# Railway Age interview with VIA's CEO



## afigg (Jan 19, 2015)

Railway Age has an interesting interview with the CEO of VIA, Yves Desjardins-Siciliano: VIA Rail's ambitious new CEO. He has some big ideas about the direction of VIA that should be of interest. Excerpt:



> So why are VIA's unfailingly courteous on-board crews and station staff suddenly so chuffed about the future of their trackless railway? The answer is in the convincing futurism of VIA's new CEO, Yves Desjardins-Siciliano. The lawyer-turned-railroader dismisses questions about what's next in the way of service cuts, and instead, looks ahead to building a brand new, intercity network in Central Canada—while restoring some long abandoned regional services in the East and West.


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jan 19, 2015)

I like VIA's new CEO and his vision. Too bad the article makes mistakes regarding "heavyweight steel cars" and lack of passenger service to Winnipeg. I think the "heavyweight steel cars" means the old HEP2 cars purchased from the US and rebuilt to serve on the Corridor. Winnipeg, ofc, has the Canadian and the Hudson Bay.

I noted that along with the absence of "high-speed", the article also has no mention of Western Canada or the Skeena.


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## Bob Dylan (Jan 19, 2015)

Sounds like a smart, politically connected ,progressive guy that likes passenger rail! Just what Amtrak needs for their next CEO when Joe Boardman gets canned and goes off to make Big Bucks as a " Consultant"!


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## Anderson (Jan 20, 2015)

Until now I'd only heard the line about the federal government having "done enough" (which seemed out of touch with the needs for public support), but in the context he's speaking there's something that makes a lot of sense insofar as there's room to solicit significant provincial support. His vision does seem competent (and I suspect it is not exclusive of some speed improvements, just nothing earth-shattering), and I think he's dealing with the fact that there's a good chance that the PM for the next few years is either going to be hostile (Harper) or potentially horridly ineffective (Trudeau). I think it is also plausible that he could solicit support in BC for some added service (for example, running something additional between Edmonton or Winnipeg and Vancouver in the winter).

I think his focus does speak to the failure of the federal government in Canada to really get its act together on passenger rail for a long, long time. VIA was arguably in a better position than Amtrak, relatively speaking, in terms of its network and equipment when it was formed back in the 1970s...but it has managed to fare much worse over the years. Some of this is down to the thin population, but a lot of it is down to Canada's politics being a bit of a mess at times.


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## Guest (Jan 20, 2015)

Anderson said:


> I think his focus does speak to the failure of the federal government in Canada to really get its act together on passenger rail for a long, long time.


Depends on how one looks at it.

Canada is both a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, yet the provinces yield a great deal more power than states do in the United States. http://www.mapleleafweb.com/features/federalism-canada-basic-framework-and-operation#canadian

And then there is the whole crown corporation matter... http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/crown-corporation/

So while the federal government does have control over trade between provinces and the Canadian Supreme court has ruled in favor of federal control in transportation, be careful not to view VIA in the context of American history.

For example, the US had a little war between 1861 and 1865 which, in theory at least, settled where the balance of power lay in the US between the federal government and the states. Canada has been a lot slower to break away from the UK, and this too has impacted government. Its kind of like comparing apples and oranges.


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jan 24, 2015)

Indeed, Canada never had a War of Independence!

Canada's extraordinarily low population density in most of the country does pose a problem. Canada has much less population density than Russia and the population of the entire country is on-par with Greater Tokyo. Of course there are dense areas like the Corridor, but that means everywhere else is even less dense than average.

I don't know if he can pull it off, but I hope VIA's new CEO can boost ridership of existing routes, especially in the winter and especially the Skeena, then try and introduce daily service on the Canadian. Yeah, it's hard with their government, but it's not impossible!


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