VIA Rail warns of delays on Quebec City-Ottawa-Toronto corridor due to speed restrictions
New passenger trains sit on the tracks at the Via Rail Canada Maintenance Centre in Montreal, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (Christinne Muschi / The Canadian Press)
People travelling on VIA Rail trains through Ottawa are being warned of potential delays of up to an hour due to new restrictions imposed by Canadian National Railway, the company that owns the tracks.
VIA Rail says new speed restrictions are in effect for certain trains travelling in the Quebec City – Ottawa - Kingston – Toronto and Windsor corridor.
"We are currently experiencing delays of 30-60 minutes on certain Corridor trains due to unexpected speed restrictions imposed by CN, the railway infrastructure owner," VIA Rail said in a statement on its website.
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Trains.com reports CN is requiring the Siemen's Venture trainsets to have 32 axles, an additional eight to each trainset because they failed to activate highway crossing warning devices.
The Siemen's fleet has been operating along the VIA Rail corridor for more than a year.
A spokesperson for CN Rail tells CTV News Ottawa the railway advised VIA Rail of the issue with the trains three years ago, and is requiring the trainsets to have 32 axles.
“This is a safety issue, both for the trains and their passengers, but also for pedestrians and motorists at crossings. Safety is not something we can compromise on, ever," Ashley Michnowski said.
"We advised VIA very early on in the process (October 2021) that operating at a 24-axle count could create issues. This has proven to be the case.
"When it was confirmed that operating at 24-axles created shunting issues (March 2024), we immediately notified VIA and took necessary measures to protect the public by reverting to CN’s 32-axle minimum requirement or imposing restrictions on the designated routes that VIA was operating this fleet on."
CN Rail says it discovered on Oct. 11 the VIA Rail Venture train sets were operating in expanded service with crossings "which may experience shunt loss and then be unprotected.
"CN took immediate measures to issue the proper instructions to protect the safety of train operations and crossings," Michnowski said.
CTV News has reached out to VIA Rail for comment.
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