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CN suddenly announced new speed restrictions for VIA Rail’s new Siemens Venture trains on October 11, 2024, at 80 grade crossings in the Quebec-Windsor corridor equipped with constant warning time systems, asserting that unless the trains are lengthened to seven cars—32 axles—they might not correctly activate those crossings. These speed restrictions are causing delays of 30-45 minutes to many VIA Rail services.
Amtrak has faced similar requirements for “axle-count cars” on CN routes in the United States for many years, but for CN to suddenly raise this issue in Canada is unexpected, especially considering that VIA trains with one locomotive and two stainless steel or three LRC cars have been operating for decades.
While CN also asserts that the new restrictions were introduced because Venture trains started operating in southwestern Ontario, this claim is hard to justify given that everybody has known that the whole corridor fleet was to be replaced since the order was placed in 2018, and that extensive testing that had already taken place, including on the Windsor and Sarnia routes. The new restrictions have also been applied on the rest of the corridor, where Venture trains have been operating for two years without any reported issues.
While applying the precautionary principle is necessary in railway safety, CN must provide justification for this action, and work collaboratively with VIA Rail and Siemens to resolve the technical issue behind it.
Track circuits must be tuned to correctly distinguish the presence of a train from the background ballast conductivity. This can be hard when the track and ballast is wet, and when rust, leaves and other contaminants reduce conductivity between the rails through the train’s wheels axles. While clasp brakes on freight cars and older passenger equipment also serve to scrape the wheel rims clean, disc-braked passenger trains like the LRCs and Ventures are slightly harder to detect, but as noted above that hasn’t been a problem previously.
Constant warning time systems for grade crossings are also more advanced than traditional block circuits, detecting the speed of the train to avoid closing the crossing to traffic too early when a slower freight train is approaching, which is important because that creates a risk of impatient drivers trying to go around the gates. VIA Rail uses similar technology on portions of the corridor it owns and maintains, including the Alexandria Subdivision, and has not experienced any such issues with the Venture fleet at these crossings.
With just over half of the new fleet delivered, VIA Rail doesn’t have the ability to lengthen Venture consists in the near term, although this might be necessary in the medium term to meet growing demand.
Many European railways use train-mounted “shunt enhancers” to enable short multiple unit trains to correct activate grade crossing warning systems, and these would be an option if CN can demonstrate that there is an issue with its crossing that cannot be addressed through tuning or improved maintenance.
Crossing activation issues were reportedly behind VIA Rail’s decision not to use RDCs to add regional services in southwestern Ontario after testing with CN in 2016, but those problems were observed when operating with only two RDCs—just 8 axles.
Transport Action has asked CN to identify the manufacturer and model of the problematic constant warning time equipment, but has not received a response.