VIA Rail

[J81]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

latter obviously - but there are limits. How useful is a service really if demand could be satisfied by a daily Ford Transit van trip?

The Corridor and Canadian/Ocean need subsidies, but have clear demand patterns. Services like Sudbury>White River have limited utility, and even more limited demand, yet are subsidized to the tune of millions per year. Those communities would likely be better off seeing that money spent elsewhere to help them. We are talking about thousands in subsidies for every passenger, the bleed rate is nothing short of insane.

Even services like Churchill would probably be far better off by closing the rail line and converting it to a gravel access road.

Most of you dont seem to understand that VIA provides essential services for many remote communities across the country and some of you dont even know that the Gaspe train hasnt run since 2012.

The Sudbury/White River and Churchill routes bring supplies to/from remote camps and lodges that are not accessible by road or float plane even in some cases. Canoes, kayaks, appliances, furniture, building supplies even Moose get transported by those trains.

[casper]

Originally Posted by J81

Most of you dont seem to understand that VIA provides essential services for many remote communities across the country and some of you dont even know that the Gaspe train hasnt run since 2012.

The Sudbury/White River and Churchill routes bring supplies to/from remote camps and lodges that are not accessible by road or float plane even in some cases. Canoes, kayaks, appliances, furniture, building supplies even Moose get transported by those trains.

That is yet another use case for Via.

You tailer that service around that fact. I think we need to accept there is zero chance that via will make a profit doing that. That is ok.

[ssiguy]

Originally Posted by J81

Most of you dont seem to understand that VIA provides essential services for many remote communities across the country and some of you dont even know that the Gaspe train hasnt run since 2012.

The Sudbury/White River and Churchill routes bring supplies to/from remote camps and lodges that are not accessible by road or float plane even in some cases. Canoes, kayaks, appliances, furniture, building supplies even Moose get transported by those trains.

This is one of the reasons why VIA fails at being an effective and reliable transportation service for anywhere outside the Corridor.

Yes, these rail lines do provide supplies from other areas but that is NOT the responsibility of VIA. VIA is a PASSENGER rail service and NOT a gov't subsidized version of FedEx. VIA has been told to provide a service that it is not equipped to provide thus becoming more of a political apparatus more than a passenger rail service. This has led to a obscene amounts of money going to subsidize routes into little places in the middle of no where. This is why you can get from Winnipeg to Churchill but can't get from Edmonton to Calgary.

[savevp]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

This is why you can get from Winnipeg to Churchill but can't get from Edmonton to Calgary.

One does not preclude the other. Via Rail, if funded to do so, could very capably provide both types of services.

[J81]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

This is one of the reasons why VIA fails at being an effective and reliable transportation service for anywhere outside the Corridor.

Yes, these rail lines do provide supplies from other areas but that is NOT the responsibility of VIA. VIA is a PASSENGER rail service and NOT a gov't subsidized version of FedEx. VIA has been told to provide a service that it is not equipped to provide thus becoming more of a political apparatus more than a passenger rail service. This has led to a obscene amounts of money going to subsidize routes into little places in the middle of no where. This is why you can get from Winnipeg to Churchill but can't get from Edmonton to Calgary.

It actually is. Lol

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by savevp

One does not preclude the other. Via Rail, if funded to do so, could very capably provide both types of services.

It could, but it would probably be best handled by being completely separate crown corporations that don't need to share the same budget, corporate governance, etc. because they have completely different mandates and priorities.

Right now, I see VIA doing 3 things:

1. Running luxury tourist trains that don't cater to locals. The focus here is on experience and hospitality. Honestly, they could hire an executive from a cruise ship company or major resort brand to lead things, and they might have good ideas.

2. Running essential services for remote settlements not connected to roads. This is basically VIA as a social program. The hotel/cruise ship CEO would do an awful job here, yet s/he would not only have to consider this service, but the very train that is their flagship luxury cruise (the Canadian) has to fulfill the essential service role in Northern Ontario.

3. Running a passenger rail service that is supposed to compete with airlines and driving on speed and convenience, but only in southern Ontario and Quebec. Ignoring the fact that only one part of the country gets this privilege, to do things right you need to scale up dramatically and take advantage of network effects. This is the same principle for any other mode of transportation: bike lanes, airlines, roads. You build a network that's reliable, dense and frequent across the whole system; you integrate with local public transit, intercity bus services, and your own trains both in terms of fares and timetables, otherwise you never vault past obscurity. This takes a lot of dedicated resources and a very different mode of thinking than either running a land cruise or providing a shoestring social service for remote communities.