Rocky Mountaineer is THE biggest obstacle. I have spoken to many, including those inside Via, and RMR has done a wonderful job of pulling the right strings, with the right people, and created a huge scenario of how Via will kill RMR if it they come back. They have all the needed politicians on their side currently..maybe that will change. They even have the local "railfan group" (what a joke that is) suckered and on side. RMR is a predatory company, and the second they get their hands on a route, you can forget any real passenger service returning as long as they have control. This is a major concern with the BCR route currently...they are attempting to verbally placate the towns along the way who will not benefit form RMR tourist service, but it is all untrue, once they get it, there will be no resumption of affordable, convenient transportation.
I personaly find the whole thing disgraceful, that a private company can dictate policy simply by throwing a tantrum every time someone else want to run a train(and they do), and that our politicians are so easily taken in by it. Any onlooker/decision maker with any brains knows full well they are NOT competing services.....For crying out loud, Via started that service( a fact that RMR would rather was not recalled), and it wasn't competing with the Canadian then!
Via has made it clear in the recent past that they would like to service the route again, CP USED to be in favour of it...last I read, they no longer were....Guess RMR got to the right people. There have even been potential service resumption dates from Via , not recently though......its an uphill battle they may not be able to win.
As for the equipment, the cars are already being retrofitted with retention systems....
