Yesterday morning, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the largest investment in VIA Rail in the crown corporation's history, with the goal of continuing a complete refresh of VIA Rail's remote and regional fleet.
Simon Letendre, Director of Corporate Communications at VIA Rail Canada, went over some details of the announcement.
"The Government of Canada announced an investment of 4.7 billion dollars to allow us to purchase 313 new passenger rail cars for our long-distance, remote, and regional fleet, so that is the most significant investment in the history of VIA Rail...it means that we'll be able to completely renew and modernize our current long-distance fleet, which serves routes such as The Canadian between Toronto and Vancouver, and the Hudson Bay between Winnipeg and Churchill which you know well, but also the ocean in Eastern Canada between Montreal and Halifax, and other regional routes that we have in Northern Ontario and Quebec," said Letendre.
Dauphin and the area knows first-hand how vital regional and remote VIA Rail routes can be, even more so after flooding in early July severely disrupted rail routes near Swan River. For many communities, especially those in Northern Manitoba, Letendre says VIA Rail understands how vital and necessary those routes are.
"We know that for a lot of communities, rail is really a lifeline. That's what they use to get their medicine, their groceries, how they access job sites or healthcare, so for us, it's an extremely important service that we provide to Canadians from coast to coast to coast," said Letendre.
It's evident whenever you see a VIA Rail trail passing through Dauphin that the fleet hasn't been updated in quite some time. The fleet's average age is almost 80 years old, so Letendre said this investment will give VIA Rail the ability to make sure they continue to serve the remote and rural communities that rely on VIA Rail.
"The average age of the fleet as you mentioned is 77 years old, our employees are doing a tremendous job to maintain them and keep them in good shape to offer the best service we can, but those cars were approaching the end of their useful life, so it was time to replace them," said Letendre.
This announcement completes VIA Rail's refresh of their remote and regional fleet. In July, the crown corporation announced investments to acquire 45 new locomotives for the fleet, citing the equipment's age, and ensuring the continuation of VIA Rail services. Though we won't see the new locomotives or passenger cars for a few years, it gives hope that VIA Rail wants to keep serving Canada's remote communities, and do it the best they can.
"The first locomotive will be delivered in 2029, entry into service will be completed in 2032, so we'll have the 45 locomotives by 2032, and for the passenger cars, first delivery will be in 2031, and we'll be receiving the last one in 2035, so by 2035, we should have the full fleet for our long-distance, regional and remote network that will be completely modernized," said Letendre.
Letendre made sure to stress that these new investments don't mean a reduction in the level of service VIA Rail customers can expect. Many of the features that VIA Rail is known for will continue with the new fleet.
"The trains that were running on these routes are really iconic, they're recognized for their sleeper cars, the dome car, the panoramic cars, some social areas also, full service dining, so all of those features are going to preserved in these new cars," said Letendre.
In his announcement, Prime Minister Carney also stressed the Canadian-made factor of the new passenger cars. All 313 of the new passenger cars will be manufactured and assembled in Thunder Bay, Ontario and La Pocatière, Québec, and designed and engineered in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Québec.
