WINDSOR, Ontario — Although no effective date has been announced, VIA Rail Canada CEO Mario Péloquin said last week at a public event that the new Siemens trainsets would begin migrating to Toronto-Windsor trains this summer.
The Venture equipment debuted by replacing 1950s-vintage Budd stainless steel HEP-1 and HEP-2 coaches and 1980s Bombardier “Light Rapid Comfortable” LRCs on departures serving Quebec City and Ottawa out of Montreal. Some service expanded to Toronto late last year [see “First VIA Siemens trainsets begin serving Toronto,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 24, 2023], but VIA centralized servicing at the Montreal Maintenance Centre as new trainsets began revenue service and facilities at Toronto were completed.
Though a trainset was present at the June 27 Windsor ceremony, a press release only noted that 63% of Windsor-Toronto trains would be equipped with Venture trainsets by the end of 2024. A VIA spokesman tells News Wire, “We’re expecting final approval from regulators shortly, and we will then be able to settle on a specific date and frequencies for the first Venture trips this summer. The Toronto-Sarnia route will also see the new trains in operation by the end of 2025, but it is also too soon to confirm specific timing.”
Péloquin did say plans for a joint Amtrak-VIA cross-border service were ”moving forward,” as reported by CBC News: “There’s a plan, there’s funding, there’s some work to do to make [VIA’s] Windsor station a border station, but the plans are in place and you’ll start seeing some Amtrak trains coming here and interchanging with our trains probably in the next year or two.”
However, he admitted, “Funding is not completely decided because there is still design work that needs to be done” — and said the investment is “significant.” Péloquin told reporters minor upgrades were needed for “a section of Amtrak track,” but in fact most of the work would be needed on the Canadian side on the connecting Essex Terminal Railway to get trains from the CPKC main line out of the tunnel under the Detroit River over to VIA’s Windsor station, which is really in Walkerville, Ont. The switching road needs signaling and significant track upgrades if it is to be a passenger link.
Serving that tunnel directly with a daily Amtrak round trip from Chicago, as has been discussed, would mean either missing the current Detroit station or necessitating a back-up move to or from that facility which could add about 20 minutes to a through passenger’s trip. Though CPKC’s tracks pass the recently rehabilitated Michigan Central terminal, there are no imminent plans to build a platform so trains could stop there [see “Are trains in Michigan Central’s future?” News Wire, June 8, 2024]
Any through passenger train from Chicago to Toronto should bypass the current Windsor station and stay on CPKC to just west of Chatham and then access the current VIA line.
Walkerville is part of Windsor and no further from the city center than many other train stations. The problem is connecting to the international rail tunnel by means of the Essex Terminal. The Essex Terminal was never meant to be a passenger route.
Both Detroit Amtrak (New Center) and VIA Windsor (Walkerville) are in perfect locations as things stand now but in negative locations for cross-border through service. No matter how much upgrade to the ET, do you really want backup moves in both cities, Detroit and Windsor?
Walkerville is in the wrong place on the wrong railroad (CN vs CPKC) for through service. From the standpoint of through service, the correct locations are Michigan Central in Detroit, and the site of the Canadian Pacific station in Windsor. New York Central and Canadian Pacific had through service (Chicago to Toronto) at the border. Canadian National did not.
If you ask the wrong question, you get the wrong answer. Go to Walkerville, what do you find? Americans who live in Michigan. They cross the border by automobile and find their way to Walkerville. It may not be as sexy as a through train from Chicago, but it has worked out for many decades.
“If you ask the wrong question, you get the wrong answer” may be the sagest words ever committed by readers to this site – on this topic and many, many others. Hats off to you, Mr. Landey!
Terry,
Windsor Walkerville (as in Hiram Walker) is best known, obviously, as the home of Canadian Club. The train station is only the Number Two attraction.