Via buys Rolling Stock

From the Province newspaper A9, 17 December 2000: Via buys rolling stock for $135 million (thats canadian so in Americanese it would be around 90 million)....

"Montreal - Via Rail is making its first major equipment purchase in more than 20 years with the purchase of 139 new passenger cars in England.

Via says it will pay up to $135 million to buy, ship and refurbish 47 sitting coaces, 20 service cars which include a lounge and restaurant, and 72 sleepr coaches.

Made in England in the 1990's and never used, Via says the value of the coaces is $400 million to $500 million.

Vias will use the new equipment to add more trips and faster travel times in the corridor between Quebec City and Windsor.

Transport Minister Davis Collenette called it "an incredible deal, but Canadian Alliance MP Jim Gouk said it's senseless to continue subsidizing Via when the private sector is prepared to buy it. Canadian Press"

So it sounds like we won't see these cars out west gliding through the Fraser Canyon. Too bad.

 

That's okay, we all have our financial crosses to bear when it comes to bad investing in equipment. Our government spent billions of our tax payers money for some "fast ferries" which we didn't need. They are now for sale; one of them has never been run. So we have some fast ferries for sale, real cheap, just like those discounted cars that VIA bought. Anyone in England need some fast ferries?

 

Do you know why the UK decided not to use their new cars, and what line were they inteded for?

Fast Ferries: Are these the Seabus ferries in Vancouver that you a refering to?

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Subwaymark
(Mark Kavanagh)
Salem, OR
Transit Photos website: http://www.trainweb.org/subwaymark

 

No these are not the Seabuses it sounds like you are familiar with, we do need more of those, but the fast ferries ate into that budget. The fast ferries are large catamorans that can carry around 300 vehicles and passengers. They were designed to be much faster than the old ones we have, but they did some foolish things with them which have people upset, almost no outside area (our scenery is beautiful here and people want to go outside), tables and chairs too close together giving you a sardine experience on very busy days, and a wake which was very high, bring complaints from locals that there boats and property were getting damaged. The normal runs are 1 hour 35 minutes... The fast ferries runs were to be 1 hour and 10 minutes, not enough of a time savings to matter. Most see the ferries as a budget cruise as most of us go on them only a couple of times a year, so the "cruise" experience was important. The ferries people discounted that experience and received a ton of complaints.

There are also some engineering stupidies that happened that I won't bore you with, but for one, the fuel tanks are too small to be a run that goes for 3-4 hours, which these cats are more suited too. Too save weight, they cut down on the tank size and instead had them re-fuel in a high speed system many times a day as it pick up vehicles.


Note-The Fast Ferries and the Sea bus operate on different budgets (translink vs. BCFC)

[This message has been edited by BC Rail King (edited 24 December 2000).]

 

Via said the purchasing of these cars will leed to 'system wide improvements, we shall not forget the west, nor the east in out revitilization plan'. Now, how do you expect those cars to run out west, or even in Central Canada. The only things these cars can do is replace the streamliners on the Ocean, and replace the LRCs. You can't run a Nightstar in the middle of the Canadian, it would look plane stupid, no question about it. Also, the cars are narrower. They can only run in consists with them seleves, or maybe an LRC car, but even that would look bad. I have this gut feeling that Via just bought too many cars, and will not be able to utilize them.

Time will tell

Dane N.

PS- I still thinks its a good purchase

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BCRailKing@Canada.com

Teen Association of Model Railroaders-
for information, contact Dane N. at Dane_Nicholson@tamr.org
http://www.tamr.org