Category: Ocean

VIA Rail Corporate Plan – 2016-2020

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A bright and clean looking VIA Rail train pulls away from a station platform on a sunny day
Photo by Tim Hayman

VIA Rail has released its latest Corporate Plan for the years 2016-2020. The document summarizes VIA’s current and most recent operations, costs, successes, and challenges. It also lays out the vision that VIA’s management has moving forward, which will of course be subject to the approval of funding from the federal government.

This Corporate Plan focuses heavily on the need for fleet renewal and dedicated track projects in the Corridor, but also discusses VIA’s services across the country, including those in the Maritimes.

The report is very clearly structured, so it’s relatively easy to find those sections pertaining to The Ocean.

One of the most pertinent comments is found on page 25:

“In 2012, the Ocean’s frequencies were cut from six to three, which deteriorated the financial performance of this service. The Ocean does not adequately serve local communities and VIA Rail is looking at options to introduce additional local, intercity service, while potentially cutting back on under-utilized long-haul trains in the off-peak.

Eastern Intercity

Management of VIA Rail’s Eastern Region is currently investigating the possibility of initiating an eastern intercity corridor service within New Brunswick, which could coincide with a possible reduction of the Ocean to two frequencies a week during off-peak periods.”

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VIA Rail eyes new train services for the Maritimes

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A VIA Rail train waits at a snow platform on a bright sunny day outside the train station in Halifax
The Maritimes could soon have increased VIA Rail train services in the form of new regional trains (Photo by Tim Hayman)

VIA Rail is talking about making changes to its Atlantic Canadian passenger services, and for the first time in many years, they’re not talking about cuts. VIA president Yves Desjardins-Siciliano was in the Maritimes this week and took part in a call-in show on CBC Radio’s Maritime Noon program on Monday. During that program he mentioned that VIA is seriously looking at adding new regional train services in the Maritimes, potentially as early as next year.

The proposed services would include a Campbellton-Moncton train and a Moncton-Halifax train, both of which would make eastbound trips in the morning and return trips west in the evening. These trains would operate in addition to the thrice weekly Ocean and would be focused on providing a regular, useful service to local travellers within the region. Details about the days of operation and the type of equipment that may be used for the service are unknown, but it seems clear that these trains would run a more frequent schedule than the Ocean, and would offer more basic coach accommodations.

The potential for regional train services in the Maritimes has been on the radar since Susan Williams was appointed as General Manager for VIA’s eastern region earlier this year. At Transport Action Atlantic’s Annual General Meeting in Moncton this past spring, Ms. Williams mentioned that developing a business case for regional services was part of the mandate of her new position, along with exploring ways to increase ridership on the Ocean. A press release at the time of her appointment stated that “Ms. Williams will be working to bring VIA Rail’s service offering in line with this part of the country’s needs and demands. This is one of the first steps of a larger strategy to better serve Eastern Canada”.

The comments this week from Desjardins-Siciliano provide the first real look at what sort of a strategy VIA has been working on behind the scenes, and also offer a potential timeline – in an interview with CTV news, Desjardins-Siciliano said that VIA is “hoping to have the service in place no later than the school year start which is August and September of next year for university students and maybe as early as next summer”.

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Blueprint unveiled for passenger rail in Canada

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Cover page of the VIA 1-4-10 plan, prepared by Greg Gormick for Transport Action Canada, showing a VIA Rail train waiting at a set of signal lights in the dark.

The government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been urged to undertake a sweeping review of passenger rail from coast to coast, and to initiate action to bring this country in step with the other nations in the G7 community.  The challenge was unveiled two days after the new Liberal administration took office, at an event commemorating National Railway Day.  It coincides with the 130th anniversary of the last spike ceremony that marked completion of a continuous rail link from across the country on November 7, 1885.

Transport Action Canada and its regional affiliates have just completed a comprehensive document entitled The VIA 1-4-10 Plan.  Prepared by eminent transportation consultant and writer Greg Gormick, it explores the past, present and future of passenger rail, tracing its decline since the flawed creation of VIA Rail Canada by order-in-council in 1978, and offering practical and achievable suggestions for its reconstruction.  A copy of the report has been delivered to Transport Minister Marc Garneau, with public release taking place during a Railway Day event at the VIA station in St. Mary’s, Ontario.

“The timing is doubly appropriate,” says Transport Action Atlantic president Ted Bartlett, “because a government that has embraced ‘real change’ is taking office so close to the anniversary of an event so significant to Canada’s very existence.  We’re asking Minister Garneau to include this issue among his priorities.”

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