detroit and Chicago, in which case the alignment along the CP corridor west of Chatham recommended by David Collenette is much better than the apparent proposal in the Amtrak Connects US plan to use the ETR to get from the tunnel to Walkerville.

Oh, I didn't know CN had ditched the western portion of the CASO too. Well if they're willing to abandon their only line to Detroit, then clearly they don't care about that corridor. Maybe they would be interested in selling the remainder of the Chatham Sub to VIA to get the maintenance costs of their hands.

 

[EnviroTO]

Southwestern Ontario HFR only has mainline freight contention from Komoka to London Station, and from Georgetown (Silver) to Bramalea. The frieght in other parts is light enough that double tracking would eliminate it completely. Chatham to Komoka I would imagine CN could be convinced to sell, and probably they would sell London to Kitchener too but I would think they have enough customers and transferred loads on the that line that there would be conditions. Still, Southwestern Ontario, is pretty easy from an HFR implementation standpoint when you exclude Komoka to London and Georgetown to Bramalea.

 

[jamincan]

Interestingly, it seems there are more active freight customers along the line from Stratford to Goderich than along the line between London and Kitchener. It does appear like a lot of the line between Kitchener and London might have been double-tracked in the past, so that might make it easier to add sidings or double-track in the future.

 

[Bordercollie]

Interestingly, it seems there are more active freight customers along the line from Stratford to Goderich than along the line between London and Kitchener. It does appear like a lot of the line between Kitchener and London might have been double-tracked in the past, so that might make it easier to add sidings or double-track in the future.

The Chatham Sub is owned by VIA and was formerly double tracked.

There are some passing sidings between Chatham and London.

You could easily double track the whole corridor through there. Some of those unmarked crossings would need to be upgraded.

 

[robmausser]

The Chatham Sub is owned by VIA and was formerly double tracked.

There are some passing sidings between Chatham and London.

You could easily double track the whole corridor through there. Some of those unmarked crossings would need to be upgraded.

The agreement would have to be that the line is sold to VIA, and then double tracked, and CN allowed onto the line.

CN ownership and paying to double track is a non-starter. They will overcharge for the work and still deny VIA good timekeeping.

 

[Bordercollie]

The agreement would have to be that the line is sold to VIA, and then double tracked, and CN allowed onto the line.

CN ownership and paying to double track is a non-starter. They will overcharge for the work and still deny VIA good timekeeping.

I thought VIA owns that track from Windsor station to Chatham station? The part they don't own is from Chatham to London. But some of that is already double tracked.

 

[littlewill1166]

I thought VIA owns that track from Windsor station to Chatham station? The part they don't own is from Chatham to London. But some of that is already double tracked.

RAC Canadian Rail Atlas

rac.jmaponline.net

 

[Bordercollie]

View attachment 337340

RAC Canadian Rail Atlas

rac.jmaponline.net

So how does CN access their Windsor trackage? Via the Chatham Sub?

 

[littlewill1166]

I doubt that VIA is going to double-track the Chatham sub. The real bottleneck is at Komoka where VIA has to wait for freights to/from Sarnia. Chatham and Glencoe stations could get second tracks though to eliminate double-stopping.

 

[littlewill1166]

So how does CN access their Windsor trackage? Via the Chatham Sub?

The Star's View: CN could compromise on noisy new trains

It's difficult to feel complete sympathy for people who choose to buy homes and live within a few metres of a busy railway track, then complain about the…

www.google.com

 

[crs1026]

Small nitpick….the Glencoe- Komoka segment has never been double track.

- Paul

 

[Bureaucromancer]

Wasn't a good deal of HFR supposed to be single track as of the latest information? I'd say there's about zero chance of it anywhere past London.

 

[kEiThZ]

There needs to be a growth strategy in place. Maybe they can launch with single track and schedule freight at night. But they need a corridor wide enough to double track over time, and possibly even triple track, if it's still shared with freight.

 

[Bordercollie]

Wasn't a good deal of HFR supposed to be single track as of the latest information? I'd say there's about zero chance of it anywhere past London.

They could likely shave off 10-15 minutes by upgrading the track between Glencoe and Chatham to Continuous welded rail instead of jointed rail. Makes for a better ride too.

 

[Urban Sky]

They could likely shave off 10-15 minutes by upgrading the track between Glencoe and Chatham to Continuous welded rail instead of jointed rail. Makes for a better ride too.

I guess you could, but then, you only have 8 VIA trains per day, compared to 12 on the Alexandria Sub and 20 on the Beachburg/Smiths Falls/Brockville Subs...