Trackside_Treasure
Active Member
Since it's still before the Quebec Superior Court, and Transport Canada as regulator, CN's Crossing Supplement that imposed speed reductions for VIA Ventures at constant-warning technology/Grade-Crossing Predictor-equipped crossings on all CN subdivisions in VIA's Corridor is becoming an engrossing microcosm in VIA's history.
We now know that the Crossing Supplement was based on CN's concerns about GCP short warning times of <32-axle passenger trains in the US dating back to 2004, the Loss of Shunt Committee testing in Michigan that led to the publication of its White Paper and subsequent adoption of On-Board Shunt Enhancers in the US, and loss-of-shunt issues of VIA trains on CN's Drummondville Sub in March, 2024.
In June and September, 2024 VIA requested permission from CN to operate two Venture trains in Southwest Ontario. For the first, CN issued GBO's requiring protection of GCP-equipped crossings. For the second, VIA obviated that need by tacking two HEP cars on the tail-end of a Venture consist. CN executives believed those were the only two instances in which Ventures operated outside of the Quebec City-Montreal-Ottawa lanes which were the subject of some ongoing testing by CN.
In reality, VIA had been operating west of Montreal and Ottawa, with Montreal-Ottawa service having begun on November 8, 2022, expanding to Quebec City, then adding Ottawa-Toronto service beginning on September 21, 2023. Once CN heard that VIA wanted to begin operation west of Toronto (initiated on October 7, 2024) CN prepared to issue the first iteration of its [current] Crossing Supplement that only applied to the Chatham, Dundas, Guelph, Halton and Strathroy Subs. CN execs believed it would not be immediately required as CN execs believed the SW Ontario service would not debut until the end of 2024. Hurriedly, they expanded the Supplement to cover the entire Corridor and despite claims that VIA had been involved in its creation, hurriedly enacted it and notified VIA at that time.
Based on now-available emails, high-level CN executives were completely oblivious to the fact that these same crossings on their Corridor subdivisions were being crossed by these same Venture trains for over a year already.
We now know that the Crossing Supplement was based on CN's concerns about GCP short warning times of <32-axle passenger trains in the US dating back to 2004, the Loss of Shunt Committee testing in Michigan that led to the publication of its White Paper and subsequent adoption of On-Board Shunt Enhancers in the US, and loss-of-shunt issues of VIA trains on CN's Drummondville Sub in March, 2024.
In June and September, 2024 VIA requested permission from CN to operate two Venture trains in Southwest Ontario. For the first, CN issued GBO's requiring protection of GCP-equipped crossings. For the second, VIA obviated that need by tacking two HEP cars on the tail-end of a Venture consist. CN executives believed those were the only two instances in which Ventures operated outside of the Quebec City-Montreal-Ottawa lanes which were the subject of some ongoing testing by CN.
In reality, VIA had been operating west of Montreal and Ottawa, with Montreal-Ottawa service having begun on November 8, 2022, expanding to Quebec City, then adding Ottawa-Toronto service beginning on September 21, 2023. Once CN heard that VIA wanted to begin operation west of Toronto (initiated on October 7, 2024) CN prepared to issue the first iteration of its [current] Crossing Supplement that only applied to the Chatham, Dundas, Guelph, Halton and Strathroy Subs. CN execs believed it would not be immediately required as CN execs believed the SW Ontario service would not debut until the end of 2024. Hurriedly, they expanded the Supplement to cover the entire Corridor and despite claims that VIA had been involved in its creation, hurriedly enacted it and notified VIA at that time.
Based on now-available emails, high-level CN executives were completely oblivious to the fact that these same crossings on their Corridor subdivisions were being crossed by these same Venture trains for over a year already.
