[Bordercollie]

VIA RAIL AWARDS CONTRACTS TO MODERNIZE TWO OF ITS MAINTENANCE CENTRES TO BUTTCON LIMITED AND POMERLEAU INC. | VIA Rail

Montréal, November 16, 2022 – VIA Rail Canada (VIA Rail) is pleased to announce the awarding of two contracts to two Canadian companies for the modernization of its maintenance centres in Toronto and Montréal. An important pillar of the Corridor Fleet Replacement Program, these upgrades will...

media.viarail.ca

Shouldn't we have done that BEFORE the new fleet arrived? Seems backwards to me.

 

[crs1026]

Shouldn't we have done that BEFORE the new fleet arrived? Seems backwards to me.

The need for this work was anticipated, and procurement was initiated, quite a while back.

VIA RAIL’S PROCUREMENT PROCESS TO MODERNIZE MAINTENANCE CENTRES IN MONTRÉAL AND TORONTO MOVES TO SECOND PHASE​

I don't know why it took so long to award the contract after the shortlisting phase, but the funding had been approved in an earlier federal budget.

- Paul

 

[rbt]

The need for this work was anticipated, and procurement was initiated, quite a while back.

VIA RAIL’S PROCUREMENT PROCESS TO MODERNIZE MAINTENANCE CENTRES IN MONTRÉAL AND TORONTO MOVES TO SECOND PHASE​

I don't know why it took so long to award the contract after the shortlisting phase, but the funding had been approved in an earlier federal budget.

They've had the Siemens train for about 6 months. I'd like to think they were double checking the facility designs with the maintenance team to ensure they were optimal for handling that model of train.

 

[Bordercollie]

They've had the Siemens train for about 6 months. I'd like to think they were double checking the facility designs with the maintenance team to ensure they were optimal for handling that model of train.

So can the current maintenance facilities handle these new trains? Seems to me like we are doing things backwards.

 

[smallspy]

So can the current maintenance facilities handle these new trains? Seems to me like we are doing things backwards.

Of course they can.

But changing around certain aspects of/updating the facilities will allow them to do it in a much more efficient manner.

Dan

 

[Allandale25]

I wonder if the VIA Rail Historical Association tried to get this? Or any Canadian museum? Glad it has been saved but sad it's going to the US. Anyone have a Trackside Guide available and does it indicate when it was last in service?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1593378618280919041

 

[Urban Sky]

I wonder if the VIA Rail Historical Association tried to get this? Or any Canadian museum? Glad it has been saved but sad it's going to the US. Anyone have a Trackside Guide available and does it indicate when it was last in service?

View attachment 439819
View attachment 439820

https://twitter.com/x/status/1593378618280919041

Trackside Guide 2021 says the following:

15512 - Riding Mountain Park sold to Harry S. Purnell, Jr. in 2004, then to Adrian & Blissfield RR. in 2005.

 

[Bordercollie]

Trackside Guide 2021 says the following:

15512 - Riding Mountain Park sold to Harry S. Purnell, Jr. in 2004, then to Adrian & Blissfield RR. in 2005.

I guess it wasn't worth it for VIA to concert it to prestige class?

 

[Urban Sky]

I guess it wasn't worth it for VIA to concert it to prestige class?

The Prestige Class Program happened as part of the Canada Action Plan - the Harper government‘s economic stimulus program in response to the Financial crisis of 2007-2008, so quite a bit after that sale. Also, 8 Prestige Chateaus and 4 Prestige Parks represents 2 Chateaus and 1 Park cars on each of the Canadian‘s 4 sets, which makes me doubt that they would have converted more cars if they had had more in their fleet…

 

[crs1026]

Those three Park cars were never refurb'd back when the fleet first got HEP - around 1990-92. They sat out of service (in Ottawa, iirc) for many years before VIA finally sold them off as surplus. So they likely didn't turn a wheel after the late 80's. I don't know why those three were omitted from the HEP program - they may have been in the worst shape, or they may have simply been chosen at random because the HEP program and the post-HEP Silver and Blue service plan didn't require as many Park cars going forward.

Some of the photos that are going around show interior murals that look like they date from the original build - I had thought that all the original murals had gone to the National Museum - I hope we are not losing those!

While I'm sorry to see any of the fleet go elsewhere, the Fort Wayne group is a very professional museum who know how to keep equipment in top shape. There are far worse places for the car to end up, and I'm confident the group knows what a treasure they have acquired. So it's a good news story in some ways.

- Paul

PS - If anyone is looking for old equipment consists, the Bytown Railway Society's Branchline publication has posted consists observed for many years. Someone with access to back issues may be able to find when the cars were last spotted in service.

 

[yrt+viva=1system]

So I'm not entirely up to date on the current situation with VIA Rail and not sure if this was discussed or not. But is this true that they are now using empty cars as buffers? And as usual more talks of studying HFR...

Add to that aging infrastructure and passenger cars, as well as service cuts, and Cairns said you have a recipe for disaster. In fact, ridership is so low and Via Rail's passenger fleet is so old that Transport Canada recently ordered that empty coaches be used as safety buffers at the front and back of trains in the event of a collision.

Passenger rail service in southwestern Ontario 'went to hell in a hand basket.' Can it be fixed?​

Social Sharing​

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/passenger-train-travel-southwestern-ontario-1.6654919

 

[Allandale25]

^ For context, the reporter should have noted who owns the tracks for much of the corridor...

 

[innsertnamehere]

VIA ultimately waited too long to replace it's fleet, The new fleet will help a lot of the embarrassing state of VIA's network, and hopefully HFR can get built some time this decade, and things should be in better shape.

 

[cplchanb]

VIA ultimately waited too long to replace it's fleet, The new fleet will help a lot of the embarrassing state of VIA's network, and hopefully HFR can get built some time this decade, and things should be in better shape.

That's what usually happens with North American railways. Scrape every last second of operational runtime until the rolling stock are walking dead

 

[smallspy]

I wonder if the VIA Rail Historical Association tried to get this? Or any Canadian museum?

No to both of those. And there is already a Park Car in a Canadian museum - Sibley Park has been at Exporail since 2004.

Those three Park cars were never refurb'd back when the fleet first got HEP - around 1990-92. They sat out of service (in Ottawa, iirc) for many years before VIA finally sold them off as surplus. So they likely didn't turn a wheel after the late 80's. I don't know why those three were omitted from the HEP program - they may have been in the worst shape, or they may have simply been chosen at random because the HEP program and the post-HEP Silver and Blue service plan didn't require as many Park cars going forward.

- Paul

I suspect that their omission from the HEP program was more a function of the fact that they simply were used in service with the other steam-heated equipment right up until they started using the rebuilt HEP-equipped stock - and that there had long been a surplus of Park Cars in the fleet. As far as I can tell, all three were used right until the end of the steam-heated equipment on the Canadian.

Dan