Issue/Source: Canadian National Railway Company (CN) implemented operating restrictions on VIA Rail’s new Venture fleet
Location: National
Date: February 2026
Suggested Responses
- Transport Canada is aware of the operating restrictions in place in the Québec City–Windsor corridor that are currently affecting the operations of VIA Rail’s Venture fleet.
- Railway companies are responsible for ensuring the safety of their operations, as per the Railway Safety Act. Under the regulatory framework, railway companies are obligated to impose operating rules on their networks if they have identified a risk to safety.
- VIA Rail collaborated with CN on a revised operating restriction, focused on speed, that went into effect on August 28, 2025. Since then, Transport Canada has noticed improvements to VIA Rail's on-time performance.
- Transport Canada continues to monitor the situation to ensure all existing safety rules and regulations are being followed.
If Pressed
- Budget 2025 provided funding for VIA Rail to test possible solutions to improve on-time performance for its Corridor services.
Background Information
In October 2024, the Canadian National Railway Company (CN) implemented operating restrictions on VIA Rail’s new Venture fleet in the Québec City–Windsor corridor due to concerns that trains do not reliably activate grade crossing warning systems within the regulated time requirements. CN’s rationale was that the trainsets are too light and too short to properly and consistently shunt – or activate – the sensors in the track that set off the grade crossing warning systems with sufficient advanced warning times.
As noted in its Third Quarter Report of 2025, VIA Rail is experiencing declining on-time performance for its Corridor services. This is due, in part, to the operating restrictions imposed on VIA Rail by CN.
CN and VIA Rail recently worked together to review the operating restrictions, focusing on speed. A new solution that regulates the speed of VIA Rail's Venture fleet (speed tables) went into effect on August 28, 2025. Early indication suggests that the speed tables have shown some improvements to VIA Rail’s on-time performance. While this solution does not fully address the issue, it is a first step in the right direction.
Budget 2025 additionally provided $15M to VIA Rail to run a pilot project, testing the usability of shunt enhancers on its new corridor fleet in the harsh Canadian winter environment. VIA Rail is working with Siemens, the manufacturer of the shunt enhancer, and other partners to undertake the pilot project and run testing as soon as possible.