On July 29, the federal government and VIA Rail announced a significant milestone in the renewal of the fleet that supports VIA Rail’s long distance, regional and remote (LDRR) services, with an order for 45 new locomotives. This order was awarded to Swiss manufacturer Stadler, a company with extensive experience in European and international locomotive production and a growing footprint in the North American market. The first locomotives will be assembled at a Stadler facility in Spain, and then a new assembly factory will be constructed in Montreal to allow for the final assembly of up to 36 of the locomotives. This means that some element of domestic passenger locomotive manufacturing will be returning to Canada for the first time in many years.
The new locomotives, set to replace the aging but venerable F40 locomotive fleet, will be a novel hybrid diesel and battery design, with batteries (recharged from the diesel engine and dynamic braking) allowing for more efficient operation, lower emissions, and less wear on the prime mover. Importantly, these batteries should also provide a backup power source in the case of emergency engine failures, something that will be welcome on many of the remote services where these locomotives will operate. Stadler has been producing a variety of hybrid locomotive designs for European customers, and will build on that experience with this new North American design.
Stadler has experience with manufacturing locomotives for cold climates and extreme environments, and these locomotives will need to be capable of dealing with the harsh and varying climate conditions that VIA operates through on their services across the country. The first locomotive is planned for delivery as early as 2028, with a testing period ahead of entry into service and the start of domestic assembly. It is imperative that this testing capture the full range of operating conditions to ensure that the continued production run addresses any issues early, and avoids the many headaches encountered with the new Siemens equipment in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor.
Transport Action Atlantic has been actively campaigning for years to secure government support for VIA’s badly needed LDRR fleet replacement, and we welcomed both the announcement of government funding in 2024 that allowed the procurement to begin and the launch of the formal Request for Qualifications in November of that year. We are thrilled to see this order come to fruition, and we are also pleased to see that the base order has increased from 42 to 45 units. We also welcome the return of Canadian manufacturing and the inclusion of a respected European equipment builder.
The next step will of course be the conclusion of the procurement for the even more badly needed LDRR passenger car fleet renewal. At Wednesday’s press conference, both the Transport Minister and the CEO of VIA Rail indicated that this announcement would follow “soon”, and we look forward to seeing the award of that contract. With the procurement deliberately split into two separate parts, we could well see a different manufacturer for the rolling stock. We will be particularly keen to see the order quantities of the various car types and how this compares to the existing fleet that covers today’s service levels. A key part of our advocacy for improved passenger service in Atlantic Canada is the ongoing need to restore a suitable daily level of service on the Ocean, and we hope that the new fleet order will provide sufficient equipment to allow VIA to remedy the short-sighted cuts of over a decade ago.
