Chris_the_traveller

Looking at the Canadian Rail Atlas, there is no track displayed west of Hudson on the M&O Subdivision. Has the section from Hudson to Rigaud officially been decommissioned? I know the track has been in terrible shape since the AMT abandoned service to Rigaud, but it would be a shame if the right-of-way is not kept so that we have the option to restore service in the future. https://www.railcan.ca/rac-initiatives/canadian-rail-atlas/

On 11/6/2023 at 8:13 PM, GTAmissions1 said:

Via-Rail is implementing a new reservation system effective November 18th. 

https://www.viarail.ca/en/new-reservation-system

Our goal is to make trip planning as stress-free as possible for everyone. Flexible and simplified for your convenience, here are some of the features of the new system that you won't want to miss!

• Online trip modifications at your fingertips;
• Seat selection will (finally!) be available in the Corridor;
• Compare our lowest fares on a calendar view;
• A more intuitive interface for passengers with specific needs and accessibility requests;
• Pre-pay for additional baggage during the booking process;
• Get quick access to your profile and all your travel information (including your VIA Préférence points balance);
• Ability to save your boarding pass on your smartphone’s Wallet app (Apple and Android);
• Virtual gift cards, and much more!

There will also be luggage changes noted per this tweet below:

Final comments:

Really revamping the online reservation system to better adapt to today. The mobile app will be decommissioned on November 17th which won't work with the new system. 

At the same time, there is a trade-off regarding luggage which will impact the size of carry-on along with the type of ticket purchased per direction. Not sure how tightly enforced the carry-on bags will be. I know airlines are more hardball on it now than in the past to ensure that it is balanced for all passengers. Train travel being a lot different, but never had  a staff member check my bag yet. 

This change is intriguing and I welcome the new modernized booking system. Though I am worried that the VIA Preference program will become less advantageous. Reward trips will no longer have free cancellation or changes. Taxes will also have to be paid on reward trips. Currently the fare for a short-duration reward trip in the Corridor is only 550 points in Economy -- what will the new base fare be?

What is the current plan for the 2 Renaissance trainsets in the corridor? Will they soon be pulled from service? I thought these were going to be pulled as soon as the Siemens trainsets could replace them. Now there are already 4 Siemens trainsets but I still see the Rens on the Ottawa-Québec route.

I rode a Renaissance train a few days ago from Montréal to Ottawa. From the passenger point of view, everything was great and I find it to be a much quieter ride (I.e. being unable to hear the movements of the car and outside noises) as compared to the rickety HEP 2s. But my understanding is that mechanically they have a lot of issues.

I spotted a VIA Train this morning, was either VIA 61 or VIA 643, with 3 F40s leading an LRC consist towards Toronto. Did not expect to see so much power on a standard LRC consist.

On 7/25/2023 at 8:55 AM, smallspy said:

It's not that it's elevated, it's that it's level. The mainline descends to the north.

 

Dan

Interesting, thanks. I assume it'll be easier for the trains in the tail track to pull back into South Keys station from a level siding rather than the slope towards Greenboro?

In other news, I saw C7 last night on a test run, heading south at South Keys. This was around 9pm.

Was in Ottawa over the weekend and I got to see some of the Stage 2 construction.

I noticed there is a storage track just north of South Keys station that is slightly elevated, in the middle of the two main tracks. Why did they elevate this storage track? It seems very unusual.

4 hours ago, MCIBUS said:

So if I heard the news conference correctly service is suppose to return July 31 in some degree. As to what exactly times between trains is yet to be known, but at least some trains will be running?

 

Will the city give riders a break like a month or two of free service for the inconvenience we had to put up for not only for this latest shut but for twice in the winter?

 

 

 

 

Probably no compensation as that would set a precedent. And OC Transpo knows that this could very well keep happening, since the system is so unreliable.

Last week I took VIA 37 from Montreal to Ottawa. This was a Renaissance consist. It was already heavily delayed leaving Montréal due to equipment issues (unfortunately, not a huge surprise). When we got to Lachine near 32nd avenue, the train yielded and we let two eastbound VIA trains (28 and 64 I believe) pass us. I suspect they had both used Platform 1 at Dorval. After both trains passed us, we switched onto the south track and finally arrived at Platform 1 at Dorval.

The only reason I could tell that we were stuck waiting at Lachine 32nd avenue was to be able to move over to the south track to use platform 1 at Dorval. 

I find this to have been a poor operational decision, to let our train accumulate an extra 20 minutes delay just to avoid using Platform 2 at Dorval.

I know Platform 2 doesn't have the greatest setup. It lacks elevators and escalators, and has a relatively narrow staircase. Are there any upgrades planned at Dorval to allow both platforms to be used regularly and consistently? It doesn't seem acceptable to delay trains just because of poor station infrastructure at Dorval. This is obviously a very busy station with lots of freight and passenger traffic, and the use of two platforms seems essential.

On 2/9/2023 at 3:28 PM, smallspy said:

"Car 91" indicates that you are located in the second VIA1 car. Car 1 is the first VIA1 car, with Car 3 being the first of the economy cars in any given trainset.

Dan

Why is there no car 2 on VIA trains?

On 2/10/2023 at 8:55 AM, smallspy said:

The suspicion is that they want to convert all of the Ottawa-Québec runs first, as those are the ones that will be able to fully take advantage of the bi-directional trainsets. (Also, they would be able to remove the two Ren Corridor sets from service sooner.)

 

If that is in fact the case, then it would be dependent on how long it takes for Siemens to deliver the next batch of trains. It will take 6 trainsets to equip all of the Ottawa-Québec runs.

 

Dan

If the Buffer car requirement persists, is it possible that VIA would want to pull some HEP2 cars before the Ren cars?

Is it easier to recruit a driver for a cutaway than it is for a coach bus? With the labour shortage, maybe it is easier to recruit drivers with Class 4b licenses instead of Class 2 licensed drivers, which would explain the switch to more cutaways

3 hours ago, 2044 said:

I think it’s been about a year since the first CRRC bilevels were delivered. I can’t find any new information about the cars. Have they even started testing them on the tracks? Have more been delivered?

I counted 4 of them at Pointe St Charles last week from aboard a westbound VIA train leaving Central station. There could have been more, hidden.

There are also a ton of 700s at Pointe St Charles, not sure if it is the entire fleet but it could have been.

What equipment does VIA plan to put on the regional routes once all the Siemens trainsets go into service?

On 1/6/2023 at 2:57 PM, JCL said:

This hasn't been reported, but I'm sure everybody is aware of this by now. Because of freezing rain, the LRT service has been disrupted between Tremblay and uOttawa (I won't bother posting links to news article). 

According to the press conference just moments ago, they are only running 6 double trains: 2 double trains between Tunney's Pasture and uOttawa with a frequency of 15 minutes, and 4 double trains between Tremblay and Blair with a frequency of 5 to 6 minutes

R1 bus service operating between Rideau and St. Laurent. 

Is there still a 15-minute headway between trains on the west end of the line? That must be painful during rush hour!

1 hour ago, RTL_45 said:

The STM will introduce route 811, effective January 16: https://www.stm.info/fr/infos/reseaux/bus/reseau-de-navettes/811-navette-services-sante?utm_campaign=carrousel&utm_source=detours811&utm_medium=carrousel

The trajectory is similar to RTL route 462, except that it starts at Radisson and has some extra stops. The service frequency is much higher with 20-30 minute headways and off-peak service until 2000.

The press release also specifically mentions transfers with RTL route 461, so perhaps the 462 will be discontinued once the 811 starts running.

On another note, the STM has not dropped the réseau 10 minutes max designation from the 139 even though it has 30 minute headways during the week and only peaks with 4 to 5 hourly departures in weekend rush hours. Very silly indeed.

On the website only 8 lines are listed as 10 minutes max. Sad to see this program not doing so well. https://www.stm.info/fr/infos/reseaux/bus/reseau-local/10-minutes-max

Here are some old AMT paper handouts from my archives.

I rode the Mascouche train a few days ago leaving Central station. It's incredible how much time it takes just to get from the platforms to the Peel Basin. It took us about 15 minutes. We stopped at the first switch right at the entrance above St-Antoine. We stopped again on the viaduct to let a VIA train past. And we stopped again at the curve near New City Gas to let a deadheading St-Hilaire train pull into Central Station.

I couldn't see any MR-90s left in the Pointe-St-Charles yard.

I didn't see any CRRC bilevels from my point of view onboard the train. I've only seen two thus far in the yard. Is the delivery still going according to schedule? These cars are supposed to enter service in the Spring.

With all the cost overruns, could the Griffintown--Bernard-Landry station get cancelled altogether (à la gare Charlemagne)?. It looks like the construction hasn't even begun at that station.

I have a ton of old transit schedules and tickets that I don’t know what to do with. Mostly from the Montreal area. They are becoming clutter. Should I give away or swap with anyone for other cool transit paraphernalia? Or just toss.

Have all the trains arrived?

On 7/25/2022 at 5:53 PM, GTAmissions1 said:

An update: Rideau Transit Maintenance is working to clear one set of tracks to ensure that westbound service can resume close to full capacity.

The plan once one set is cleared and available, Line 1 will be split into two branches.

• Tunney's to Rideau (western section)
• St. Laurent to Blair (eastern section)
• R1 replacement buses operating between St. Laurent and Rideau

Goal is to have the western section restored by tomorrow afternoon. 

Tweet attached indicate the memo from the general manager.

 

Very unlikely since even when they do the repairs to the overhead wire system, they still have to clear the train along with testing to ensure that it will work before resuming regular service. Rideau Transit Maintenance is working to draw additional resources to assist from other areas to minimize the down time.

I would plan for at least a few days. 

The R1 buses stopping at Tremblay while the trains are still servicing Tremblay seems odd to me. 

If the R1 buses went from Saint-Laurent directly to Hurdman, that seems like it would be a much quicker and more efficient ride, taking the highway. Could OC transpo do this, and add a separate shuttle to service from Hurdman to Tremblay? Similar to what they have done before for Cyrville.

Some articles appear to say 6 months of testing is required before a segment goes into service.

We are less than 6 months away from December 1st, and trains still haven't been able to be tested up until Central station. So is it really realistic that the REM will open in 2022?

Also, Griffintown—Bernard-Landry station seems to not be very advanced in construction. Will the work start to accelerate this summer, or will this station open late?

The catenary is not up from Brossard all the way to Central station, so that's a good sign.

What is the top speed of the LRT likely to reach in those segments down the highway to Orleans?

When I used my speedometer on my phone in the segment from Lees to Hurdman, we were averaging around 30km/h.

I hope the trains won't crawl along at such a low speed when running parallel to the highway.

On 4/25/2022 at 11:46 AM, yikeslol said:

Nah sounds like the 747 is getting abolished once the rem is open.

That would really be a shame.

People need alternatives if the REM breaks down. Which will happen, coz breakdowns happen on all systems. The experience of Ottawa implementing LRT has been very difficult, partially because there are no parallel bus routes that run alongside the LRT. The transit agency had to implement a dedicated fleet of replacement buses -- that are waiting on standby in a parking lot, in case of a breakdown, ready to jump into service when needed..

Montreal could instead keep the redundant routes in service, instead of keeping a fleet of parked buses ready to go in the event of a REM service outage.

Also, for people going to destinations other than downtown, it's nice to have options to get around. People living in LaSalle, Verdun and Lachine East could all benefit from catching the 747 to YUL from Angrignon.

I noticed this travel advisory on the VIA website:

Some things I noticed at the exo public board meeting:

• They confirmed that double deckers can be run on the Candiac line
• They suggested to one person that they file an access-to-information request to find out what will happen to the MR-90s
• There's potential to add service to the St-Hilaire line on weekends and on the St-jerome line in general
• There's concern about the future of the Mascouche line with the REM de l'Est coming.