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VIA Rail
(01-19-2023, 06:16 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(01-19-2023, 04:47 PM)tomh009 Wrote: In the end, I expect that Metrolinx will sell the station, not develop or renovate it.

The Metrolinx property (about three acres, excluding the regional parking lot) actually spans the tracks so potentially could be developed with either a bridge or a larger floor plate above the tracks.

I don't think Metrolinx owns the property? It's Via's station right?

Correct, Wikipedia says Owned by: VIA Rail  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchener_station

I can see it becoming a restaurant easily; the open bit at the western end would make a neat covered patio.
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According to Kitchener's "Property Ownership Public" dataset (tagged as "Authoritative"), 126 Weber St W is owned by Metrolinx.
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Hmm, perhaps they bought it at the same time as the rail corridor.
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(01-19-2023, 07:09 PM)dtkvictim Wrote: According to Kitchener's "Property Ownership Public" dataset (tagged as "Authoritative"), 126 Weber St W is owned by Metrolinx.

Exactly. Most likely Wikipedia has not been updated.
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(01-19-2023, 03:26 PM)SF22 Wrote: Has there been any rumour about what will happen to the existing VIA Rail station in Kitchener once the KVTH eventually gets built?

Integrate it with some newer buildings to make it a homeless shelter? Not much parking required, so plenty enough property, and apparently the location is right.
...K
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Does anyone know where to find some information about the new Via trainsets that have started testing? I've seen a few railfan pics posted on instagram but no real information or gossip about them.
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(02-10-2023, 08:11 PM)clasher Wrote: Does anyone know where to find some information about the new Via trainsets that have started testing? I've seen a few railfan pics posted on instagram but no real information or gossip about them.

Other than Via and some updates on this thread a couple years ago, I haven’t seen much. I’d be interested in updates as well.
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The UrbanToronto VIA thread has is a decent aggregator of information, but it's also in incredibly long thread with lots of other information too.

IIRC, they have possession of a couple trainsets and at least one of them is running passenger service between Ottawa/Montreal (maybe to Quebec City as well?).
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Via Rail's YouTube channel has some flashy videos from a few weeks ago.  The train sets have been out and about on the corridor, but no confirmed launch date that I'm aware of.
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They're gradually being rolled out, mostly on Ottawa-Montreal runs as that's adjacent to their operations base.
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Are you guys suggesting that they are running revenue service on the new trains right now? I feel like we'd have heard about that.

I'm still pretty peeved at Via rail from Christmas but I'll still be glad to see the trains running.

Now if Via can only fix everything else wrong with their system.
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(02-11-2023, 04:37 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Are you guys suggesting that they are running revenue service on the new trains right now? I feel like we'd have heard about that.

'We' have heard about it - those who follow rail transport closely.

The general public hasn't as they're still testing them as they go and there's no guarantee you'll get a new train on a given run, so Via has not heavily publicized them yet. Once they've been properly broken in and are running reliably, I'm sure there'll be a big marketing push.
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(02-11-2023, 05:24 PM)KevinL Wrote:
(02-11-2023, 04:37 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Are you guys suggesting that they are running revenue service on the new trains right now? I feel like we'd have heard about that.

'We' have heard about it - those who follow rail transport closely.

The general public hasn't as they're still testing them as they go and there's no guarantee you'll get a new train on a given run, so Via has not heavily publicized them yet. Once they've been properly broken in and are running reliably, I'm sure there'll be a big marketing push.

I'm asking about revenue service, i.e., carrying paying passengers, not "testing". You said they are being "rolled out" which is unclear, but dtkvictim specifically said they're carrying passenger service.

I feel like even a non-railfan who rides via rail (do those even exist?) who was scheduled on a via train and a brand new modern European style Stadler train pulled up instead of Via's typical 1950s - 1970s fare would be taking a selfie with it and posting it on twitter. Certainly someone in a train with 500 people on it would be posting something.

I cannot believe Via would run passenger service without a launch, OTOH, it'd be great if they were that far along.
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(02-12-2023, 03:46 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(02-11-2023, 05:24 PM)KevinL Wrote: 'We' have heard about it - those who follow rail transport closely.

The general public hasn't as they're still testing them as they go and there's no guarantee you'll get a new train on a given run, so Via has not heavily publicized them yet. Once they've been properly broken in and are running reliably, I'm sure there'll be a big marketing push.

I'm asking about revenue service, i.e., carrying paying passengers, not "testing". You said they are being "rolled out" which is unclear, but dtkvictim specifically said they're carrying passenger service.

I feel like even a non-railfan who rides via rail (do those even exist?) who was scheduled on a via train and a brand new modern European style Stadler train pulled up instead of Via's typical 1950s - 1970s fare would be taking a selfie with it and posting it on twitter. Certainly someone in a train with 500 people on it would be posting something.

I cannot believe Via would run passenger service without a launch, OTOH, it'd be great if they were that far along.

I think there was more confirmation of it in the UT thread, but again it's a nightmare to find anything there.

All I could quickly find was this video. The video claims they are on "one of the very first revenue runs", and the train seems to be displaying a regular route number.

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(02-12-2023, 04:09 AM)dtkvictim Wrote:
(02-12-2023, 03:46 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: I'm asking about revenue service, i.e., carrying paying passengers, not "testing". You said they are being "rolled out" which is unclear, but dtkvictim specifically said they're carrying passenger service.

I feel like even a non-railfan who rides via rail (do those even exist?) who was scheduled on a via train and a brand new modern European style Stadler train pulled up instead of Via's typical 1950s - 1970s fare would be taking a selfie with it and posting it on twitter. Certainly someone in a train with 500 people on it would be posting something.

I cannot believe Via would run passenger service without a launch, OTOH, it'd be great if they were that far along.

I think there was more confirmation of it in the UT thread, but again it's a nightmare to find anything there.

All I could quickly find was this video. The video claims they are on "one of the very first revenue runs", and the train seems to be displaying a regular route number.


Cool! Thanks! Yeah, I am surprised that there wasn't more press about them starting service. I feel like they'd want to talk about that more.

It's great news for me, there's some chance that the next time I visit, we might be on new trains--not that I'd choose Via if I had a choice, but this is certainly an improvement.

As a complete aside, does anyone know why trains move so slowly 1km from Union Station and what it would take to fix this? It takes nearly 5 minutes to go from "just arriving at Union" to "stopped at the platform". That kind of delay is insane, and doesn't happen at other stations I'm aware of.
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