VIA Rail

[timio]

I've ridden the Renaissance cars on the Ocean between Montreal and Halifax, and once from Brockville to Toronto. I find them more comfortable than the LRC cars.

[KevinL]

Will the new ones be more accessible?

Improved accessibility is part of the brief, yes.

[KevinT]

The LRC coaches were built in La Pocatiere... I didn’t realize that. That’s the plant that is threatening to lay off half their workforce if they don’t get any new orders.

Isn't that where they started producing Flexity LRV frames to deal with quality issues they had with the Mexico plant?  If so, then there's at least still some work there until the Edmonton, Metrolinx, and TTC orders are completed.

[Canard]

Correct!

[plam]

I'm currently sitting on a refurbed LRC moving at 150 km/h.

We're not on the equipment that we were originally supposed to be on, which I believe is another LRC car, probably ahead of us on the trainset. The train staff were saying that they refused to work that equipment because it was super bumpy on the previous trip. Maybe there is something to be said about getting new trains because the refurbs didn't fix the underlying problems (and indeed they disabled the tilting in the refurb, I believe).

They planned for the refurb to work but I think it didn't quite meet expectations. Some more info here:

https://cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php/VIA_Rail..._3451-3478
https://cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php/VIA_Rail..._3300-3372

[danbrotherston]

Tilting has been disabled for far longer, I'm not sure it was ever used. They in fact removed the tilting mechanism in one of the later refurbs.

[Canard]

Tilting was disabled when the LRC engines went away in about 2002. The control system was in the engines. When they switched to the current engines they disabled the tilting.

[Canard]

OMG OMG OMG

https://www.canada.ca/en/transport-canad...ement.html

2pm Marc Garneau is making an announcement at Bombardier in La Poc?!?!?!?!?!???

SQUEALING ALREADY

[plam]

Accessibility renovations (also wifi) on 17 cars to be deployed on long-haul routes. I guess that means the Ocean and the Canadian?

http://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail/...bombardier

(I'll be taking the Ocean for 8 hours on Sunday/Monday...)

[KevinL]

Yes, this goes hand-in-hand with the new contract for Corridor trains. This way the entire fleet has workable accessibility.

[tomh009]

Accessibility renovations (also wifi) on 17 cars to be deployed on long-haul routes. I guess that means the Ocean and the Canadian?

http://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail/...bombardier

Given that it's over $3M per car, I should hope it's not just accessibility but, rather, a complete interior overhaul.

[trainspotter139]

Accessibility renovations (also wifi) on 17 cars to be deployed on long-haul routes. I guess that means the Ocean and the Canadian?

http://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail/...bombardier

Given that it's over $3M per car, I should hope it's not just accessibility but, rather, a complete interior overhaul.

gotta do an interior overhaul to fit the accessibility features in

[Canard]

The Problem with Passenger Rail in Canada:

https://youtu.be/j6LnRTpiIyc

[ijmorlan]

This may not be the most appropriate place to ask, but why do VIA tickets indicate more cars than to be operated? For instance, the last few trips of mine have been on cars 5 or 6, but there has never been any more than 4. It confuses everyone every time.

Are the cars not numbered from 1? Just speculating … maybe they plan for 6 and then don’t run Car 1 for some reason.

What I’m really asking is whether you ended up riding in a car numbered 6, or your ticket said 6 but you actually rode in 4.

[plam]

Car 1 usually seems to be reserved for business class, which they don't run going to Kitchener. Sometimes a second business car is 11. I don't think I've ever seen car 2, and maybe not 3. Perhaps it starts at 4. Then when they run to Kitchener they often seem to leave 4 empty and start at 5.