Shaun Posted January 1, 2019 Report Share Posted January 1, 2019 I recently took VIA1 from Edmonton to Jasper over Christmas. At first the train was going to be about 5 hours late getting into the station but in the end it was about 9 hours late getting into the station at Edmonton and we left 14 hours late. There seems to be a lot of work already done between Hinton and Jasper to allow a second track, bridges will still need to be built over water unless they keep those areas as single track. It took the train two hours to travel the last 10 miles to Edmonton Yard and then another hour to backup into the station. I think that this new passing track will really help with delays around Edmonton. https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/alberta-cn-rail-infrastructure-to-get-320-million-overhaul The food was great and the staff where working really hard to keep customers happy. There was no panoramic dome car for whatever reason, but the train was very busy. I wish I got to ride it in daylight but the berth was very comfortable to sleep in. We ran out of water in the car before we got to Jasper, would have been good to fill up water in Edmonton, but I guess they don't have the ability to do that? We got to Jasper about 17 hours late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viafreak Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 Due to a freight derailment between Winnipeg and Portage, the Canadian was cancelled along the Rivers sub. The VIA 2 that arrived in Melville departed as VIA 1 and the VIA 1 that arrived in Winnipeg departed as VIA 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 How did they WYE the train in Melville? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urban Sky Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 25 minutes ago, Shaun said: How did they WYE the train in Melville? The RAC Map shows a wye just east of Melville... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 I guess that they are not allowed to detour on the CP line to avoid the derailment? Where passengers bussed' to meet another train? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urban Sky Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 1 hour ago, Shaun said: I guess that they are not allowed to detour on the CP line to avoid the derailment? Where passengers bussed' to meet another train? This might come as a surprise to you, but contacting and contracting a railroad to perform safety inspections for railway lines which have not seen any passenger train in decades would have taken slightly longer than the 24 hours within which the line was repaired and reopened... Yes, passengers were bused between Melville and Winnipeg: https://mobile.twitter.com/VIA_Rail/status/1080948337539534849 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted January 9, 2019 Report Share Posted January 9, 2019 Assuming that the government does not approve building VIA's new high speed rail corridor. There may not be 4 Billion available but what would it cost to pay for some upgrades to the Kingston Sub beyond Oshawa to increase track capacity? Is it possible to build a bypasss of some kind at Smith Falls to avoid delays there? We already added additional track to some of the stations, and added extra platforms. Would removing some crossings make the trip safer? Add more passing tracks in places where space is available? Could any of these things improve trip times to be shorter than the Turbo days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urban Sky Posted January 13, 2019 Report Share Posted January 13, 2019 (edited) On 1/8/2019 at 10:26 PM, Shaun said: Assuming that the government does not approve building VIA's new high speed rail corridor. There may not be 4 Billion available but what would it cost to pay for some upgrades to the Kingston Sub beyond Oshawa to increase track capacity? Is it possible to build a bypasss of some kind at Smith Falls to avoid delays there? We already added additional track to some of the stations, and added extra platforms. Would removing some crossings make the trip safer? Add more passing tracks in places where space is available? Could any of these things improve trip times to be shorter than the Turbo days? 1) HFR is explicitly not HSR, it's "a third of the cost [of HSR] for two-thirds of the benefit". 2) The 2016 OAG report quotes a cost of $318.5 million for triple-tracking 70 km, thus $4.5 million per km. At that rate, triple-tracking the rest of the Kingston Subdivision would be $4.5 million times 410 km (520 km - 70 km already triple-tracked - 40 km owned by Metrolinx), thus $1.85 billion. 3) Yes, of course it is possible, but such a bypass is not part of the route identified by the Ecotrain study (i.e. the to-date by far most recent and detailed HSR study made), which risks that this investment would become redundant once HSR is built. 4) Correct. 5) "the safest level crossing is always one that doesn’t exist” 6) There probably is a price-point at which you would be able to upgrade the Kingston Subdivision to match the Turbo's travel time of 3:59. However, I would not expect it to be lower than the amount I mentioned in 2)... Edited January 13, 2019 by Urban Sky Links added 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted January 14, 2019 Report Share Posted January 14, 2019 On 1/12/2019 at 9:12 PM, Urban Sky said: 1) HFR is explicitly not HSR, it's "a third of the cost [of HSR] for two-thirds of the benefit". 2) The 2016 OAG report quotes a cost of $318.5 million for triple-tracking 70 km, thus $4.5 million per km. At that rate, triple-tracking the rest of the Kingston Subdivision would be $4.5 million times 410 km (520 km - 70 km already triple-tracked - 40 km owned by Metrolinx), thus $1.85 billion. 3) Yes, of course it is possible, but such a bypass is not part of the route identified by the Ecotrain study (i.e. the to-date by far most recent and detailed HSR study made), which risks that this investment would become redundant once HSR is built. 4) Correct. 5) "the safest level crossing is always one that doesn’t exist” 6) There probably is a price-point at which you would be able to upgrade the Kingston Subdivision to match the Turbo's travel time of 3:59. However, I would not expect it to be lower than the amount I mentioned in 2)... So i guess the long and short is that if the cost is about the same, it's better to create a dedicated corridor. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urban Sky Posted January 15, 2019 Report Share Posted January 15, 2019 17 hours ago, Shaun said: So i guess the long and short is that if the cost is about the same, it's better to create a dedicated corridor. It’s about asking yourself whether you would indebt yourself to renovate a house you are only renting... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doppelkupplung Posted January 15, 2019 Report Share Posted January 15, 2019 Quick question: Are all/any trips on the corridor operated by a single crew for the entire journey or is it split like on the Canadian and Ocean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urban Sky Posted January 16, 2019 Report Share Posted January 16, 2019 2 hours ago, Doppelkupplung said: Quick question: Are all/any trips on the corridor operated by a single crew for the entire journey or is it split like on the Canadian and Ocean? All trains operating through Montreal (Quebec-Montreal-Ottawa trains) and Ottawa (#51 as the only remaining Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto train) change their locomotive engineers at these stations... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FelixINX Posted January 16, 2019 Report Share Posted January 16, 2019 1 hour ago, Urban Sky said: All trains operating through Montreal (Quebec-Montreal-Ottawa trains) and Ottawa (#51 as the only remaining Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto train) change their locomotive engineers at these stations... Small question: what is the maximum allowed time on duty for a locomotive engineer? I'm surprised that these trains can't have the same crew. Is there any specific reason? I know that an exception was accorded for the Montréal-Jonquière with 14(?) hours. For a 6 hour trip (train #51) it should be fine even if it's late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oc4526 Posted January 16, 2019 Report Share Posted January 16, 2019 1 hour ago, FelixINX said: Small question: what is the maximum allowed time on duty for a locomotive engineer? I'm surprised that these trains can't have the same crew. Is there any specific reason? I know that an exception was accorded for the Montréal-Jonquière with 14(?) hours. For a 6 hour trip (train #51) it should be fine even if it's late. if I'm reading the Transport Canada Guidelines correctly (section 5) its 12 hours " 5.1.1 a) The maximum continuous on-duty time for a single tour of duty operating in any class of service, is 12 hours, except work train service for which the maximum duty time is 16 hours. Where a tour of duty is designated as a split shift, as in the case of commuter service, the combined on-duty time for the two on-duty periods cannot exceed 12 hours." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallspy Posted January 16, 2019 Report Share Posted January 16, 2019 12 hours ago, Urban Sky said: All trains operating through Montreal (Quebec-Montreal-Ottawa trains) and Ottawa (#51 as the only remaining Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto train) change their locomotive engineers at these stations... That is interesting, as elsewhere the crews will do an out-and-back from Toronto. Do the OBS crews still stay onboard the whole way on those trips? Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urban Sky Posted January 16, 2019 Report Share Posted January 16, 2019 7 hours ago, smallspy said: That is interesting, as elsewhere the crews will do an out-and-back from Toronto. Do the OBS crews still stay onboard the whole way on those trips? Dan Not necessarily, as many of the on-board crews are based in Montreal... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted January 23, 2019 Report Share Posted January 23, 2019 Will this derailment effect the canadian? https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/train-derailment-north-of-saskatoon-1.4987918 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urban Sky Posted January 23, 2019 Report Share Posted January 23, 2019 3 hours ago, Shaun said: Will this derailment effect the canadian? https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/train-derailment-north-of-saskatoon-1.4987918 Thankfully not, as this was north of Saskatoon, while the Canadian passes Saskatoon to its south. Provided I looked up the right road, the derailment site was here: Dropped pin Near Wanuskewin Rd, Corman Park No. 344, SK S0K 2T0, Canada https://goo.gl/maps/LjqP5wg6FKP2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oc4526 Posted January 23, 2019 Report Share Posted January 23, 2019 20 minutes ago, Urban Sky said: Thankfully not, as this was north of Saskatoon, while the Canadian passes Saskatoon to its south. Provided I looked up the right road, the derailment site was here: Dropped pin Near Wanuskewin Rd, Corman Park No. 344, SK S0K 2T0, Canada https://goo.gl/maps/LjqP5wg6FKP2 Close as the Dash cam video shows the train derailing over Hwy 11 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted February 6, 2019 Report Share Posted February 6, 2019 Is 4004 one of the HEP II cars rebuilt by Bombardier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallspy Posted February 6, 2019 Report Share Posted February 6, 2019 3 hours ago, Shaun said: Is 4004 one of the HEP II cars rebuilt by Bombardier? No. It was done in-house, and the interior of it now matches (more or less) the LRC VIA1 cars. The cars being rebuilt by Bombardier are apparently the 17 ex-US HEP1 cars. Dan 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted February 6, 2019 Report Share Posted February 6, 2019 Will they be doing the rest of the HEP II Business class cars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oc4526 Posted February 6, 2019 Report Share Posted February 6, 2019 Found this on Twitter. Changes coming to the Ottawa (Tremblay) Station starting in the summer of 2019. https://m.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail/media-room/latest-news/51484/06-february-2019-via-rail-firmly-committed-to-helping. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallspy Posted February 7, 2019 Report Share Posted February 7, 2019 19 hours ago, Shaun said: Will they be doing the rest of the HEP II Business class cars? That seems to be the plan. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlewill1166 Posted February 8, 2019 Report Share Posted February 8, 2019 On 2/6/2019 at 10:07 AM, Shaun said: Is 4004 one of the HEP II cars rebuilt by Bombardier? Used to ride that car every Wednesday, there was a service tag on one of the fridges for 2 months. I guess they didn't bother fixing it because they knew that they'd be ripping the fridge out. One of the service managers jokingly called the train it was a part of a Frankenstein train because it had 2 HEP2 club cars and a HEP1 coach at the very back. Glad to finally know where the car went. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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