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One of the newest additions to VIA Rail’s fleet debuted in Windsor on Thursday, marking a key milestone as the company prepares to replace all its Quebec City-Windsor corridor trains with 32 modernized units by next summer.
The new locomotive departed from London on Thursday morning, making stops in Glencoe and Chatham, before chugging into Windsor’s train station, where approximately 30 stakeholders and partners boarded for the first local look at the state-of-the-art interior.
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“This is a brand new train for a brand new Windsor,” said MP Irek Kusmierczyk (L — Windsor-Tecumseh).
“You see the transformation that’s happening in our community. Thousands of people are moving here, you see the jobs, the optimism, and now we’ve got an absolutely brand new modern train pulling into the station that’s going to be moving people here and moving our residents to destinations across Canada.”
By the end of the year, 63 per cent of the new generation of trains will begin operating in the Quebec City-Windsor corridor, and by the summer of 2025, all of the old trains, most averaging about 77 years old, will be completely replaced.
“Over the last 50 years, technology has advanced quite a bit,” said Mario Péloquin, VIA Rail’s president and chief executive officer.
“The first thing that people will notice is the ride quality. They’re much smoother than the old cars. The seats are more comfortable and wider. The aisles are wider. The train is fully accessible.”
Péloquin said VIA Rail has so far received 17 of the new trains, with 10 in operation and seven undergoing testing.
Designed with an approximate life span of 30 years, the trains can reach speeds of 200 km/h and will travel approximately 320,000 km every year. Each has 194 economy seats, 87 business seats, six wheelchair lifts, and five mobility aid spaces.
“There’s a real momentum in passenger rail all over the world,” said Péloquin.
“In Canada, we see more interest and more people traveling by train. Having a new modern state of the art train incites people to travel even more by train.”
Some of the highlights of the modern design, he said, are accessible and environmentally friendly features.
The train’s bi-directional model, allowing it to travel in both directions without needing to be turned around, reduces emissions and cuts operating costs.
Each car also includes spacious, fully accessible washrooms, wide hallways, and power-operated doors for passengers with wheelchairs.
Mobility aid spaces, featuring height-adjustable trays, are also outfitted with call-for-aid buttons.
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The investment in the modernized fleet is part of the federal government’s $1.5-billion funding package announced in the 2018 budget.
Siemens Canada was awarded the $989-million contract the same year to manufacture the new trains.
“Big investments mean big opportunities, and it means realizing big potential,” said Kusmierczyk.
“The next step is going to be high-frequency rail, to make it quicker and more efficient to ride the rails. Then the step after that, which we’re actually working on simultaneously, is partnering with our American friends, and connecting Amtrak services to VIA Rail, so that you’ll be able to ride the train from Chicago to Detroit, to Windsor, and connect all the way to Toronto, and to Quebec City.”
Visit the VIA Rail website for more information about the new fleet and the routes serviced.
mmazak@postmedia.com
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