Canadian Railroads > VIA Rail Trip from Hell on Train 622 (a Venture train to QC)

10 hours late. (I was on that train on July 28th) 

https://montreal.citynews.ca/2024/09/01/delay-via-rail-train-quebec-city/

I wonder how many of VIA's Venture trains are in service now.  Based on recent deliveries from the U.S., they must have quite a pile of them sitting there by now, close to 20 maybe with only nine or so in service last I heard.

I think it is about 11 out of 19 sets. It is not just this incident, but it should be pretty clear by now, even with a new shop in Montreal, and the trains in a short leash between Ottawa and Quebec not often as far as Toronto that these Siemens trains too are JUNK.

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joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It is not
> just this incident, but it should be pretty clear
> by now, even with a new shop in Montreal, and the
> trains in a short leash between Ottawa and Quebec
> not often as far as Toronto that these Siemens
> trains too are JUNK.

They operate on a daily basis to Toronto.

Gery Gaugl
Ottawa ON

It didn't long for the news to reach the Transport Minister.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/via-rain-passengers-stuck-1.7311176

 

Sounds like Amtrak of the North. At least their transport minister took notice. Unlike the AWOL guy we have in the USA.

The clown who grabbed that phone needs to be immediately fired, no questions asked.

Every railroad that carries passengers should have a 24 hour, emergency supply of food & water onboard at all times.  This was a horrible mess, but not being able to supply the passengers with food & water is unconscionable.  There also needs to be emergency methods of ventilation.  I've been on sealed up passenger cars with no running HVAC and it is a nightmare.

News stories report that the passengers are entitled to a 100% refund.
My brother's experience after a disastrous trip between Ottawa and Toronto was that he was offered a travel voucher with a time limit but worth the full amount of his fare. 
Sadly his VIA experience was so bad that he chose to ignore the offer and never rode the train again.

irhoghead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sounds like Amtrak of the North. At least their
> transport minister took notice. Unlike the AWOL
> guy we have in the USA.

Our "AWOL" guy is an ex-officio member of the Amtrak Board, but never attends board meetings, and seems to be just a frequent flyer guy when he is not visiting EV factories.

The out of control VIA guy who yanked the passenger's phone should be charged - personally - with disorderly conduct, assault, and robbery. I would also have filed charges with Quebec City PD and the RCMP. Then I'd pay a visit to the American Consulate (in Montreal ?) to file a complaint.  

As for Venture Junk, another train ran 7 hours late as a result from QC, were bustituted at Montreal and passengers arrived Ottawa at 5am.

Someone in a VIA rail e-mail group said this:

• Via 39,29,26,24 all waited more than 2 hours because of these problems.
• In addition, the VIA 26 on August 27 also had mechanical problems in Saint-Foy lasting more than 1 hour.

As for the 10 hour siege, CN will likely send VIA Rail a large bill for blocking their railroad.

If this crap keeps up, I for one will ride Orleans Express next summer if I go as usual to QC and VIA Rail can drop dead if they cannot get control of their vendor. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/24 14:41 by joemvcnj.

It seems a little odd that they didn't try to bring a "rescue train" in sooner to do the "transfer of passengers." Ultimately that's what was done. Overall the train wasn't too far from Quebec City, and there should have been train sets around, as EVENTUALLY what happened. I am sure there are reasons, but just curious why this took 10 hours to resolve.......

Is there a difference between the VIA Venture trains and Brightline's Venture trains? I've not read of major issues with the Brightline equipment in Florida, other than crossing incidents.