VIA Rail

[SF22]

Mid-2030s is WAY sooner than I would have expected! It seems like we're finally taking HFR/HSR seriously in this country for once. I would visit Montreal for long weekend trips several times a year, if I could be there in 3.5 hrs plus whatever time the streamlined GO train to Union would take (70 minutes?). Kitchener city centre to Montreal city centre in under 5 hours would be fantastic, and absolutely faster than flying. It's so weird that I hardly hear anything about this project, though. I stumbled across it maybe 6 months ago on Twitter when the process was a few years in already. We should be shouting about this from the rooftops; it's an amazing undertaking for the country.

(And if we're lucky, by the time VIA looks to do phase 2 of this project to extend it into southwestern Ontario, Kitchener will have increased density and made itself the obvious choice to route through.)

[ac3r]

2030? So, more realistically 2050.

[SF22]

2030? So, more realistically 2050.

I mean, one of the groups putting together a proposal is the same team that built Montreal's REM, and look how fast they managed to get that project approved, built and operational.

[bravado]

I’m happy to hear it but my cynicism is dialled up to a million on this. Lowest hopes imaginable.

[tomh009]

The fact that the old running stock is falling apart is going to trigger some kind of decision.

[nms]

I think VIA is going madly off in all directions and doing its best to play catch-up on lots of files. While HFR will serve a higher density of the Canadian population, their long-distance, sleeper stock is the one that runs through the most ridings coast-to-coast. Once the current "new fleet" is brought online it will be interesting to see what kind of fleet renewal plans are floated to replace the long-distance Budd stock. The trains are visually iconic in so many ways, but I doubt that it makes sense to build a brand new train set and clad it in a Budd-like silver.

[KevinL]

There's a big resurgence of night trains in Europe right now, with new rolling stock coming on. Maybe Via could jump into that parade.

[ac3r]

It would be nice...if only the trains went faster. Cross country/province overnight trips are cool, but when you consider how painfully slow it takes to get anywhere on a VIA train it's hard to sell the whole uniqueness of overnight train trips to the consumer. Sure it's a nice experience - both the trips you are just looking to go to sleep and wake up in your destination and the multi-day voyages - but it's so damn slow you almost get a bit sick of it. It's an easier thing to sell in Europe because a lot of rail passengers are just travelling from A to B. In Canada, everything is so far apart that most people aren't going to want to sit on a train for 12, 24, 48+ hours unless it's the only option. So you have to find a way to make it marketable in Canada. That takes improving speed while also modernizing what a long distance journey on North American rail could be like.

If we had the ability to go faster and not get stuck on sidings because a billion kilometre long intermodal hotshot had priority then it could surely be possible to capitalize on the whole idea of trans-continental trains in 2024. To most of the people alive, the idea of named passenger trains is a thing of the past. Few remember names such as The Dominion, California Zephyr, Mainstreeter, Tamiami Champion and so on. They barely have a sense of the romanticism that it entailed. But if you could offer nice long trips that maybe take 2, 3 or 4 days and were sold as an experience rather than a cheap way to get somewhere then it could be possible to bring that romantic aspect back. You just have to ensure that the trans-continental experience you sell doesn't turn into crawling along a track through a forest, parking on a siding for 2 hours with nothing to see but a tree because some CN train hauling durable goods had the right of way so you fall asleep and wake up half way across Manitoba having missed all the views. That, unfortunately, is the hardest part to achieve.


Just do something like this...VIA. And make the coaches nice. The newest ones they added look fucking awful, like some sterile medical room or science fiction thing. They have zero soul. Fine if you're just going to be on it for 5-6 hours to get somewhere for the day but hardly something anyone would willingly pay money to "enjoy".

[KevinL]

The new Siemens-built fleet continues to expand across the Corridor, some trips through Kitchener are now using them. (Not my photo.)

[Bytor]

Now if only we could get the Feds to give them the money for not just that "HFR" corridor, but also to increase frequency everywhere.

[Vojnik_Vahaj]

I just want, at the very least, a true high speed rail corridor from Windsor to Quebec city to connect up all the major cities in that part of Canada. Ideally every major city in Canada(and every mid to large city along the path) to be connected

[Bytor]

I just want, at the very least, a true high speed rail corridor from Windsor to Quebec city to connect up all the major cities in that part of Canada. Ideally every major city in Canada(and every mid to large city along the path) to be connected

If it's one or the other, I'd rather have the frequent regular trains all over that we used to have in days of yore, instead of merely a single corridor, but as if we had maintained and upgraded them like Europe did.

170 km/h service to much every town and city over 10,000 and many smaller ones? Yes please!

[Vojnik_Vahaj]

I just want, at the very least, a true high speed rail corridor from Windsor to Quebec city to connect up all the major cities in that part of Canada. Ideally every major city in Canada(and every mid to large city along the path) to be connected

If it's one or the other, I'd rather have the frequent regular trains all over that we used to have in days of yore, instead of merely a single corridor, but as if we had maintained and upgraded them like Europe did.

170 km/h service to much every town and city over 10,000 and many smaller ones? Yes please!

Of course thats the ideal. But realistically having a corridor would spur support for a broader network

[neonjoe]

The corridor isn't exclusive to Rail. The 401-A20 is our Road Equivalent to the corridor. We have very few freeways outside of the corridor with the same capacity/traffic. The best place to pick up drivers to move them to rail is on the corridor.

[tomh009]

I just want, at the very least, a true high speed rail corridor from Windsor to Quebec city to connect up all the major cities in that part of Canada. Ideally every major city in Canada(and every mid to large city along the path) to be connected

If it's one or the other, I'd rather have the frequent regular trains all over that we used to have in days of yore, instead of merely a single corridor, but as if we had maintained and upgraded them like Europe did.

170 km/h service to much every town and city over 10,000 and many smaller ones? Yes please!

Even if it's to every town larger than 100,000 it would be a huge improvement.