The state-owned VIA Rail is demanding billions of dollars from Ottawa to replace end-of-life train cars that travel across the country, except within the Quebec-Windsor corridor, whose sustainability is protected. Because, if nothing is done, the quality of service offered from Halifax to Vancouver could quickly deteriorate, warns the organization.
It was during a rare media incursion into the VIA Rail maintenance center in Montreal that the organization expressed its requests to the federal government, whose 2024-2025 budget is expected in the coming weeks. While showing us the process of maintaining train cars from the last century during an hour-long tour, representatives of the crown corporation explained their need to quickly obtain billions of dollars from the leaves Ottawa to launch a call for tenders to replace the train cars which serve many routes between Halifax and Quebec, as well as between Toronto and Vancouver. This is without counting the regional journeys towards more isolated sectors provided by the state company in the different provinces of the province, which are also currently served by these trains, whose cars are 74 years old on average.
“When we talk about cars that have traveled long distances, all the cars you see today have traveled the equivalent of 195 times around the world,” said the director of communications for Via Rail, Jean-Vincent, on Thursday. The cross. The latter specified that despite the “miracles” that are performed on a daily basis in VIA Rail maintenance centers to keep the old train cars in working order, they have far exceeded their normal lifespan, which is 25 years old.
Thus, if these cars are not replaced quickly, the quality of passenger train service offered over a distance of 10,000 kilometers in Canada could deteriorate “exponentially” in the coming years, fears Mr. Lacroix. He did not want to detail the financial requests that have been made in recent months to the federal government to replace part of the organization’s train cars, so as not to influence the call for tenders that this one -it hopes to be able to launch this year.
Via Rail’s communications director nevertheless specifies that once this call for tenders is launched, it will be necessary to wait 10 years before all the requested cars are delivered. However, the organization estimates that it will only be able to maintain its existing cars until 2035, as their viability cannot be extended beyond this date. Time is running out, therefore, to obtain the “green light” requested from Ottawa, he suggested.
“If we are not able to launch this call for tender process, the impacts on the service will be felt over the coming years,” warns Mr. Lacroix, who warns that in 2035, “if no replacement is done, it will be the end of long distance connections [par train] in Canada “.
Shorter, less frequent trains
In fact, the effects of Via Rail’s aging train fleet are already being felt: the number of train cars serving the entire country on long-distance routes — with the exception of the corridor linking Quebec and Windsor, in Ontario, which benefited from financial support of $1.5 billion from the federal government in 2018 to enable the replacement of the train fleet — went from more than 200 in 2019 to 175 which are operational today. The result is that shorter trains are already serving some destinations, reducing the number of passengers that can be accommodated on board. The frequency of trains has also already decreased for certain routes, explained Thursday André Bouchard, vice-president of mechanical services for VIA Rail.
“This forced us to cut certain services in the west of the country and certain frequencies due to the reduction in the number of cars,” confides Mr. Bouchard, while showing us around a car formerly used as a dining room, which is currently undergoing major renovations. Thus, circuits serving for example Senneterre, in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, or even Churchill, in Manitoba, could suffer from the lack of cars anticipated by VIA Rail. “These are certain services that could no longer be viable for Canadians because we will no longer have enough cars,” warns Mr. Bouchard.
Transport Canada did not respond to questions from Dutyat the time these lines were written.