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The Government of Canada made the announcement of funding to replace VIA Rail’s long-distance train fleet at Moncton station on July 11, 2024. This vital investment, which Transport Action has been campaigning for, was included in federal budget 2024.
Minister of Transport Pablo Rodriguez was accompanied by local MPs Jenica Atwin and Ginette Petitpas Taylor, and by Rita Toporowski, VIA Rail’s Chief Service Delivery Officer, and board member Jonathan Goldbloom to announce that the procurement process to replace the trains on the Ocean, the Canadian, the Winnipeg-Churchill route, and all other remote and regional routes across the country, would be launched shortly.
The procurement is expected to include around 300 cars, including sleepers, dining cars and panoramic cars, plus locomotives, with delivery starting in the early 2030s, in time to replace the current heritage fleet. Design details, the final number of cars, and the exact amount of funding have not been disclosed, the latter being to ensure that the manufacturers offer their best possible prices.
The announcement coincided with the 120th anniversary of the Ocean service between Halifax and Montreal.
Transport Action Atlantic was represented at the announcement by past president Ted Bartlett, who welcomed this long sought after announcement to secure the long-term future of train services across Canada. Ted Bartlett also took the opportunity to raise the issue of the recent worsening in speed restrictions through northern New Brunswick with the Minister and his colleagues, and reiterate the importance of restoring daily train service to the region.
The recent re-scheduling of the Ocean thanks to CN’s neglect of track conditions is a major challenge to delivering VIA Rail’s vision of intermodality in the Maritimes, because the train now leaves Moncton before the connecting Maritime Bus services from Charlottetown, PEI and around the region arrive, making same-day connections impossible. The extension to running time puts VIA Rail in a quandary, because keeping the same departure time from Moncton would now mean a later arrival in Montreal, breaking the connection with train #65 to Toronto, even if a later train path could be made available through Drummondville.
As well being a way of rapidly improving the existing service, returning track conditions to a state of good repair and ensuring fair track access with timely dispatching for passenger train services are also non-trivial matters in the procurement, because slow running and delays mean more equipment is required to provide the same level of service. Under reasonably achievable infrastructure conditions and operating conditions, restoring daily services on both the Ocean and the Canadian would only require marginally more equipment than in needed to provide today’s infrequent and extended schedules.
Transport Action looks forward to seeing the RFP for long-distance locomotives and rolling stock issued shortly.