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Back then, the Montreal-based crew went all the way to Jonquièrre, whereas the Senneterre-bound crew boarded the rear train in Shawinigan and took over at Hervey Junction. My understanding is now that the Montreal crew operates the Senneterre train until La Tuque from which the Senneterre-bound...

Unless VIA or the federal government have any legal guarantees regarding certain minimum track quality standards and speed limits, it will be very difficult for either party to compell CN without opening their chequebooks…

Baggage storage in Toronto (or at other major stations where such service is offered) is not at the Business Lounge, but at the baggage reclaim, when you descend the ramp from the main hall to the departure area, to the right: https://www.viarail.ca/en/plan/baggages/station-checkroom...

As a German rail fan and timetable nerd who left his home country only 15 years ago, I am very aware of this. Nevertheless, by 2000, the rail infrastructure in Eastern Germany had been modernized to more than adequate standards and still only enabled travel times (in excess of 6.5 hours)...

The Turbotrain was only scheduled at 3:59 for its first launch (which only lasted a feww days) and then returned with minimum travel times of 4:10-4:15. 3:59 was only scheduled over longer periods for the 5pm LRC train (today’s 68/69). and long after the Turbotrain had been retired. Considering...

My favorite comparison point is Berlin-Munich, as it’s virtually an identical distance as Toronto-Montreal (504 km or 313 miles “as the crow flies”): https://x.com/jutattatw/status/1548466456181895171 Basically, it took the opening of a 48 mile long 186 mph HSR segment (Nürnberg-Ingolstadt) to...

I have seen the following values posted last month at Groups.io: They are almost certain to change when the new adjustments take effect on July 4, but they are the best I‘ve seen at the moment…

Sure, if you can name any reason why a local government would propose a tax on a corporation which has enormous leverage over it for the exclusive benefit of a different corporation which does not enjoy any such leverage?

VIA is not going to do this, as nobody is going to pay for the cost of signalizing and upgrading the Prairie North Line, which is currently „dark territory“ and subject to speed limits of mostly 30 mph or less and sidings far apart. If the province of Saskatchewan was really interested in...

According to this response to an ATIA request, there were 4,289 passengers boarding or detraining in CY 2018 at Saskatoon Station: That works out to some 20 passengers per train stopping at the station pre-Covid…

They usually have one of the 3 HEP-I coaches with a galley you mentioned (8145-47), but that leaves them only one spare, so they will sometimes have to use a HEP-2 coach instead (because none of the other HEP-1 coaches has galleys)…

Intercity Maglevs (or any other technology inherently incomptible with legacy rail or HSR technology) may only ever make sense in either: 1) countries which are obscenely rich, yet have not yet built a significant legacy rail network, or 2) HSR corridors which have reached their capacity limit...

I would consider taking the Skeena between Jasper and Prince Rupert in one direction, as it‘s supposedly VIA‘s most underappreciated route…

Excessive delays have become drastically less epidemic since the timetable changes of July 2018 and April 2019, which lengthened the trip time and especially the turnaround time in Toronto, and you are now much much more likely to arrive early than late in Toronto or Vancouver. Nevertheless...

Indeed, track maintenance (or at least: inspection) requirements are less for tracks which are not used for passenger movements. Same reason why if a VIA train needs to be exceptionally turned in Ottawa (because of issues with the leading unit, if operated as a bidirectional trainset)...

Buffer cars have thankfully only been a thing for the 8 months between mid-October 2022 and mid-May 2023:

Unfortunately, the best hint we seem to have to date is a blurry photo in the second picture of this tweet (as discussed over on Groups.io):

Passenger revenues of the Canadian recovered 102.1% of direct operating costs in 2017 and cost-recovery has rebounded again post-Covid to 78.8% in 2022. This means that the train is very profitable during the summer season (April-October), when the overwhelming majority of passengers travel...

I was describing the function of these cars, not the quality of services, amenities (or views) offered on board of them…

For RM, which is basically a tourist bus on steel wheels, these all-seats Panorama cars are the only car passengers ever see from the inside, whereas for a rolling hotel like the Canadian, they only serve an auxiliary lounge-and-observation function, as the Sleeper cars themselves are the main...