Dayliner381
Train Attendant
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2015
- Messages
- 23
I thought VIA Rail owned the 35 mile portion of the Chatham Subdivision from Bloomfield (near Chatham) to Lacasse (approaching Windsor). When did the ownership revert back to CN?
That is correct, with the bulk of the route west of London still CN. I'm unclear whether VIA also holds the station trackage or whether that is Essex Terminal.I thought VIA Rail owned the 35 mile portion of the Chatham Subdivision from Bloomfield (near Chatham) to Lacasse (approaching Windsor).
The entire point of HFR (when it was conceived as an idea and first presented to the public almost a decade ago) was to define a project, which was small enough to not completely overwhelm the financial apetite of its federal masters yet large enough to be a gamechanger which demonstrates what is possible if given the infrastructure and track access it needs to provide a competitive service. This naturally excluded everything East of Montreal or West of Toronto, unless any potential investor (public or private) would insist on their inclusion.What is telling about VIA services west of Toronto is that the upgraded new "corridor" for HFR, as has been proposed, terminates in Toronto and serves only points east of Toronto. That is where the money and political clout is. Southwestern Ontario has always been the poor stepchild and VIA (federal) would gladly cede it to the province of Ontario.
As per VIA’s triennial plan, it now owns the Chatham Sub from Bloomfield (near its namegiving city) all the way up to the end of tracks behind Windsor Station (and has of course no intentions to discontinue any of the trackage it has been able acquire from its host railroads):That is correct, with the bulk of the route west of London still CN. I'm unclear whether VIA also holds the station trackage or whether that is Essex Terminal.
Didn't Miles report in his video that the train on his trip to Windsor hit 90 mph at times? The route seems pretty straight and flat, so I don't see why they shouldn't be able to do so.VIA trains on its corridor in Eastern Ontario can be seen at speeds of 90-100 MPH, where half that is more realistic between London and Windsor.
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