12. VIA Rail Underlying Equipment and Service Pressures

LOCATION: National

Issue: On December 23, 2022, due to extreme weather conditions, VIA Rail experienced several service disruptions on its Quebec City – Windsor corridor, Ocean and Montréal-Senneterre-Jonquière routes.

Date: March 14, 2023

Suggested Responses  

• While the Government of Canada acknowledges the extraordinary circumstances faced, the situation with VIA Rail during the holiday season was unacceptable.
• Transport Canada has been actively working with VIA Rail regarding these challenges to ensure there are improved incident response protocols and communications for travellers onboard stranded trains, should these similar problems be faced again.
• To help mitigate similar situations in the future, the Government of Canada is making significant investments to procure a new fleet of trains for VIA Rail’s operations in the Quebec City–Windsor corridor.
• The Government of Canada is continuing to  advance the High Frequency Rail project, which will transform passenger rail service in Canada. The dedicated track as part of the High Frequency Rail project will avoid passenger rail being impacted by derailments and other slowdowns on freight rail lines.

If Pressed on the Department’s oversight activities regarding the VIA Rail HEP cars:

• An engineering analysis conducted by VIA Rail has identified structural conditions on head-end powered (HEP) passenger cars and has recommended actions to mitigate the safety risks.
• In the interest of safe rail operations, a Ministerial Order has been issued to VIA Rail which requires the company to implement operational safety measures to mitigate the potential consequences in the event of a major collision.  The mitigations include adding empty cars behind the locomotive and as the last car in any train that includes HEP cars to act as a buffer and to conduct additional simulations and testing to inform a structural reinforcement program. 
• Transport Canada is conducting oversight of the Ministerial Order and has found VIA Rail to be in compliance.
• Transport Canada continues to monitor the situation closely. Should a risk to safety be identified, the department will not hesitate to take immediate action to protect the public’s safety.

Background Information

• Due to weather events that affected Quebec and Ontario, VIA Rail Services in the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor were significantly affected from December 23 until December 27, 2022.
• Subsequently, on the morning of December 24, 2022, a CN train derailed on their busy mainline between Montreal and Toronto, which forced VIA Rail to cancel their services for three days (December 24-26, 2022) on the Toronto-Montréal and Toronto-Ottawa routes.
• The VIA Rail service challenges were the product of extreme weather. Two structural factors made the situation worse:
1. VIA Rail operates primarily on shared track with freight rail owned and operated by CN. This impacts VIA Rail’s capacity and ability to recover quickly following service disruptions.
2. VIA Rail uses an aging fleet of rolling stock in the corridor. Due to the state of this equipment, VIA Rail has limited redundancy and ability to recover from significant disruptions. For example, they cannot run twice as many trains once service is able to resume.

Structural Condition of HEP Fleet

• The structural conditions were found as part of the Heritage Program fleet modernization overhaul. The HEP cars were built between 1946 and 1955. VIA Rail’s Heritage Program was launched in 2018 and is set to be completed by 2025.
• The HEP cars are used in the Toronto-Vancouver, Montréal-Halifax, Montréal- Jonquière-Senneterre, Jasper-Prince Rupert and Winnipeg-Churchill routes. Some HEP cars are also assigned to the Québec City-Windsor Corridor.
• Transport Canada’s assessment of the technical report determined the recommendations developed by VIA Rail’s engineering consultant use sound engineering principles and are appropriate to ensure continued safety operations and the safety of passengers and the public.
• On October 19, 2022, Transport Canada issued a Ministerial Order to VIA Rail to implement operational mitigations to reduce the potential consequences of a collision event and to conduct additional engineering simulations and testing to inform a structural reinforcement program.

Specifically, the recommended operational mitigations are:

1. Reduce the potential consequences of a collision event by (a) positioning empty rolling stock directly behind the locomotive and as the last car in any train that includes HEP cars to act as a buffer, and (b) ensuring HEP cars are positioned as per the engineering consultant's recommendation to minimize energy transfer and impact to an occupied car.
2. Conduct an engineering simulation of predicted HEP car collision performance and provide to Transport Canada a report summarizing the assumptions and findings.
3. Conduct a tear down inspection of four HEP cars with structural defects to identify whether additional structural conditions are present and provide Transport Canada with a copy of the inspection report and recommended actions.
4. Conduct a static structural test (compression test) of at least two unrepaired HEP cars, to validate the structural capacity and provide Transport Canada a copy of the test report and an assessment of how the test outcomes will inform future repairs and mitigating measures. 
5. Provide the final report of the engineering simulation, incorporating findings from tear down and static structural tests required in item 3 and item 4 by March 31, 2023.
6. Conduct a static structural test (compression test) of at least one fully repaired HEP car to validate the repair methodology and provide TC a copy of the test report and an assessment of how test outcomes will inform future repairs and mitigating measures by December 31, 2023.
• By issuing a Ministerial Order, Transport Canada sets out a clear path for VIA Rail to implement the mitigation measures and support continued oversight and inspection activities by the Department’s Rail Safety inspectors to verify compliance.

Investments in Passenger Rail

• The High Frequency Rail project will be the largest investment in passenger rail in a generation and one of Canada’s largest infrastructure projects in the last half-century. It will transform passenger rail service in Canada by creating a modern, resilient, sustainable and mostly electrified rail service that uses mostly dedicated tracks between Québec City, Trois-Rivières, Montreal, Ottawa, Peterborough and Toronto.
• The Government of Canada is making significant investments to replace VIA Rail’s aging fleet in the corridor. The successful procurement of new rolling stock for the corridor means that new trainsets are coming online shortly to enhance capacity and reliability. By the end of 2023, it is expected that 8 of the 32 new trainsets will be operating it the corridor.