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VIA Rail
(02-12-2023, 05:54 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: 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.

That's down to the track control systems in the area around the station, which are in desperate need of upgrade. That will be done in the coming years as the GO lines are electrified and signals upgraded.
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I expect that speed around Union Station also has a lot to do with number of switches that exist in the area which limit speeds.
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Information on the new VIA trains still seems a bit scarce, but VIA sent an email blast out this morning that included a link to this YouTube video (12m long, YouTube closed captions work well on it, posted a month ago) from this past winter where they invited someone to ride along on a testing run. They do a pretty decent overview of the experience within the cars, and the available features that elevate the new trains above the current experience.

https://youtu.be/B1f2WhsmYkY
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Mike Downie isn't the most critical of transport YouTubers but at least he's enthusiastic. Good to see the features highlighted, hopefully there's no issues they haven't made public.
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Well, I didn't get to ride it, but I did get to see Via's new trains parked on the platform at Toronto Union.

It looks like it was being used to operate train 40 and 41 so far, so anyone going to Ottawa probably has a chance.

   

It really is a nice and modern looking train. I talk a lot of shit about Via, and while I'll have plenty left to slag, it'll be nice not to get to complain about the trains being half a century old, they'd not look out of place at any European train station.

At least I'll still get to mock Union Station....

https://types.pl/@danbrotherston/111647644572165433

   
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It was an easy choice for Via after Brightline and Amtrak also bought a whole bunch of what is basically the same design. Still, encouraging that they did make the right choice.
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It's a nice train but as an actual proper train foamer, I miss the old days of a "real" locomotive and a bunch of carriages in tow. Modern trains are so boring because they all look the same. Each train ends up looking really dull because the locomotive and the cars are all done in the same industrial design, intended to be run as a single unit that is rarely uncoupled or altered unless it's for shunting things around for maintenance. They all sort of look like any other, even completely unrelated train...I mean you could slap some Avanti or Lumo livery on these sort of trains and would barely tell them apart from a train running on the East or West Coast Mainlines in England.

Nonetheless, it's nice to see new equipment that can actually go fast with no issues (not that they're ever going to use these at a high speed lmfao) and modern amenities. It's been ages since I've been on a VIA train so I can't even remember how comfy the carriages are.
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(12-30-2023, 05:14 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: It looks like it was being used to operate train 40 and 41 so far, so anyone going to Ottawa probably has a chance.

The schedule of the new fleet is publicly available on this page https://www.viarail.ca/en/plan/new-fleet
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Nice. But I wonder how the air circulation is on those. On the old equipment there was quite high CO2. Friends of mine just got COVID, perhaps from the train ride? It's hard to tell.
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(12-31-2023, 04:56 PM)dtkvictim Wrote:
(12-30-2023, 05:14 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: It looks like it was being used to operate train 40 and 41 so far, so anyone going to Ottawa probably has a chance.

The schedule of the new fleet is publicly available on this page https://www.viarail.ca/en/plan/new-fleet

Oh man. Thanks! Sadly, I don't think we'll be on a Via train for at least another year (I'm not even sure what our travel plans will look like once the little one is in mandatory school).
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(12-31-2023, 09:52 PM)plam Wrote: Nice. But I wonder how the air circulation is on those. On the old equipment there was quite high CO2. Friends of mine just got COVID, perhaps from the train ride? It's hard to tell.

Hmm...hard to say. The LRC cars have a lot of fan noise, I would have assumed that meant they had good air circulation (airplanes usually do have good air circulation as well).

But I honestly have no idea what it's like on any trains (I usually hang out in the vestibules on NS trains...since I'm not usually going that far or I have luggage) so the doors opening provide a lot of fresh air. Via trains stop much less frequently.

That being said, I'm not sure I'll ever ride a train or airplane without a mask again. So far we've avoided COVID (or anything for that matter) on two international trips with many transit legs.
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(12-31-2023, 10:03 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(12-31-2023, 09:52 PM)plam Wrote: Nice. But I wonder how the air circulation is on those. On the old equipment there was quite high CO2. Friends of mine just got COVID, perhaps from the train ride? It's hard to tell.

Hmm...hard to say. The LRC cars have a lot of fan noise, I would have assumed that meant they had good air circulation (airplanes usually do have good air circulation as well).

But I honestly have no idea what it's like on any trains (I usually hang out in the vestibules on NS trains...since I'm not usually going that far or I have luggage) so the doors opening provide a lot of fresh air. Via trains stop much less frequently.

That being said, I'm not sure I'll ever ride a train or airplane without a mask again. So far we've avoided COVID (or anything for that matter) on two international trips with many transit legs.

Yeah. It's a cost/benefit ratio thing. What is the benefit of not wearing a mask on a plane... pretty minimal, I find.
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I'd say the benefit is not wearing a mask on a plane (or train). What's the point anymore? Covid-19 is a mild cold at this point for basically anyone but the sort of people who should probably not be flying in an airplane to begin with if they're so vulnerable. We've all had ten thousand booster shots at this point, haven't we? Those work. It's endemic and every single human being with a pulse is going to get it dozens upon dozens of times for as long as they live.

If germs on a plane or whatever scare someone, well...think twice about even touching the attendant call bell or even pushing the Stop button on a bus. There are even worse things out there like methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, hepatitis, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, clostridium difficile and so many more all over every single surface you come across in public. I'll bet a good number of posters on this forum already have at least one of those and they don't even know it (not yet, anyway).

It's just really goofy to keep walking around with a mask at this point because even if someone believes they haven't got it yet (which is basically bullshit unless they've literally been living in a bubble 2 kilometres underground) they are going to get it again and again and again...
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What a horribly insensitive statement. Just because the vulnerable aren't the ones travelling doesn't mean they are not vulnerable otherwise; I live with an immunocompromised person who rarely leaves the house, but neither of us have picked up a COVID infection yet - mainly because I continue to mask in all indoor public spaces.

Masks work, COVID is still a problem (look up what some cases of long COVID can do to a person), it's prudent to take precautions.
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Covid is still very much a concern as are the many potential side effects, despite the lie that many have chosen to believe that it's not. Also, there are many extremely valid reasons someone may choose to wear a mask in public settings. It's not your right to look down upon those who do or to treat them [or think of them] any differently than those who have chosen not to.
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