(The following story appeared on the Montreal Gazette website on February 12.)
MONTREAL — Via Rail is forging ahead with Phase 2 of its $692-million federally funded modernization program by seeking tenders for the upgrade of its 98 LRC-type passenger cars used mainly in the Quebec City-Windsor corridor.
North American car specialists, including Bombardier Inc. and French-controlled Alstom Canada, can bid.
The four-year contract will be worth about $100 million, industry sources estimated. The cars are 25 years old and make up almost 25 per cent of Via’s total fleet of 430 cars.
Phase One, a $101-million contract to rebuild the F-40 locomotive fleet, was awarded in December to Global Railway Industries Ltd.’s Lachine plant. Another $200 million will go to improve trackage, signalling and other infrastructure while the rest will support Via’s operations until the program’s benefits kick in.
The LRC cars will get new electrical, heating and air-conditioning systems and interiors. As well, they will use less energy and pollute less, CEO Paul Côté told the Canadian Club of Montreal.
“When the job’s done in 2013, they’ll be more reliable and meet modern comfort standards. Corridor ridership capacity will be up 32 per cent over 2007.”
The $692-million program will let Via run its fleet more efficiently and provide more frequent service without adding new equipment, he said. “Rail offers the smartest and safest intercity travel alternative, as the Christmas storms proved.”
Côté was reticent about the corridor’s long-promised high-speed train, while welcoming another new study by the federal, Ontario and Quebec governments.
“Rail’s potential has never been higher and we want to exploit it,” he said.
Setting up the high-speed link as a separate public-private partnership “is one of many solutions being weighed,” he added.
He also said Via is talking again with Canadian National Railway Co., owner of most of the trackage it uses. Historically, they have quarrelled bitterly over rent and freight train priorities.
Côté insists the benefits of Via’s heavy investment must translate into better passenger train punctuality and more frequent service.
“It’s a big challenge because CN’s top priority is moving freight – that’s what affects CN’s stock, profit and sometimes bonuses.”
He said expanding rail is a cost-effective way of improving the country’s transportation system. Two rail lines can move 13 per cent more people an hour than six lanes of highway, using 40 per cent of the space, and other modes become less congested.
The five-year, $692-million investment program is over and above Ottawa’s annual subsidy. In 2006, Ottawa covered Via’s deficit of almost $200 million. The 2007 accounts will be tabled early in April.