ARG1
Senior Member
First Look at the new VIA Rail Trains
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- Thread starter ehlow
- Start date
p_xavier
Active Member
Got this by mail. They are really going all in.
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SamStar
New Member
The tweet in question has many more pictures of the interior and exterior !
Outstanding !!!
turini2
Active Member
Reece's front page article is excellent - https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2021/11/rail-unveils-their-new-trains
cplchanb
Senior Member
Noticed that they field mounted an extension to the plow at the front end. Is that a temporary attachment?
hw621
Senior Member
New trains cannot be operated at top speed due to track quality...sad!
turini2
Active Member
Hopefully HFR (and dedicated tracks) can follow sooner rather than later!
Good thing about the Siemens design - you could replace the locomotive with an electric one or a bi-mode when tracks get electrified.
Reecemartin
Active Member
I moved heaven and earth to do this one same day! Canada's National Rail Carrier VIA has unveiled its new fleet, and the trains are among the nicest I’ve ever seen, come for a tour with me in this latest video!
44 North
Senior Member
Oh yeah these look very sharp.
AHK
Senior Member
If I may comment. I am no expert in these matters, but I believe that 'while VIA won't be operating these at those speeds on current services largely due to track quality' from Reece Martin's article may be a bit facile.
The CN corridor between Quebec City and Toronto is engineered to accommodate freight trains much heavier and slower moving than the Via passenger trains. The issue is not track quality, but track configuration. In particular, track bed curves and banking camber (superelevation) are designed and engineered for optimal performance for freight traffic operating at freight train speeds. The result is a track bed that is not ideal for lighter, faster passenger trains. The issue is not one of track quality but of primary purpose and engineering design. Obviously, dedicated passenger train tracks would be optimized for passenger train performance, and not be subject to the issues of a joint passenger / freight set of tracks.
Allandale25
Senior Member
Apologies if this has already been posted.
Urban Sky
Senior Member
We‘ve already discussed this at length back in October:
Metrolinx’ Kitchener service is still to blame for that new schedule, even if not the London extension itself:
I am aware you are neither looking for a new job nor believing that you would be more qualified to do the job of VIA's timetablers. However, when you say that seeing #84's new schedule makes you doubt that the connections "were carefully timed", I feel compelled to point out that there hardly was any choice since there are only four gaps in the timetable which allow to sneak through Georgetown, which leaves only six slots:
Of these six possible slots, 2 depart Sarnia before 6am and 2 arrive in Toronto after 10 pm, which only leaves Slots C and D - and in order to allow passengers from Sarnia and intermediary stations to spend any time in Toronto, Slot C was the only plausible choice:
- Slot A: Operate between GO#3904 and GO#3956 (dep. Kitchener 05:09 and 06:02, respectively)
- Slot B: Sneak through Georgetown between GO#3812 (dep. 09:30) and GO#3911 (dep. 10:35)
- Slot C: Sneak through Georgetown between GO#3818 (dep. 12:30) and GO#3917 (dep. 13:35)
- Slot D: Sneak through Georgetown between GO#3824 (dep. 15:32) and GO#3923 (dep. 16:35)
- Slot E: Sneak through Georgetown between GO#3836 (dep. 21:30) and GO#3935 (dep. 22:35)
- Slot F: Operate after the arrivals of GO#3935 in Kitchener (arr. 23:28) and of GO #3937 in Guelph (arr. 00:04)
View attachment 357804
That said, I fully agree with you that if the infrastructure owner is unable or unwilling to provide more timetable flexibility than only two at least potentially viable slots per day, then there is little point in attempting to provide any Corridor services on that route at all. Nevertheless, the Kitchener Corridor still remains the only corridor over which fast and frequent passenger rail service between Toronto and London seems conceivable within our lifetimes...
That is the topic of a debate we are currently having at Groups.io:
VIA #84 schedule change, Nov 15
groups.io
In any case, the absurd lack of time windows to sneak through Georgetown is the dominating timetable constraint which dictates what is possible West of Georgetown, but with the windows being 3 hours apart and the travel time being almost exactly 90 minutes between Georgetown and Stratford, Stratford might be the only place where you could possibly meet. However, such a meet would escalate the risk of cascading trains (where a delayed westbound train delays the eastbound train at Stratford, which in turn delays the outbound GO train at Georgetown, which will then delay the westbound GO train in Kitchener) - and this might be exactly the kind of operational risk Metrolinx would be reluctant to accept...
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Allandale25
Senior Member
^ thanks
Bordercollie
Senior Member
Faster track times would result in the train occupying the track for less time and as a result you could add more train slots. That might be a solution.
Urban Sky
Senior Member
Faster track speeds West of Georgetown only increases the turnaround time in Kitchener (assuming that the arrival and departure times at Union stay unchanged), whereas faster track speeds East of Georgetown would actually decrease the gap through which VIA trains can sneak. The only effective capacity-enhancing measure is to add a passing track suitable for a VIA train to meet a GO Kitchener train anywhere West of Silver Junction…
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