TORONTO — VIA Rail Canada has broken ground on a new maintenance facility for its fleet of Quebec City-Windsor corridor trains.
Groundbreaking for new facilities at VIA’s Toronto Maintenance Centre was held Monday. The project involves demolition of part of an existing structure; construction of a new state-of-the-art facility; infrastructure improvements throughout the maintenance yard; and addition of a stand-alone wheel lathe facility. Among the new facility’s features will be a Vehicle Equipment Measurement System, which VIA says will provide early warnings of potential issues, avoiding prolonged downtime.
“This modernized maintenance center will support us in our mission to provide our passengers the most enjoyable travel experience and better connect Canadian communities,” VIA Rail CEO Mario Péloquin said in a press release. “It will also allow our employees to work with the most modern equipment and will provide them the necessary tools to maintain the new fleet according to VIA Rail’s standards of excellence.”
The project coincides with the delivery of 32 new trainsets from Siemens for VIA’s corridor service. Delivery of that equipment continues through next year. The new maintenance facility is slated for completion in 2026. More on the project is available at this page on VIA’s website.
The Quebec City–Windsor Corridor’s relative importance to Canada’s economic and political infrastructure renders it akin to the Northeast megalopolis in the United States. The name was first popularized by VIA Rail, which runs frequent passenger rail service in the region in its service area known as “The Corridor”. The Corridor service area has the heaviest passenger train frequency in Canada and contributes approximately 70% of VIA’s revenue. Prior to VIA Rail’s formation in 1978, both CN and CP operated Corridor services.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
The 2018 Canadian federal budget included funding for the purchase of 32 trainsets to replace equipment used in Corridor service in Ontario and Quebec. With money allocated, VIA Rail Canada issued a request for proposals in 2018, with delivery of the new rolling stock scheduled for 2022. In December 2018, VIA Rail ordered 32, 5-car trainsets (for a total of 160 cars) from Siemens for use on the Québec City–Windsor Corridor, at a cost of $989 million. Trainsets will be powered by B-B diesel-electric Siemens SCV-42 Charger diesel-electric locomotives, with passenger car trainsets from the Siemens Venture family. Similar trainsets are used on Amtrak Midwest and Brightline in the United States, and Railjet in Austria and the Czech Republic. The first 2 trainsets entered service in 2022.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
VIA Rail Canada continues to apply regularly what it has learned from well-established rail business examples such as Amtrak, Canadian Pacific and Canadian National.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
I love this AI link that spews out auto overload GUNK
The terms “Amtrak” and “well-established rail business” are mutually exclusive.
VIA is the sound of one hand clapping. Or in the words of the late Kurt Vonnegut:
“If you wish to study a granfalloon/ Peel the skin off a toy balloon.”
VIA has taken the once-busy SW Ontario corridor and thrown it into Lake St. Clair.
Question: What exactly does VIA intend to do with its new maintenance facility. It’s not as if VIA runs any trains.