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Indirectly related to VIA, but do I assume correctly that CP is still operating? Admittedly their traffic would be down due to no interchange traffic.
 
Indirectly related to VIA, but do I assume correctly that CP is still operating? Admittedly their traffic would be down due to no interchange traffic.

I would assume so. If CP and CN were shut down I can see Metrolinx also shutting down rail operations.
 
Indirectly related to VIA, but do I assume correctly that CP is still operating? Admittedly their traffic would be down due to no interchange traffic.
I have been shipping via CP Rail (Toronto to Vancouver) all throughout the blockades with no issue. Only thing has been the derailment in Saskatchewan last weekend.
 
Indirectly related to VIA, but do I assume correctly that CP is still operating? Admittedly their traffic would be down due to no interchange traffic.

They are operating, but I would not attach the term “as normal” to that. They have had some short lived disruptions. They are treading carefully.

- Paul
 
15828497810338806298271135150277.jpg

It is with regret that I announce that VIA has replaced it's emergency food from a pack of Cloverleaf Hummus and Crackers with this measly vegan, gluten-free cereal bar.

Edit
They also gave us a cookie.
IMG_20200227_195719.jpg
 
Last edited:
No the cookie was seen eating a roast beef sandwich earlier that day
It also contains milk found the ingredients list:
WHEAT FLOUR, SHORTENING (VEGETABLE, MODIFIED PALM), SUGAR, GOLDEN SYRUP, MODIFIED MILK INGREDIENTS, WHEAT BRAN, MALT EXTRACTS (BARLEY, CORN), SALT, BAKING SODA, AMMONIUM BICARBONATE. CONTAINS: WHEAT, MILK, BARLEY.
 
Welcome on Urban Toronto and thank you for asking this excellent question! :)

I recall asking this question (why trainsets with one locomotive at either end did not still back out of Gare Centrale whenever they are used for one of the Quebec-Montreal-Ottawa trains) to my colleagues, and even though I don’t remember the answer, I suspect that a reason is that the reservation system doesn’t really support cars changing their orientation (or direction of travel) mid-journey, which would lead to either of the following situations:

  1. The car orientation would be shown wrong for half of the train journey, which I don't think is revealed to the passenger while booking online, but is probably an issue for customers booking over the phone and asking specifically for a forward-facing seat, as the phone agent would now have to identify 1) that the train has two locomotives, 2) that it changes its direction in Montreal, 3) which part of the passengers' journey would be before and which part would be after Montreal and 4) for which part of the passengers' journey the information displayed by the system is correct. This would provide ample of opportunities for human error on the side of the phone agent, which would inevitably lead to frustration on the customer's side. Also, it would force any passenger insisting on sitting forward-facing to book a different seat before or after Montreal.
  2. All cars would be loaded as facing one direction until Montreal and facing the other thereafter. Whereas this would work great with any passenger leaving the train before or in Montreal or boarding in or after Montreal, the system would now treat any passenger travelling through Montreal as a transfer (most probably assigning different seats for both legs, as it doesn't understand that it's the same car), which could of course be corrected directly by the phone agent when booking over the phone, but will result in two different boarding passes (with probably two different seats, potentially even in different cars) when booking online.
As you can see, neither situation would be desirable and I suspect that this is the reason why the entire train is turned in Montreal, even though the train would be perfectly capable of operating bidirectionally...

I hope this answered this (very first) question of yours and I'm looking forward to you making your nick name all honors... ;)

Sorry for take so long to respond!

Keeping the same listed passenger orientation does make sense as a goal for this turn around. Though I had been under the impression that newer trains leaving Gare Centrale directly would be one of the the most signage l significant speed improvements from the HFR project. I don't recall there seeing any big spending on the Montreal-Ottawa leg in the proposal. Unless there's a low way to install a crossover such the the trains can use the more direct CP line from Vaudreuil to the junction with the VIA line near Sainte Polycarpe.

Thanks for clearing the up! It makes more sense now; even though I'm currently riding forwards in a "rear facing" seat on train 633!
 
Sorry for take so long to respond!

Keeping the same listed passenger orientation does make sense as a goal for this turn around. Though I had been under the impression that newer trains leaving Gare Centrale directly would be one of the the most signage l significant speed improvements from the HFR project. I don't recall there seeing any big spending on the Montreal-Ottawa leg in the proposal. Unless there's a low way to install a crossover such the the trains can use the more direct CP line from Vaudreuil to the junction with the VIA line near Sainte Polycarpe.

Thanks for clearing the up! It makes more sense now; even though I'm currently riding forwards in a "rear facing" seat on train 633!
The only solution to this is to use swiveling seats like the shinkansen. At each terminus the cleaners just rotate the seats 180 and everyone is facing the right way. Not sure why nobody else thinks of this. It's not like it takes a huge amount of time to do this since the trains spend ample time at the terminus anyways
 
The only solution to this is to use swiveling seats like the shinkansen. At each terminus the cleaners just rotate the seats 180 and everyone is facing the right way. Not sure why nobody else thinks of this. It's not like it takes a huge amount of time to do this since the trains spend ample time at the terminus anyways

Could that be designed into the new fleet, or has that already gone to be built?
 
Thanks for clearing the up! It makes more sense now; even though I'm currently riding forwards in a "rear facing" seat on train 633!
With the central piece of the Corridor due to restart (with partial service) only next Tuesday and this affecting almost every single Corridor cycle, I don't think it's that surprising if the equipment is all over the place and doesn't exactly match what you booked...

The only solution to this is to use swiveling seats like the shinkansen. At each terminus the cleaners just rotate the seats 180 and everyone is facing the right way. Not sure why nobody else thinks of this. It's not like it takes a huge amount of time to do this since the trains spend ample time at the terminus anyways
Could that be designed into the new fleet, or has that already gone to be built?
Prob too late
The new fleet will neither have turnable seats nor should it have them:

I know we had this discussion before, but the price of having turnable seats is that you can't have any quads with table, which make traveling with family or friends much more enjoyable:
#4 About backwards-facing seats



Turnable seats are completely unknown to passengers in Europe (I challenge you to name a single rail service without 50:50 seating) and their trains don't exactly have a reputation for being backward and outdated...



I closely follow VIA's Twitter account and you are far from alone in your hate of being seated in quads. However, as someone who regularly travels with friends or family, we absolutely love the quads. In fact, I happened to travel with my wife, our one-year old baby and a friend when I read your comment and there is no question why we prefer travelling on quads, because it's much more spacious and sociable. Therefore, VIA's reservation system seems to assign quad seats only to bookings of at least 3 people, unless all other seats are taken, which means that your train was most likely booked out whenever you found yourself assigned to a quad. Quads might be annoying for solo travellers like yourself, but they definitely serve passengers travelling together as groups of 3 and more, so as long as you are not (usually) forced to sit in them, why exactly is their presence a problem for you...?
 

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