Via Rail train hits derailed CN train near Gananoque

[Railpast [e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

A Via Rail train that left Ottawa Friday afternoon crashed into a
derailed CN train near Gananoque, Ont., stopping train service between
Toronto and Montreal just ahead of the long weekend. Service is also
cancelled between Ottawa and Toronto.

No one on the train was injured, according to Via Rail.


http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/via-rail-train-hits-derailed-cn-train-near-gananoque-1.2725507

[Tom Box [e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

Post by Railpast wpfefferle-***@public.gmane.org [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]
A Via Rail train that left Ottawa Friday afternoon crashed into
a derailed CN train near Gananoque, Ont., stopping train service
between Toronto and Montreal just ahead of the long weekend.
Service is also cancelled between Ottawa and Toronto.

Fortunately, I was booked on #650 this evening, not #48.
I entered Toronto Union Station through the back door, so I
didn't see what was happening in the Great Hall or what was
posted on the departure board, but chaos reigned in the
departure area. A VIA employee with a bullhorn was trying to
explain what was going on, but his bullhorn wasn't very bullish
and people were having trouble hearing him. The public address
system was making routine announcements about preboarding for
passengers with small children, etc. I don't know why it wasn't
used for announcements about the situation for the Montreal and
Ottawa trains.

The employee prudently didn't promise that passengers would be
sent by bus. I now see that VIA has announced on their web site
that they tried and failed to find buses on short notice, so "no
alternate transportation is available and no service will be
provided for trains leaving from Montreal to Toronto, Toronto
to Montreal and Toronto to Ottawa."

Reservia is still selling tickets for tomorrow morning on
those routes, but VIA's Twitter person is saying that the
trains will probably not run, and no bustitution, either.

There's nothing on the CN web site in their "State of the
Railroad" section about the Kingston Sub derailment, though
there is a notice dated today about slow orders in western
Canada because of high temperatures.

The trip on #650 was uneventful. Left Toronto on time,
2 min late into Port Hope.

Tom Box
tbox at ncf dot ca
Port Hope, ON, Canada


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[mile179kingston-FFYn/[e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

Equipment from VIA Nos 42/44/64: partial consist marooned consists returning deadhead to Toronto: 6405-
6412-8622-4006-4109-4103-4106-4110
918-3600-3307-3343-3311
getting marshalled on Queens at Kingston from 2000-2200, having just headed west at 80 mph, meeting VIA No 650 which was waiting at Ernestown. Work train now heading east to site near Cliffe Road east of Gananoque.


Eric Gagnon
Kingston, Ontario
Just blogged Summertime at Belleville at:
http://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.ca http://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.ca

['DAVID J. SCOTT' tiadjs-FFYn/[e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

Hasn't VIA heard of  running the trains  to Kingston and Brockville and  then  buses  between those 2 points. People wouldn't mind  school buses, for an hour or so rather than make your own way  as they did tonight. I guess VIA doesn't give a damn for their guests.
Of course I'am forgetting  VIA  doesn't  have many employees working at those stations
Tom did VIA add any  extra cars to Train 650 or is that
contrary to their computer system.
David Scott
Toronto

On Friday, August 1, 2014 8:49:11 PM, "Tom Box tbox-***@public.gmane.org [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]" <Canadian-Passenger-Rail-***@public.gmane.org> wrote:



 

Post by Railpast wpfefferle-***@public.gmane.org [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]
A Via Rail train that left Ottawa Friday afternoon crashed into
a derailed CN train near Gananoque, Ont., stopping train service
between Toronto and Montreal just ahead of the long weekend.
Service is also cancelled between Ottawa and Toronto.

Fortunately, I was booked on #650 this evening, not #48.
I entered Toronto Union Station through the back door, so I
didn't see what was happening in the Great Hall or what was
posted on the departure board, but chaos reigned in the
departure area. A VIA employee with a bullhorn was trying to
explain what was going on, but his bullhorn wasn't very bullish
and people were having trouble hearing him. The public address
system was making routine announcements about preboarding for
passengers with small children, etc. I don't know why it wasn't
used for announcements about the situation for the Montreal and
Ottawa trains.

The employee prudently didn't promise that passengers would be
sent by bus. I now see that VIA has announced on their web site
that they tried and failed to find buses on short notice, so "no
alternate transportation is available and no service will be
provided for trains leaving from Montreal to Toronto, Toronto
to Montreal and Toronto to Ottawa."

Reservia is still selling tickets for tomorrow morning on
those routes, but VIA's Twitter person is saying that the
trains will probably not run, and no bustitution, either.

There's nothing on the CN web site in their "State of the
Railroad" section about the Kingston Sub derailment, though
there is a notice dated today about slow orders in western
Canada because of high temperatures.

The trip on #650 was uneventful. Left Toronto on time,
2 min late into Port Hope.

Tom Box
tbox at ncf dot ca
Port Hope, ON, Canada

[[e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

Hasn't VIA heard of running the trains to Kingston and Brockville
and then buses between those 2 points. People wouldn't mind
school buses, for an hour or so rather than make your own way as
they did tonight.

An idea worth considering. On the other hand...


* Yesterday's #650 arrived in Napanee at 20:01 and in Kingston
at 22:17, according to the VIA web site. I don't know the reason
for the long delay between those two stations, but my first guess
would be traffic congestion from trains (CN and/or VIA) stopped
short of the derailment site. The same situation might have
existed east of the derailment.


* School buses ought to have been available, but where do you
get drivers for them on short notice? I don't really know
anything about school bus drivers' working conditions, but I'd
guess that a lot of them are laid off for the summer, that they
don't have any contractual obligation to report for work on
short notice outside their regular schedule, and that many would
be unavailable because of the long weekend.

Tom did VIA add any extra cars to Train 650 or is that
contrary to their computer system.

It was the usual four-car HEP2 consist: one 40xx and three
41xx. A business class car is included, even though #650
and 651 don't offer that class, because the trainsets run
through Toronto to become #83 and 82.


I gather that the length of #650/651 is set by the length of
the wye in Kingston (Queens). There must be some work-arounds
that would let them run a longer train in an exceptional
circumstance, but that didn't happen yesterday.


Tom Box
tbox at ncf dot ca
Port Hope, ON, Canada

[Tom Box [e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

Post by Tom Box tbox-***@public.gmane.org [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]
Reservia is still selling tickets for tomorrow morning on
those routes, [Montreal - Toronto and Ottawa - Toronto]
but VIA's Twitter person is saying that the
trains will probably not run, and no bustitution, either.

Here's the latest word from VIA:

"Train service will resume tomorrow. Major delays still expected.
Train 61 (6:45) will be joined to Train 63 and leave at 10:10.
Train 641 (6:40) will be joined to Train 643 and leave at 9:00.
Train 50 (6:40) will be joined to Train 52 and leave at 9:25.
Train 60 (6:40) will be joined to Train 62 and leave at 9:25."

Those are the normal departure times for #63, 643, and 62-52.

#60-50 and #62-52 usually are both J-trains. Will they be
combined into one huge train tomorrow?

Post by Tom Box tbox-***@public.gmane.org [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]
There's nothing on the CN web site about the Kingston Sub
derailment,

CN now says "According to current estimates, repairs will be
partially completed as of 0300hrs EDT on Saturday, August 02,
and full service will be restored as of 1100hrs EDT Saturday
morning"

Post by Tom Box tbox-***@public.gmane.org [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]
The trip on #650 was uneventful. Left Toronto on time,
2 min late into Port Hope.

Uneventful for the Port Hope passengers, but not for the
Kingston passengers. According to the VIA web site, #650
arrived in Napanee at 20:01, just 15 min late. It then sat
in Napanee for 1 h 11 min, then took another 1 h 5 min to
go the 23 miles from Napanee to Kingston. Arrival in
Kingston was 2 h 9 min late.

Tom Box
tbox at ncf dot ca
Port Hope, ON, Canada


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Posted by: Tom Box <tbox-***@public.gmane.org>
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[mile179kingston-FFYn/[e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

VIA No 650 was delayed between Napanee and Kingston for a couple of reasons, Tom. Eastbound CN freight No 376 was sitting in the Ernestown-Kingston block, leaving one track available. The triple J-train was assembled on the main line, and this move took awhile to orchestrate on the wye at Queens. At that time, No 650 was waiting at Ernestown to change tracks and move east to terminate in Kingston.

VIA seems to have decided in recent events of this type not to bustitute segments of the Corridor. The loading and unloading of east-of-Toronto buses at Bremner St behind Union Station seems to be the preferred option right now. Yes, in the past the Brockville-Kingston or other short segments were bustituted, but the logistics of this seems beyond VIA, as does the idea of adding extra eqiupment to relatively fixed consists that operate through Corridor cities like Toronto and Ottawa without heading 'to the coach yard' as in years past.


Management and passengers have adopted the airline model in so many situations and practices: onboard food, at-seat service, ticketing, preferred boarding etc. Think of "your flight is cancelled because the flight from City X was cancelled so we have no plane to put you on." Also, VIA has not wanted to detrain passengers without transportation available onsite.


Eric

[Knut [e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

I would say passengers have been forced to adopt…………

Why Via decided to follow the "airplane model" is beyond me.
Air travel all around has become a total nightmare even in Business Class and First Class - one feels like cattle herded into a transport truck to get ferried to the destination at the lowest possible cost - Via could set itself apart from that and offer a pleasant travel experience but choses not to do so.
As a Via customer I find most of the changes they have introduced are counterproductive to a good travel experience and I now travel Via less and less.
A pity really since I love train travel.

Knut

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……………….. passengers have adopted the airline model in so many situations and practices: onboard food, at-seat service, ticketing, preferred boarding etc. Think of "your flight is cancelled because the flight from City X was cancelled so we have no plane to put you on." .

[Tom Box [e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

Post by Tom Box tbox-***@public.gmane.org [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]
"Train service will resume tomorrow. Major delays still expected.
[...]
Train 50 (6:40) will be joined to Train 52 and leave at 9:25.
Train 60 (6:40) will be joined to Train 62 and leave at 9:25."
#60-50 and #62-52 usually are both J-trains. Will they be
combined into one huge train tomorrow?

A triple J-train came eastward through Port Hope at 10:31.
F40, 4 LRC, P42, 5 LRC, P42, 3 LRC.
Then a double (normal) J-train eastward 12 min later.
P42, 4 HEP2, P42, 5 LRC.

Based on the arrival times shown on the VIA status page, I'm
guessing that the earlier train is 50-52 plus a deadhead set,
and the later one is 60-62.

I can't swear to the total accuracy of the engine types and
car counts given above. I didn't have a pen and paper handy
when the trains came through, and only made notes after the
fact.

Tom Box
tbox at ncf dot ca
Port Hope, ON, Canada


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[mile179kingston-FFYn/[e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

I was able to observe three J-trains at Kingston station in 20 minutes today - cleanup trains after yesterday's disruption on CN's Kingston Sub east of Gananoque Jct. While there are normally two J-trains eastbound out of Toronto in the morning, the westbound was unusual, as was the combination of the eastbounds (normally 60/50 and 62/52). Consists follow:

Fri Aug 1 No 669-B (DH eqpt from No 42((wyed at Kingston))-No 64-No 44 OS Kingston 2200 WB
6405-3475-3334-3351-3367-3311-3343-3307-3600-918-4110-4106-4103-4109-4006-8622-6404-6412


Sat Aug 2 No 643/641 OS Kingston 1140 WB
903-6418-3451R-3332R-3363-3370-6451-3469R-3324-3322-3325


Sat Aug 2 No 50/52/DH eqpt OS Kingston 1150 EB
6445-3453R-3355-3318-3368-912-3452R-3336-3341-3313-3371-910-3472R-3319R-3328R


Sat Aug 2 No 60/62 OS Kingston 1200 EB
909-4000-4105-4118-4113-902-3461R-3369-3340-3329-3312


Notice all the First Class cars were Ren-painted (R after number) and that all of the DH set was Ren-painted.


Photos, consists, more juicy details to follow in the next Trackside Treasure blog post, just before our 6th anniversary celebration and contest.


Eric Gagnon
Kingston, Ontario
Just blogged Summertime at Belleville at:
http://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.ca http://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.ca

[mile179kingston-FFYn/[e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

Jump on over to get a judiciously jenerous jump on the journeys of J-trains along CN's Kingston Sub just yesterday: Trackside Treasure: Post-Derailment J-trains http://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.ca/2014/08/post-derailment-j-trains.html

http://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.ca/2014/08/post-derailment-j-trains.html

Trackside Treasure: Post-Derailment J-trains http://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.ca/2014/08/post-derailment-j-trains.html On the afternoon of Friday August 1, eastbound CN freight train No 308 derailed one car around Mi 155 of CN's Kingston Sub, east of Gananoque Jct.



View on tracksidetreasure.bl... http://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.ca/2014/08/post-derailment-j-trains.html
Preview by Yahoo


Just posted!
Eric Gagnon
Kingston, Ontario

[torbeaches-/[e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

Thanks, Eric. That's quite a collection of equipment.

You mentioned the long consists of days past. I recall many a pleasurable summer Sunday evening at Dorval station, in the early days of VIA, watching the parade of trains outbound and in. The sights and sounds were intoxicating.


It didn't hurt that interspersed with these passenger trains were fleets of "Big Alcos" hauling freight at speed on both CP and CN lines.




Derek Thompson
Toronto, Ontario

[Derek Boles [e-mail] [Canadian-Passenger-Rail]]

And the Bremner loading will become permanent. As part of the Union Station revitalization, the city is making a concentrated effort to redirect vehicular traffic from Front Street to Bremner Boulevard. The loading docks that were along York Street are being relocated to Bremner and Front Street will be reduced from four lanes to two. They want to create a much expanded pedestrian plaza on Front Street. You can read all about it at:

http://www1.toronto.ca/city_of_toronto/policy_planning_finance__administration/public_consultation_unit/transportation_office/front_union/files/pdf/front-st-ea-pic2-all-comp4-sec-orient.pdf

Interestingly, a much larger pedestrian plaza was part of the early plans for Union Station as far back as 1909. They decided instead that they would build a vehicular moat along Front Street below grade, which never really worked that well and was removed when they built the current GO concourse in the 1970s.

Apparently and mercifully, the plaza rather than the station will be named after Sir John A. Macdonald after various polls were conducted showing a disapproval of over 90% over renaming Union Station. Even the dumbest of politicians (and Toronto has its share of those, including the felonious moron who is our current mayor) won’t fly in the face of those numbers.

Derek Boles

2a. Re: Via Rail train hits derailed CN train near Gananoque
Date: Sat Aug 2, 2014 6:26 am ((PDT))
VIA seems to have decided in recent events of this type not to bustitute segments of the Corridor. The loading and unloading of east-of-Toronto buses at Bremner St behind Union Station seems to be the preferred option right now.

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