Via Rail's Fleet Renewal Program

Per Bloomberg, there are 16 options as well as the 32 firm trainset orders.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... bombardier" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I would guess those options are for the questionable VIA owned line that has been proposed.

Saw a news headline about this yesterday. Bombardier was (one of?) the losing bidder(s). I would think that VIA, as a government corporation, would have been under some political pressure to "buy Canadian," so I think it's interesting that they chose Siemens instead of Bombardier.

A few minutes later, Allen added...

I should have read through the article you linked before posting! It's "one of": Talgo and Stadler were also short-listed bidders.
(Thank you for posting it!)

mdvle wrote:I don't know about the political pressure - Bombardier hasn't been chosen in Quebec for the last 2 projects and I suspect that the Bombardier name (at least in rail) has such a bad reputation with the general public that it would be a brave politician that forced a Bombardier choice.

It's also worth noting (perhaps as a warning to the politicians) that Bombardier also betrayed a politician. My recollection is the then mayor of Toronto (David Miller) did everything to give Bombardier the streetcar contract in a large part for supporting Canadian workers. Of course Bombardier then outsourced much of the work to Mexico.

10 months late response, but Bombardier really like to hoot itself on the leg lately. Bombarider begs the Quebec and Canadian governments for money ''To keep jobs inside Canada'' and when they get their money (Literally billions), they lay off thousands of people in Canada and even have the nerve of raising (or attempting to raise) the executives' salary by almost 50%.

I'm not surprised Via Rail decided to give the contract to that german company for the latest contract. >_>

NeoArashi wrote:

mdvle wrote:I don't know about the political pressure - Bombardier hasn't been chosen in Quebec for the last 2 projects and I suspect that the Bombardier name (at least in rail) has such a bad reputation with the general public that it would be a brave politician that forced a Bombardier choice.

It's also worth noting (perhaps as a warning to the politicians) that Bombardier also betrayed a politician. My recollection is the then mayor of Toronto (David Miller) did everything to give Bombardier the streetcar contract in a large part for supporting Canadian workers. Of course Bombardier then outsourced much of the work to Mexico.

10 months late response, but Bombardier really like to hoot itself on the leg lately. Bombarider begs the Quebec and Canadian governments for money ''To keep jobs inside Canada'' and when they get their money (Literally billions), they lay off thousands of people in Canada and even have the nerve of raising (or attempting to raise) the executives' salary by almost 50%.

I'm not surprised Via Rail decided to give the contract to that german company for the latest contract. >_>

Bombardier is seriously late in delivering the new streetcars for Toronto. They have been outsourcing a lot of the work to Mexico (so much for keeping jobs in Canada) and they have blamed the Mexico plant for the delays. Problems have already been discovered and a few streetcars at a time are being sent to Bombardier's Québec plant for correction. Again, they are blaming the Mexico plant for those problems.

Bombardier twitter got a bit snippy when I pointed out that they could only wrap themselves in the flag so tightly while keeping Transportation Division headquartered in Berlin.

And to further justify not going with Bombardier, to no surprise really the first LRT is late being delivered to Metrolinx for the Eglinton project.

The idea that 6 will be delivered this month must be amusing for somebody.

Two months after Bombardier announced the first vehicle for Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown LRT was almost ready, the car has yet to be shipped, and the Quebec-based manufacturer now has just weeks to meet a deadline to deliver half a dozen of the new cars.

Under the terms of a $392-million contract agreed to last year, Bombardier is supposed to supply Metrolinx with 76 vehicles for the Crosstown, the $5.9-billion midtown light rail line that is currently under construction and is scheduled to open by September 2021.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/1 ... hicle.html

dowlingm wrote:Bombardier twitter got a bit snippy when I pointed out that they could only wrap themselves in the flag so tightly while keeping Transportation Division headquartered in Berlin.

It was based on Montreal until 2001 (and still has major operations/offices here), but is basically AdTranz taken over BBD's North America (pre-2001) rail operations. At least with the AdTranz merger, Westinghouse's transportation division in Pittsburgh (West Mifflin) lives on.

marquisofmississauga wrote: Bombardier is seriously late in delivering the new streetcars for Toronto. They have been outsourcing a lot of the work to Mexico (so much for keeping jobs in Canada) and they have blamed the Mexico plant for the delays. Problems have already been discovered and a few streetcars at a time are being sent to Bombardier's Québec plant for correction. Again, they are blaming the Mexico plant for those problems.

Which begs the question why the Mexican plant is still involved in the contract given all the additional costs - both direct and to the reputation - that Bombardier is incurring.

I suspect the issue really comes down to the Quebec government, and perhaps the new government under a new party will bring a fresh approach. But they really need to draw a line in the sand and be willing to let Bombardier fail as it certainly appears that will be the only way to get some long overdue ownership/management changes made.

marquisofmississauga wrote:Bombardier is seriously late in delivering the new streetcars for Toronto. They have been outsourcing a lot of the work to Mexico (so much for keeping jobs in Canada) and they have blamed the Mexico plant for the delays. Problems have already been discovered and a few streetcars at a time are being sent to Bombardier's Québec plant for correction. Again, they are blaming the Mexico plant for those problems.

From other published articles, the aluminum car shells for the TTC streetcars are actually built in Mexico and assembled in Thunder Bay, though Thunder Bay is already a facility specializing in aluminum construction. Even the BART cars in Plattsburgh have the shells from Mexico, not Thunder Bay.

Apparently it's still worth the hassle when you consider the labor and industrial/environmental laws in both locations.

From a quality standpoint, I've owned several vehicles "assembled" in Mexico and never had issues with them. There's anecdotal evidence that locomotives or cars are suffering from being manufactured there vs. Canada or the U.S., and anytime you open up a new(er) facility with a less experienced workforce, you'll see some issues initially, but that almost always falls by the wayside as they gain experience.

R36 am looking for a firm cite but I believe the Flexity frames are steel, not aluminium.

The prototype cars for VIA will be built at Sacramento,the rest of VIA's fleet might be built in Canada.
Seimens Sacramento might be at close to full capy by now.

"The trainsets will be manufactured in Siemens' North American Manufacturing Headquarters for Siemens Rolling Stock located in Sacramento, California."

https://new.siemens.com/ca/en/company/press/via.html

Backshophoss wrote: ↑Sun May 03, 2020 7:21 pm The prototype cars for VIA will be built at Sacramento,the rest of VIA's fleet might be built in Canada.
Seimens Sacramento might be at close to full capy by now.

There was a lot of bellyaching about the VIA fleet not being assembled in Canada but I would prefer the current plan where an experienced assembly team creates the trainsets which are vital to VIA’s success (not least for making a case to take up the options)