TORONTO — Train buffs can kick the tires of Via Rail’s new Renaissance cars tomorrow afternoon at Toronto’s Union Station, the Globe and Mail reported.
Via is inviting the public to try out the seats, wander through a dining car and check out the sleeper-car bedrooms in the first new rail cars it has added to its fleet in more than 20 years.
Via has begun introducing some of the 139 new cars on the overnight service in the Windsor-Quebec corridor.
The rest will be phased in on that route and between Montreal and Halifax by the end of next year.
The cars were built in Britain, cost about $130-million and include 72 sleeper cars, 47 coaches and 20 service cars. By the time they are all in service, the cars will have expanded Via’s passenger fleet by one-third.
They are part of the federal government’s five-year, $402-million investment in Canada’s passenger rail network, announced in 2000, that also includes repairing and upgrading existing equipment, improving the rail infrastructure, and modernizing and upgrading passenger stations and facilities. Sleeper cars have 10 two-berth bedrooms, all with ensuite toilets and some with showers.
Coach cars seat 50 passengers and each service car will include a special fully accessible compartment designed for passengers with disabilities.
Via’s new cars were originally commissioned by European Nightstock Service — a consortium of railways from France, Germany, Britain and Belgium — for operation on overnight trips through the Channel Tunnel.
The order was cancelled after the London bypass was called off, British Rail routes were franchised and airline deregulation resulted in inexpensive short-haul flights in Europe. Canada was able to purchase the components for the new cars for a small fraction of their true market value. The equipment is being assembled and modified to Canadian and Via standards at Bombardier’s Thunder Bay plant.
VIA is also working on a proposal to boost the speed of trains in the southern Ontario corridor to as fast as 240 kilometres an hour from the current high of 170. That would be enough to cut 45 minutes from the two hours it now takes to travel between Ottawa and Montreal.
Faster trains would mean spending as much as $2-billion to straighten some segments of the track, build new bridges and tunnels and buy new locomotives.