Oc4526 Posted January 21, 2023 Report Share Posted January 21, 2023 A Via Venture set (Cab 2302 trailing) was spotted leaving Sacramento on Thursday. Per this instagram photo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sseguin Posted February 1, 2023 Report Share Posted February 1, 2023 The Plan To Bring High Speed Rail to the Corridor - Alstom's Proposal for High Frequency Rail (HFR) While the procurement for High Frequency Rail (HFR) continues, there is a lot that remains unknown about what the future of passenger rail will be like in the Corridor. Alstom decided to go public with their vision of this future. Instead of opting for the current design goal of 200km/h tracks and service, Alstom believe that High Speed Rail (HSR) with maximum speeds of 300km/h might be the better solution to increase ridership and the modal share of passenger rail. Join us as we go over their plan and what the future could look like. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bessarion Posted February 9, 2023 Report Share Posted February 9, 2023 I booked a trip from Montreal to Toronto recently and noticed on my boarding pass-- instead of the usual CAR 1, mine says CAR 91. Is this the code for the new Siemens trains? If so I am excited. lol... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallspy Posted February 9, 2023 Report Share Posted February 9, 2023 5 hours ago, Bessarion said: I booked a trip from Montreal to Toronto recently and noticed on my boarding pass-- instead of the usual CAR 1, mine says CAR 91. Is this the code for the new Siemens trains? If so I am excited. lol... "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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Oke Posted February 9, 2023 Report Share Posted February 9, 2023 2 hours ago, 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 Any clue on when the Chargers will enter service beyond Ottawa towards Toronto? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallspy Posted February 10, 2023 Report Share Posted February 10, 2023 15 hours ago, John Oke said: Any clue on when the Chargers will enter service beyond Ottawa towards Toronto? 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 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D40LF Posted February 10, 2023 Report Share Posted February 10, 2023 5 hours ago, 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 I know the Ren stock has corrosion issues but how do they compare these days to the LRC cars. Also has anyone heard anything about the results of the structural tests on the Budd cars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallspy Posted February 10, 2023 Report Share Posted February 10, 2023 1 hour ago, D40LF said: I know the Ren stock has corrosion issues but how do they compare these days to the LRC cars. The Rens were the first cars pulled in the early days of the COVID lockdown, and managed to get a LOT of work done to them during the shutdown. They are now in better shape than they had been in years. Are they in better shape than the LRCs? It's tough to say. 1 hour ago, D40LF said: Also has anyone heard anything about the results of the structural tests on the Budd cars? Unfortunately, the absence of actual info has resulted in a lot of speculation - such as the article on Trains.com very recently. Also unfortunately, none of my contacts has been in a position to find out what has been the results of any tests so far. Dan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted February 11, 2023 Report Share Posted February 11, 2023 3 hours ago, smallspy said: The Rens were the first cars pulled in the early days of the COVID lockdown, and managed to get a LOT of work done to them during the shutdown. They are now in better shape than they had been in years. Are they in better shape than the LRCs? It's tough to say. Unfortunately, the absence of actual info has resulted in a lot of speculation - such as the article on Trains.com very recently. Also unfortunately, none of my contacts has been in a position to find out what has been the results of any tests so far. Dan You would think the HEP cars would be pulled first until they can figure out the structural integrity. Also the extra cars they need to haul around can't be good for fuel economy or for maintenance regiment. There have even been sleepers tagged as buffer cars meaning they are short on coaches for equipment cycling even during low season. When will the second set enter service? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted February 12, 2023 Report Share Posted February 12, 2023 Hi all! I am soon heading to Canada and will have to chose a Quebec-Montreal service. Travel day is Sunday in two weeks so there are services at 12:36 (No. 37), 15:00 (No. 39) and 17:45 (No. 29) fitting my schedule. I have never traveled by train in Canada before and would really much prefer riding one of the incumbent train cars instead of the New Fleet. Are there any guesses on which of these three services would be a good bet to get a good old VIA train? Best regards from Switzerland and thank you very much in advance! Niels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D40LF Posted February 12, 2023 Report Share Posted February 12, 2023 3 hours ago, Niels said: Hi all! I am soon heading to Canada and will have to chose a Quebec-Montreal service. Travel day is Sunday in two weeks so there are services at 12:36 (No. 37), 15:00 (No. 39) and 17:45 (No. 29) fitting my schedule. I have never traveled by train in Canada before and would really much prefer riding one of the incumbent train cars instead of the New Fleet. Are there any guesses on which of these three services would be a good bet to get a good old VIA train? Best regards from Switzerland and thank you very much in advance! Niels If you are talking about the new Siemens sets they are only used on Tuesdays and I believe it is still only Montreal to Ottawa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted February 13, 2023 Report Share Posted February 13, 2023 10 hours ago, D40LF said: If you are talking about the new Siemens sets they are only used on Tuesdays and I believe it is still only Montreal to Ottawa. Thank you very much! I had assumed the Siemens trainsets already are deployed on several corridor services. "Good" to hear this is not the case to far. Then I am very much looking forward to a classic trainset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urban Sky Posted February 13, 2023 Report Share Posted February 13, 2023 8 hours ago, Niels said: Thank you very much! I had assumed the Siemens trainsets already are deployed on several corridor services. "Good" to hear this is not the case to far. Then I am very much looking forward to a classic trainset. Unless the Renaissance cycling has changed in the meanwhile, Renaissance can be found on the trains listed in the post below, whereas HEP or LRCs can be found on all other trains (except for the Siemens sets, which seem to only operate Tuesdays on the MTRL-OTTW portion of trains 33 and 26): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urban Sky Posted February 14, 2023 Report Share Posted February 14, 2023 As I’ve been made aware in the meanwhile, a more recent cycling plan has been posted on groups.io, which shows the same Renaissance cycling, but reflects the strict separation of LRC and HEP sets (a consequence of the buffer car requirement for any train containing HEP cars) and also mentions the testing of the Siemens trainsets on Tuesday: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sseguin Posted February 21, 2023 Report Share Posted February 21, 2023 Dedicated Tracks for the Corridor - An Overview of High Frequency Rail (HFR) in Canada On February 17, 2023, the Request for Qualifications for HFR was launched to pre-qualify up to 3 bidders for the Request for Proposals. As such, it is a great time to reflect on what is HFR and what it will mean for Canada. High Frequency Rail (HFR) is the current plan to improve passenger rail in the Corridor. By using dedicated tracks between Quebec City and Toronto, the travel experience is bound to improve considerably. With more frequent, reliable and faster trains, it is expected that an increasing number of people will choose to ride the rails instead of flying or driving, an important element in addressing the climate crisis. HFR will be the most transformative change to passenger rail in Canada since the incorporation of VIA Rail in 1977. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_the_traveller Posted March 6, 2023 Report Share Posted March 6, 2023 What equipment does VIA plan to put on the regional routes once all the Siemens trainsets go into service? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted March 7, 2023 Report Share Posted March 7, 2023 23 hours ago, Chris_the_traveller said: What equipment does VIA plan to put on the regional routes once all the Siemens trainsets go into service? HEP II's and F40's. Someone said that there was talk about converting the RDC's to be locomotive hauled instead but I don't know what happened to that. Considering that you would need to rotate them to Toronto for maintenance, I don't know how fun that would be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Oke Posted March 7, 2023 Report Share Posted March 7, 2023 1 hour ago, Shaun said: HEP II's and F40's. Someone said that there was talk about converting the RDC's to be locomotive hauled instead but I don't know what happened to that. Considering that you would need to rotate them to Toronto for maintenance, I don't know how fun that would be. Would that include the Ren cars on the Ocean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bessarion Posted March 29, 2023 Report Share Posted March 29, 2023 Why is it that the P42's are confined to the Corridor and not used elsewhere on Via's network? Arn't they more powerful than the F40's? Also as much as I love the Budd cars, they only last so long and will need to be replaced. What are the future plans for replacing them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallspy Posted March 30, 2023 Report Share Posted March 30, 2023 12 hours ago, Bessarion said: Why is it that the P42's are confined to the Corridor and not used elsewhere on Via's network? Arn't they more powerful than the F40's? They are more powerful, yes. They are also faster, which is why they are only used on the corridor. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cprted Posted April 7, 2023 Report Share Posted April 7, 2023 On 3/29/2023 at 3:58 PM, Bessarion said: Why is it that the P42's are confined to the Corridor and not used elsewhere on Via's network? Arn't they more powerful than the F40's? Also as much as I love the Budd cars, they only last so long and will need to be replaced. What are the future plans for replacing them? An RFI has gone out to manufacturers, which is a precursor to an RFP. As far as I know, no funding has actually been allocated for replacement of the LD fleet yet. It is interesting that both Amtrak and VIA are starting long distance fleet replacement planning around the same time ... might end up with similar rolling stock on both sides of the 49th. https://www.transportaction.ca/topics/intercity-rail-and-bus/via-rail-long-distance-fleet-replacement-rfi-issued/ 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted April 7, 2023 Report Share Posted April 7, 2023 7 hours ago, cprted said: An RFI has gone out to manufacturers, which is a precursor to an RFP. As far as I know, no funding has actually been allocated for replacement of the LD fleet yet. It is interesting that both Amtrak and VIA are starting long distance fleet replacement planning around the same time ... might end up with similar rolling stock on both sides of the 49th. https://www.transportaction.ca/topics/intercity-rail-and-bus/via-rail-long-distance-fleet-replacement-rfi-issued/ Buying power reduces cost. They can have the same shell but different interior specs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oc4526 Posted April 16, 2023 Report Share Posted April 16, 2023 Via Venture set #4? was seen heading east through Auburn California yesterday (Locomotive 2204 behind the UP lead) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bus_Medic Posted April 16, 2023 Report Share Posted April 16, 2023 For those that have 3 hours to kill. Might be nice to play for ambience while doing something else. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfiNorth Posted April 16, 2023 Report Share Posted April 16, 2023 4 hours ago, Bus_Medic said: For those that have 3 hours to kill. Might be nice to play for ambience while doing something else. I wish we had more trains like this in Canada, especially in BC. The fact that the BC Rail Dayliner died and was never resurrected (especially despite its potential as a ski train) hurts me to the core. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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