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this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2026
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Isn't it a lack of rails that's the problem, not a lack of rail cars? Passenger trains have to give way to cargo trains, and dedicated tracks are the solution.
it's both.
Via is a shit service. yes, please charge me $200 for a 10 hour trip during which I will be knocking knees and playing footsie with the person across from me, with less space than an airplane seat has. I can't wait for the privilege
nah dude I'll just drive for the same cost, less time, more flexibility, and more cargo capacity
Thats one issue. This announcement addresses a different issue.
The current VIA long-haul fleet is 70 year old equipment. It's getting increasingly expensive to maintain, and if it isn't replaced it will become almost impossible to keep them safely operating.
It's just as much who owns the rails. In Vancouver we have a commuter rail service that runs on lines owned by the freight companies. So sometimes people have to watch as they wait in a siding while stuff goes by first.
I think freight priority over passenger is the perfect analogy for where we find ourselves today; the systems are wholly subservient to capital
This is the overall issue with Via rail (and interestingly enough, Amtrak). Canada theoretically mandates that passenger rail traffic has priority for rail segments under contention, and freight must sit on the siding. This is by statute. However, rail companies often/always say "lol fuck off" and go anyways, arguing either the train length exceeds the siding length or essentially "we're already here".
The result is Via rail (and Amtrak) service is literally always late, almost always because of freight traffic. Until they actually start enforcing passenger rail priority (or building dedicated passenger rail lines like adult countries) I don't see how rail transit can possibly become viable in North America.
Yeah same in the Maritimes. Going from Halifax to Montréal, aside from the expense, is brutally slow along one track in New Brunswick because CN haven't maintained the tracks. Because they don't move freight anymore, from what I understand.
Ideally this is just one of several rail related initiatives and we have more announcements coming.
Hopefully we'll start prioritizing Passenger Cars over freight like the rest of the world
We will be building a new high speed rail from Quebec to Toronto so passenger rail will finally be separate from freight rail. Finally drag our asses out of the 1800’s.
Still "proposed" https://www.canada.ca/en/privy-council/major-projects-office/projects/other/referred/alto.html
And PQ (Québec) are poised to shiv it if elected:
PQ CBC
Support is dropping. I expect a minority.
The amount of money planned for that could probably cover twinning a much larger amount of existing track, with less environmental impact.
Why just twin the line and still have something designed in the 1800’s. Canadians are so damn cheap to do anything properly.
Twinning is a more cost-effective way to have passenger rail separated from freight, and it could make rail travel more practical for a larger part of the country than just that one corridor the high speed rail plan covers. A new route over new land is so much worse for the environment.
Sure, but if you want actual high-speed passenger rail, the track needs to be straight and level.
The current freight tracks are as level as possible, but to achieve that, they follow the terrain, leading to some very twisty lines that require lower speeds.
Simply twinning those won't get near as much of an improvement for passenger rail as is needed.
It would be dumb to put in new lines and not make them high speed. We are so far behind the rest of the world it’s shocking. Not sure if you travel the world at all, but when you see what is available in other countries, you realize how embarrassing our country is in that regard. It would not be worth it to just put in more low speed rail lines, kinda pointless IMHO.
For anyone interested, this video give a good overview of some of the issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1G0Lyh3uik
We can all enjoy the new cars whilst sitting waiting for another train to pass.
Canada could also benefit from a shinkansen line or two. With population centers mostly along a straight line in the south, it would allow for rapid transit between major cities on dedicated passenger rail.
You mean like Alto?
Essentially (assuming that project moves forward) but the shinkansen lines in Japan have higher speeds than that.
Freight right-of-way ownership is also a problem, but the car set they are replacing/adding to is 75+ years old, they are sturdy and reliable, but having more cars means that they could increase service beyond 3 trips a week on these routes. At the moment, occasional breakdowns and maintenance periods mean they face long distance equipment shortages sometimes.
@ryper @radish6367
I assume this is primarily for the GTA commuter rail where that's less(?) of an issue.
But in any case, the VIA rolling stock is pretty old, AFAIK.
Everything VIA is run down. But yeah the rail is the biggest issue and probably more expensive.