VIA Rail

[nfitz]

Shame they couldn't add a buffet car instead of a buffer car.

 

[dowlingm]

It seems to me simpler to discontinue White River than go looking to CP for hundreds of more route miles of Canadian ops and relocate Capreol operations to somewhere on the CP route

@lenaitch re your comment about GO north. Before reinstatement of Northlander I would have gone along with that but now that it is returning along with a significant ROW acquisition it’s not unfair to ask what Ontario’s policy is for rail is, and therefore why we would spend there and not in Sudbury, other than some form of electoral arithmetic

 

[Bordercollie]

Breaking...Buffer cars to be required coming Monday on LRC consists...structural integrity issues discovered last September. I've seen this movie before....

Why now?

I believe there are some cars at CAD being repaired as we speak.

VIA should bill Siemens for the extra axle costs and fuel as well as the cost of the repairs for the LRC'S.

 

[crs1026]

That might explain some odd LRC/HEP II consists that have been observed in the past while.

- Paul

 

[lenaitch]

@lenaitch re your comment about GO north. Before reinstatement of Northlander I would have gone along with that but now that it is returning along with a significant ROW acquisition it’s not unfair to ask what Ontario’s policy is for rail is, and therefore why we would spend there and not in Sudbury, other than some form of electoral arithmetic

In terms of an overall rail transport policy, or transportation policy, for Ontario, or at least non-GTA centric commuter rail? I doubt one exists. All of the Northlander activity is to support and enhance operations on a railway they own, and railway that the previous Liberal government, tried to divest. I see no indication that they intend to own more.

 

[micheal_can]

Realistically, nothing concrete from VIA and probably just railfan scuttlebutt. Then there's this: If they used F40PHs on that line, they'd regularly have to deadhead down to Toronto for maintenance, which is a pretty expensive operation because it means running over CP tracks on which VIA doesn't have any running rights.

Could they not move them to Capreol and connect them to the Canadian as it passes through? A much shorter reroute, and regularly done with CN crews.

 

[Allandale25]

According to Global News, the federal government is slashing Via Rail's budget by 50% ($1 Billion) this coming year:

At the same time, the budget for the department of Finance is being increased by $8.5 Billion and the budget for National Defense is being increased by $5.3 Billion, and Via HFR is being increased by $0.1 Billion. Not sure why HFR is still a department, unless Alto is still operating under that name.

Some important context:

Text of the rest of the thread:

2/ All these claims trace back to a series of reporting over last few weeks that has been happening since the Main Estimates were tabled.What’s important to know is that the Main Estimates are just 1 of often 4 or 5 times throughout the year in which Parliament votes spending.To get into those processes you have to go to Treasury Board and get approval for *how* you’ll spend the money the Budget authorized you to do.Delays getting through this step push back which supply period new programs or investments can be slotted into.

3/ Mains somewhat solve for this by ensuring that departments get 25% of their previous year’s base allocation so that the can operate through the time it takes Parliament to approve other spending.But Mains aren’t a full picture of what is happening.If money “sunsets” and has to be renewed that process may not catch up in time for Mains. OR as the government recently did - when there are changes in the budget process and timing (now the fall) that will alters when new investments move through the system at TB etc.That happened this year.

4/ So we shouldn’t be surprised that trying to compare Mains to previous baselines - including ones that capture a full not partial year - are therefore incomplete.For example - the government has announced it intends to top up new funding to CBC. But that money isn’t in the Mains.It will likely will still come. Just later.

5/ Some of this should be obvious to people like
@avilewis
who is a former journalist.The reporting he’s relying on said Canada Post would be cut 98%That’s just not happening.It’s a quirk of timing.

6/ Obviously there are ways to improve the transparency and timing of fiscal data.But people who know better should be better.If you want to know how money will be spent next year look at Budget 2025.The government is spending lots of money.

You can see it here[:]: https://budget.canada.ca/2025/report-rapport/pdf/budget-2025.pdf

And, this statement from the President of the Treasury Board seems to be related: