Federal budget approves new fleet of trains for Via Rail, but dedicated tracks still under study
Via's current fleet of locomotives and passenger cars is 40 years old on average, and has been stretched beyond its normal life expectancy
Brian Platt
February 28, 2018
3:23 PM EST
OTTAWA — Via Rail is finally getting funding to replace its aging fleet on the Quebec City to Windsor line, but will have to keep waiting for a decision on whether those trains will get their own dedicated tracks through the clogged rail corridor.
Tuesday’s federal budget gives approval for procuring a new Via fleet, something the company has been requesting for years. Via’s current fleet of locomotives and passenger cars is 40 years old on average, and has been stretched beyond its normal life expectancy.
The budget doesn’t pinpoint the amount it will cost, as the new trains will be competitively tendered for bids, but the company has previously estimated it needs as much as $1.3 billion for fleet renewal.
In press materials released after the budget, Via says it expects the new trains will be operating by 2022. The company wants 32 train sets with 9,100 passenger seats, and fuel-efficient diesel engines that can be adapted for electrified rail infrastructure should it become available. The trains would be “push-pull,” meaning they wouldn’t need to turn around at stations before running in the opposite direction, as they currently do.
The call for proposals will go through the government’s public tender process and “will be open and accessible to all qualified companies,” Via says.
Transportation Minister Marc Garneau told the National Post he hopes to get the purchase through “as quickly as possible.”
But the government is still studying Via’s other big request: to build a dedicated track separate from freight rail lines. There’s no firm deadline yet for making a decision, and the budget allocates another $8 million over three years for study work.
Via has pitched the government on what it calls high-frequency rail between Toronto and Quebec City, where trains would hit top speeds of 177 km/h and avoid having to share track with freight trains, which currently get priority at bottlenecks. The project would require building sections of new track, including on a potential new route between Ottawa and Toronto that runs through Peterborough. Via estimates trip times would drop by as much as 25 per cent.
Depending on whether the track is electrified, the plan could require more than $6 billion in further funding — but it’s possible a good chunk of that might come from the private sector.
Garneau said the government needs a better idea of the business case before deciding on funding.
“Before you make a final decision you have to have some serious analysis of how many people are likely to take the train,” he said Wednesday. “Estimating that is clearly very central to our decision on that, and that’s underway at the moment … I’m not going to predict a date, but certainly we should have most of the details within a year.”
He also said there is work to do on gauging private sector interest. Via has previously suggested private pension funds could invest in the project.
But there’s also the question of what role might be played by the new Canada Infrastructure Bank, created following last year’s budget and which aims to use up to $35 billion in public funds to leverage further investment from the private sector. The bank’s mandate is to help build revenue-generating infrastructure in the public interest, and an environmentally-friendly Via line would seem to be a fit.
The bank is still in the process of getting established and hiring staff — including a CEO — but may be ready to start reviewing projects by the end of the year. Via’s proposal could face competition for funding from other rail projects such as a high-speed rail line between Toronto and Windsor, which the Ontario government is eyeing.
http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/fe...l-but-dedicated-tracks-still-under-study
Prev
Linear Mode
