VIA Rail

[tomh009]

The good news is that the money will be disbursed fairly quickly and will likely not be affected by the election. The bad news is that it's only $71M, and it's just for environmental assessment, consultations with Indigenous communities, and a technical and financial review so that the government can actually make a final funding decision later.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/...-1.5188770

Southwestern Ontario was excluded because of the (previous) provincial government's plan for high-speed rail: the feds don't want to step on the provincial government's turf.

[tomh009]

And in some related but older news … "Amtrak 'sees promise' in Detroit-Toronto corridor"

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/a...-1.5084297

[danbrotherston]

The good news is that the money will be disbursed fairly quickly and will likely not be affected by the election. The bad news is that it's only $71M, and it's just for environmental assessment, consultations with Indigenous communities, and a technical and financial review so that the government can actually make a final funding decision later.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/...-1.5188770

Southwestern Ontario was excluded because of the (previous) provincial government's plan for high-speed rail: the feds don't want to step on the provincial government's turf.

Wonderful....

[Chris]

Via Rail unveils new fleet of trains for Windsor-Quebec City corridor
https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/via-rail-unvei...-1.5687872

Via Rail previewed the first of 32 new Siemens trains on Tuesday at their Tremblay Road station in Ottawa.

[tomh009]

More details on the VIA Rail site:
https://corpo.viarail.ca/en/projects-inf...nt-program

[jeremyroman]

RMTransit also did a video about the new trains.

[Chris]

RMTransit also did a video about the new trains.

Thanks, that was a great video.

[ac3r]

The new livery is interesting. I guess they're getting rid of the blue once and for all, at least on newer vehicles. Rail Fans Canada has an extremely in-depth article on the new trains if you're interested in more information, including some great photographs (link below). Those washrooms look like something from a science fiction set haha.

https://www.railfans.ca/via-rail/a-first...-new-fleet

Also, here it is spotted way out in La Grange, Texas as it was making its way here from Sacramento, California: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jokitqzBF4&t=1595s

[tomh009]

Capable of 201 km/h ... but the current speed limit is 160 km/h.

[KevinL]

One of the new trainsets came through Kitchener today for testing - our old friend Canardiain posted a video on his twitter: https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/15...8409796611

[Rainrider22]

Looks very nice

[clasher]

I saw on Gage ave when it passed by, it was pretty quiet... almost didn't notice it!

[bravado]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/pa...-1.6654919

“The federal government has hired two consultants to examine ways to improve passenger rail service in southwestern Ontario after pandemic fears of close contact with strangers torpedoed ridership to crisis levels. ”

As usual, transit has to pay for itself or else it “just doesn’t make sense”.

Do we need consultants to tell us why passenger rail went down during a pandemic? Can’t the minister just book a train ride from Windsor to Montreal and see for themselves slowly and not-cheaply?

Obviously I’m happy to see someone looking at this but it’s damn hard to not be jaded. I took the train from Stratford to Montreal as a kid 20 years ago. I can’t do that today on an adult’s schedule salary.

[danbrotherston]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/pa...-1.6654919

“The federal government has hired two consultants to examine ways to improve passenger rail service in southwestern Ontario after pandemic fears of close contact with strangers torpedoed ridership to crisis levels. ”

As usual, transit has to pay for itself or else it “just doesn’t make sense”.

Do we need consultants to tell us why passenger rail went down during a pandemic? Can’t the minister just book a train ride from Windsor to Montreal and see for themselves slowly and not-cheaply?

Obviously I’m happy to see someone looking at this but it’s damn hard to not be jaded. I took the train from Stratford to Montreal as a kid 20 years ago. I can’t do that today on an adult’s schedule salary.

This!

Really after a few years working in a large corporation, I understand what consultants do...it isn't tell you useful information.

Instead they tell you what you want to hear, and do so in a way where you can point at someone else when someone objects or something goes wrong.

[SF22]

Has there been any rumour about what will happen to the existing VIA Rail station in Kitchener once the KVTH eventually gets built? I really hope that we'll keep the train station building around, much like Waterloo has theirs and has transformed it into commercial space. Might be nice to get some small storefronts built along Victoria to replace the existing parking lot, too. The land parcel is only 500m away from the new hub (and has 3 bus lines stop directly in front of it), and it feels like it would be a waste not to do something nice with the area, even if it's a bit of a challengingly-shaped lot.

Not really sure what I'd like to see in this space, honestly. I bet a restaurant in the train station would be a fun vibe, if done right. It'd be neat to have a pedestrian bridge cross Weber here as well, linking the (former) VIA station to whatever ends up getting built across the street at 100 Victoria St N. The crossing could be level with the train tracks, and give people any alternative way to cross street without having to navigate the busy corner that is Weber/Victoria.