Any VIA "Owned" Track?

Does VIA own any track? Maybe some track through stations that don't have freight service? Or do they just run on CN and a couple of CP lines?

they own track between Smith Falls and Ottawa Ontario former CN track I believe

Doesn't CN hold ownership of Via?

All of the Via tracks that I have personally seen have had a CN sign beside the Via sign, and have CN trains going on them.

VIA does own some short sections of track in Ontario:

• Smiths Falls - Ottawa
• Windsor - Chatham
• Ottawa - Coteau QC

All of these were previously owned by CN.

Most VIA trains run on CN tracks or on short line tracks formerly owned by CN. Canadian Pacific owns the line between Brockville and Smiths Falls on the Toronto-Ottawa route and the Sudbury-White River route, and there is also some CPR owned trackage in British Columbia and Northern Ontario used by The Canadian.

Ken V wrote: Most VIA trains run on CN tracks or on short line tracks formerly owned by CN........

From near Moncton to Matapedia the “Ocean” is on the New Brunswick East Coast Railway then from Matapedia to Riviere du Loup, it’s on the Chemin de fer de la Matapedia et du Golfe (translated: Matapedia & Gulf Railway)

VIA’s Chaleur runs on a couple of shortlines out to Gaspe: the Chemin de fer Baie des Chaleurs then a municipal owned line from Chandler to Gaspe.

A portion of VIA’s route from Toronto to London via Kitchener and Stratford is on Rail America’s Goderich-Exeter Railway.

And VIA’s “Hudson Bay” is on Omnitrax’s Hudson Bay Railway from The Pas, Manitoba to Churchill.

Peter Radanovic wrote:Doesn't CN hold ownership of Via?

No, VIA is a federal government owned corporation. CN is a private company.

Originally in 1976 CN established “VIA-CN” to operate their passenger trains. Eventually CP’s passenger trains were included and a separate company: VIA Rail Canada Inc. was formed and split off from CN.

CN was still a "Crown" corporation at the time but was then sold-off and privatized by the federal government in the mid '90s.

NS VIA FAN wrote:

Peter Radanovic wrote:Doesn't CN hold ownership of Via?

No, VIA is a federal government owned corporation. CN is a private company.

Originally in 1976 CN established “VIA-CN” to operate their passenger trains. Eventually CP’s passenger trains were included and a separate company: VIA Rail Canada Inc. was formed and split off from CN.

CN was still a "Crown" corporation at the time but was then sold-off and privatized by the federal government in the mid '90s.

You are probably right, but VIA equipment is shown on the CNR Photos site with all of CNs and its subsidiaries equipment. I'm not sure what to make of this myself. (example) http://www.cnrphotos.com/gallery/main.p ... emId=14385

that is not aan official site of cn
the cn web site is www.cn.ca
i think thta is some fans site and some great pics collected there

2spot wrote:[You are probably right, but VIA equipment is shown on the CNR Photos site with all of CNs and its subsidiaries equipment. I'm not sure what to make of this myself. (example) http://www.cnrphotos.com/gallery/main.p ... emId=14385

I can say for certain: VIA is not a subsidiary of CN but as I noted in my previous post VIA was originally formed in 1976 by CN to operate their passenger service and was then known as “VIA-CN”. That’s why you see the CN logo along with the VIA logo in some of these photos.

This only lasted a couple of years until the government spun VIA off from CN and formed a separate corporation “VIA Rail Canada Inc.”

Today VIA is an independant Crown Corporation and probably the only ties left to CN are contracts for the use of infrastructure and services.

Here's some links to VIA's history:

http://www.viarail.ca/corporate/en_hist ... _Rail.html

http://www.viarail.ca/corporate/en_entr_viar.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIA_Rail

Has VIA done anything with their track stretches owned outright like Amtrak has done in the NEC or in Michigan? Is any one of them"Built for Speed?" MACTRAXX

MACTRAXX wrote:.....Has VIA done anything with their track stretches owned outright like Amtrak has done in the NEC or in Michigan? Is any one of them"Built for Speed?" MACTRAXX

After VIA acquired the Alexandria Subdivision (used by Montreal-Ottawa trains) it was extensively rebuilt complete with a new signaling system. The original system had been severely damaged in the 1998 Ice Storm. VIA regularly runs at 95+ on this stretch and just last month I clocked us at 100mph with my GPS (but it could be off by a mile or two) The Ottawa to Smiths Falls track is also good for 95mph. Not sure of the speed attained on the xCN stretch from near Chatham to Windsor, but it not slow.

I think that the Windsor-Chatham accepts maximum speed of the VIA trains, and I've felt the ride in that stretch just as fast as in the rest of my trip to Toronto.

How about the stretches between Montreal and Toronto and the Toronto hub lines to Niagara Falls, London ON and Sarnia ON? Does VIA own the track? Or CN?

Robert Paniagua wrote:How about the stretches between Montreal and Toronto and the Toronto hub lines to Niagara Falls, London ON and Sarnia ON? Does VIA own the track? Or CN?

The track here is all owned by CN (including the north line between Georgetown and London which is leased to Rail America).

Ah, I see, thought VIA owned it at first, but they have very frequent service thru for it's Toronto Hub.