VIA Rail line numbers

Hy
I'm new on this forum. Im from Croatia / Europe , I've been alwas interesed in railways in my country, but also in world railways, such as VIA rail in canada, I've been here since 2 years ago because part of my fammily lives there.
My question is why some VIA trains that drives on different routes have same line number ( # ) in schedule 2011?
For example, train #51 Montreal 6.30 ET - Toronto 13.16 ET ; train #51 Montreal 6.30 ET - Ottawa 8.31 ET
Thanks

Same situation with these trains:

631: Ottawa - Montréal (Via Rail)
631: Sault Sainte Marie - Hearst (Algoma Central)
632: Montréal - Ottawa (Via Rail)
632: Hearst - Sault Sainte Marie (Algoma Central)

Anybody know?

These two situations are not the same at all. In the case of the VIA Montreal-Ottawa and Montreal-Toronto train #51, it is the one and the same train. Train #51 is scheduled to leave Montreal at 06:30 and arrive in Ottawa at 08:31. It then leaves Ottawa at 08:46 and arrives in Toronto at 13:16. VIA uses two routes between Montreal and Toronto, one by way of Dorval-Alexandria-Ottawa-Fallowfield-Smiths Falls-Brockville and the other through Dorval-Cornwall-Brockville. There are no two trains on VIA that use the same train number.

Trains 631/632 on VIA and 631/632 on Algoma Central are run by different railways. The same numbers are often used on different railways for different trains. But the story doesn't end there. Both of these trains also run on CN owned tracks, so the numbers aren't really the same after all. The train number shown in the public timetables is only a part of the whole number. The complete train number for Ottawa - Montreal 632 is P632-21nn and for Hearst - Sault-Ste-Marie 632 it is P632-31nn (where the nn is the date the train originated). But the fact that there are two operators and travel different parts of the country should be enough to tell people they are different trains.

The situation with Amtrak in Canada can also be confusing. The Maple Leaf is trains 97/98 between Toronto & Niagara Falls ON and trains 64/63 between Niagara Falls ON & New York City. The Adirondack, on the other hand, is trains 68/69 for the whole run between Montreal and New York City. But VIA also has Toronto - Montreal trains 68/69. So there are two different #68's and two #69's that each serve Montreal Central Station.

Ken,

Who decides which train receives which number?

Also, how come there are trains that have different numbers for the same train?

(example) Montréal-Senneterre 604 / 606, Montréal-Saguenay 600 / 602

different departure times?

AMTRAK Adirondack are more often called 695,when entering in Montreal and 694 when leaving Montreal..

other exemple,in week and week-ends,some VIA adding a "6" to their train number

exemple.. VIA Montreal-Quebec 20 on the week and 620 on week-ends and 21/621 on opposite way.

labaienordique wrote:
Also, how come there are trains that have different numbers for the same train?

(example) Montréal-Senneterre 604 / 606, Montréal-Saguenay 600 / 602

different departure times?

Yes, the reason is different departure times on different days. On Tuesday and Thursday, the return trip leaves Senneterre at 5:45am as Train 604, and Jonquiere at 8:10am as Train 600, which will then combine at Hervey Jct to arrive back into Montreal as combined train 600/604. On Sundays, the trains from each of these destinations returning to Montreal leave later (8:45am for Senneterre, 11:10am for Jonquiere), and as such bear the numbers 602 and 606 instead, to differentiate them from their weekday counterparts. In that sense, they aren't really the same train (just as a train leaving Montreal for Toronto in the morning is very distinct from one going mid-afternoon, or evening).

There are some trains through the corridor that have typically been numbered one way during the week, and have been give a "6xx" number on weekends to designate that they operate on a different schedule on those days.

My question is, in schedule of 2012, does now exist train #43? (#43 originates in Ottawa enroute to Toronto. It tows the consist of #32 to Fallowfield; they split apart and #43 continues to Toronto. #32 then originates at Fallowfield enroute to Montreal with Ottawa being the first stop.) I can find 32, but I can't find train that I need, #43? Thanks

With the January schedule change VIA 43 was renumbered as #51 and now leaves Ottawa 5 minutes earlier. This new train originates in Montreal and also replaces train #31. Since train 51 usually uses a Renaissance consist, as 43 did for quite a while before that, it isn't possible that this train towed the consist for #32 to Fallowfield in recent history.