VIA Rail network developments

[waterloowarrior]

http://www.frontenacnews.ca/central-...ncil-sep-13-16

VIA Rail wants to build a service along Highway 7
At the start of the Central Frontenac Council meeting this week (Tuesday September 13), Mayor Frances Smith presented a document she has received from Jacques Fauteux, Director, government and community relations with VIA rail.
The VIA Dedicated Tracks project proposes to use a new, more efficient diesel-electric hybrid fleet to deliver passenger service in the Quebec City to Windsor corridor.
An adjunct to that project, according to the document, “includes the Shining Waterways Railway Plan, which aims to provide passenger service from Toronto to Havelock, and its extension all the way to Ottawa, using existing tracks or discontinued railway rights of way.”
The service would have many benefits including: local train service to Toronto and Ottawa, shorter trip times than using a car, regional economic development, etc.
Basic inspections are to take place on former railway beds and infrastructure that are under consideration for the project in the region over the coming weeks.
The former rail line from Havelock to Ottawa is currently part of the Trans-Canada Trail. It follows Highway 7 as it heads from Kaladar to Ottawa, but in Central Frontenac it pushes to the south of the highway at Elm Tree, passes below Big Clear Lake in Arden and over to Mountain Grove, eventually following the southern shore of the west basin of Sharbot Lake at Brewer Road, before passing through the hamlet at the medical center, past the beach and then the township office.
Until last year it then went under a bridge at Road 38, but that bridge was removed last year and the trail now passes over the road as it heads back towards Fall River Road, where it again follows Highway 7 towards Perth.

[Mikeed]

Has this be mentioned before? Shining Waters Railway.

It is, therefore, not surprising that the elimination of VIA’s Havelock-Peterborough-Toronto passenger service in 1990 and the future of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) freight service have long concerned many residents, business people and elected officials in Peterborough, Havelock, Kawartha Lakes and Durham.

The SWR business plan is supported by a Government of Canada Ear Marked capital commitment of $150 million and an equal amount from the Government of Ontario, for a total of $300 million. Key supporters include five federal Cabinet Ministers, four Members of Parliament, every municipality along the route, the Eastern Ontario Wardens, the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce, the Peterborough Economic Development Corporation and the CPR.

The transfer by charitable donation of 107.2 miles of main track, spurs, sidings, structures and all land owned by the CPR, consisting principally of the Havelock Subdivision (Mile 90.78-178.0) and the Nephton Subdivision (Mile 0.0-20.0).

All passenger and freight services, as well as track maintenance, will be provided under contract by experienced railway providers.

SWR freight service will be provided by a contract operator over the full length of the two subdivisions. The freight operator will provide the locomotives and crews required for day-to-day operations. Rolling stock will all be shipper-owned or leased.

Traffic will be interchanged with the CPR and, by extension, with the entire North American rail network at Toronto Yard. Revenue will be divided between the SWR, the third-party service provider, the CPR and it’s interline partners. SWR passenger service will be operated originating in Havelock through to Peterborough George Street and Harper Road stations to Dupont Station in mid-town Toronto. A total of 13 stations with a run time of approximately 90 minutes between Peterborough and Toronto.

So this is a part of the plan to connect Ottawa to Toronto? With VIA running passenger services on the line.

[lrt's friend]

Shining Waters Railway was specifically mentioned in the previous post concerning the VIA plan.

[DarthVader_1961]

Interesting.

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/episode...764201?cmp=rss

[rocketphish]

Not really a network development, but:

Via Rail loses appeal to have value of Ottawa station dropped from $7M to $10

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: September 19, 2016 | Last Updated: September 19, 2016 5:30 PM EDT

Ontario’s divisional court has rejected Via Rail’s argument that the non-leased parts of the train company’s Ottawa station should have an assessment value of only $10.

Via claimed there is no market for the station on Tremblay Road. The station, which is designated under the federal Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act, attracts little operating income since the business is financially backstopped by the federal government and the building has little value other than being for the public good, the company argued.

On the other hand, the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation believes there’s plenty of value and it won a decision by the Ontario Assessment Review Board last year putting the property’s value at $7,705,000 between 2009 and 2011 and $7,873,000 in 2012.

Via appealed to the divisional court, which released a decision late last week. The divisional court considers it a test case for all of Via’s properties in Ontario.

Property assessments can inform a significant expense for all landowners, from single-home families to rail companies. The City of Ottawa, like other municipalities in Ontario, collects property taxes based on the land values set by MPAC.

The city, which agreed with MPAC’s assessment of Via’s station on Tremblay Road, sent a lawyer to the divisional court hearing but he didn’t make submissions on the case.

The court agreed with the assessment review board that the station doesn’t suffer from “economic obsolescence,” which refers to external factors reducing the value of the property, such as the economic health of the industry.

At the assessment review board, Via suggested a $1-million assessment for the leased parts of the station, but only $10 for the rest of the property.

Via reported the passenger volume of the station was 821,867 in 2008, with revenue totalling about $22.3 million, according to information received by the assessment review board.

Still, the train service is unprofitable and there’s no market for the Ottawa land as a passenger rail station, Via argued.

MPAC was ready to introduce new evidence to the divisional court showing Via sold part of the land to the City of Ottawa for the Confederation LRT line, bolstering the argument that the property has value as a passenger rail station. The city is turning the Transitway station at the Via terminal into an LRT station.

The divisional court decided it didn’t need to see the new documents in dismissing Via’s appeal.

The assessment board gave Via a break on an onsite steam plant, which is used as an electrical room for the main station. Instead of a $589,000 assessment on that part of the property, the board set the value at $294,000.

The train station was built in 1965, with CN and CP operating passenger rail services out of the depot starting in 1966. The rail companies bought the station from the National Capital Commission in 1977 for a nominal fee and Via assumed those companies’ passenger rail service in 1978. According to information provided to the assessment board, Via bought the station from CP and CN for $7.5 million.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...-from-7m-to-10

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by Mikeed

Has this be mentioned before? Shining Waters Railway.

So this is a part of the plan to connect Ottawa to Toronto? With VIA running passenger services on the line.

I doubt it. The attached link says:

• Rehabilitation of the Havelock Subdivision from Havelock to the CPR’s Toronto Yard (Mile 90.78-178.0) to Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Class 4 standards for operation at a maximum permissible track speed of 80 mph for passenger trains and 60 mph for freight trains.
• Upgrading of the Nephton Subdivision (Mile 0.0-20.0) to FRA Class 2 for freight operation up to 25 mph.

And VIA would want a minimum of class 5.

It could be that this proposal caught VIA's attention and they want to step in and obtain the ROW from the CPR instead.

[rocketphish]

Feds announce $20M plan to renovate Ottawa train station

OBJ Staff
Published on September 29, 2016

The federal government said Thursday it will spend $20 million to install a new elevated and heated passenger platform at the Ottawa train station and make trains more accessible to passengers in wheelchairs.

The first phase of the multi-year project is slated to be completed by the fall of 2017. It will add a 136-metre-long elevated platform as well as elevators to provide access to the station’s tunnel and boarding platforms. An additional $1.7 million will go toward roof renovations and other improvements.

“Once the renovations are complete, our facilities will be more accessible and mobility within the station as well as boarding and disembarking from our trains will be easier for everyone,” VIA Rail CEO Yves Desjardins-Siciliano said in a statement.

VIA also announced it is adding two new afternoon departures – one each way between Ottawa and Toronto – to boost the number of weekday trips between the cities to nine on weekdays.

“The Ottawa train station is at the heart of our future dedicated tracks project, which will draw more passengers with increased train frequencies, shorter travel times and more convenient and reliable schedules,” Mr. Desjardins-Siciliano said.

Opened in 1966, the Tremblay Road station now serves more than 800,000 passengers a year. It was designated a heritage building in 1996 and was named one of the top 500 buildings in Canada by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 2000.

http://www.obj.ca/Real-Estate/Constr...rain-station/1

[lrt's friend]

Wow! The Ottawa-Toronto route must be VIA's most lucrative route. When will the additional trip be added to the schedule?

This tells us a lot about highway conditions between the two cities. It is not a pleasant drive. It also tells us that there is a sweet point in intercity travel where rail becomes an attractive alternative.

[HighwayStar]

But will they finally allow "free" platform access like the rest of the planet rather than this silly queue up and show your ticket concept??

[acottawa]

It would be nice if they could better weatherproof the link to the LRT station, and maybe the LRT station itself.

[zzptichka]

Originally Posted by HighwayStar

But will they finally allow "free" platform access like the rest of the planet rather than this silly queue up and show your ticket concept??

Maybe some day after year 2035...

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Wow! The Ottawa-Toronto route must be VIA's most lucrative route. When will the additional trip be added to the schedule?

This tells us a lot about highway conditions between the two cities. It is not a pleasant drive. It also tells us that there is a sweet point in intercity travel where rail becomes an attractive alternative.

Very much so. Ridership and train frequencies have gone way up on the Ottawa-Toronto line; when these new trips are added to the schedule, we'll have twice the amount of trips as we did in 2011. Ridership on the route has been growing by double-digit percentages every year. And all this, even though on-time performance on the route has declined considerably and travel times remain uncompetitive with private automobiles.

Meanwhile the Ottawa-Montreal route remains stagnant in both trip frequencies and overall ridership.

It speaks volumes about how unattractive the 401 has become, and how much of a pain it is becoming to drive in and around Toronto.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by acottawa

It would be nice if they could better weatherproof the link to the LRT station, and maybe the LRT station itself.

It would be easy enough to add an underground pedestrian tunnel to the LRT station if VIA wanted to.

It is unfortunate that the link is not fully weatherproof (it's only covered) but at least it's an improvement over the (pre-2015) Transitway situation. Pre-2015, not only did we have an open-air connection, the connection passed over the taxi and kiss-and-ride lanes. Post-2018, this latter problem will be fixed.

[Horus]

Originally Posted by zzptichka

Maybe some day after year 2035...

Is that a pedestrian connection to Trainyards in the lower right of that image?

[zzptichka]

Originally Posted by Horus

Is that a pedestrian connection to Trainyards in the lower right of that image?

It's their vision that includes post-2035 "expansion". There was no talk about connecting it with Trainyards in phase 1.
Here's the presentation by the way: https://youtu.be/EpLogY1TNnw?t=1h19m20s

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by Horus

Is that a pedestrian connection to Trainyards in the lower right of that image?

Another reference:
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...s-half-measure

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Another reference:
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...s-half-measure

From that link:

The station, which opened in 1967, is designated as a Heritage Railway Station and considered one of the finest examples of the International style in Canadian architecture.

Who on earth named it a "Heritage Railway Station?" It is an ugly box compared to the station it replaced and an example of how bad the architecture was in the 60's and 70's.

In 2000, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada named it as one of the top-500 buildings in Canada.

But not since? Must have been a bad year.

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Very much so. Ridership and train frequencies have gone way up on the Ottawa-Toronto line; when these new trips are added to the schedule, we'll have twice the amount of trips as we did in 2011. Ridership on the route has been growing by double-digit percentages every year. And all this, even though on-time performance on the route has declined considerably and travel times remain uncompetitive with private automobiles.

Meanwhile the Ottawa-Montreal route remains stagnant in both trip frequencies and overall ridership.

It speaks volumes about how unattractive the 401 has become, and how much of a pain it is becoming to drive in and around Toronto.

The problem with the Montréal-Toronto line is the CN, it's really difficult to add trips. I had much issues to get a train seat ven 3 days before departure. It's not a matter of demand but capacity of the line.

[eltodesukane]

How about extending the pedestrian bridge over the 417 for a direct connection to the train station?
Such an obvious thing to do.
Am I the only one to have ever think about that?

[AndyMEng]

Originally Posted by roger1818

From that link:


Who on earth named it a "Heritage Railway Station?" It is an ugly box compared to the station it replaced and an example of how bad the architecture was in the 60's and 70's.



But not since? Must have been a bad year.

This building is amazing and fascinating. Love everything about it. The super-columns supporting large girder truss, supporting a lighter truss. Huge column-free spaces. Long cantilevers. The style, the shape, its all there.

A little mis management has allowed the styling details and perhaps some of the leased space to want a bit more attention.

A little shine will take it a long way from the neglect it's faced over the last 20 years.