Proposal for moving VIA Rail out of Saskatoon to Warman

[Fenu S]

The group of mayors wants VIA to reroute passenger service from the CN Rail main line running through Saskatoon to a secondary route known as the Prairie North line.

The proposed route would divert from the CN main line at Melville, then run through Yorkton to Canora and continue through Humboldt, Warman, the Battlefords and Lloydminster and on through Alberta, stopping in Vermilion and Vegreville before reconnecting with the CN main line in Edmonton.

https://thestarphoenix.com/news/sas...of-moving-via-rail-route-through-saskatchewan

I don't see this happening, seems like an odd choice. While it would possibly reduce delays from freight, it would be 20km North of Saskatoon. VIA Rail and the federal transport department haven't responded to them either. As a side note, I'm shocked that the station only sees 200 people annually!

 

[MontanaJim]

yeah i find it hard to believe only 200 people use the saskatoon station. 2k maybe ok...but 200 hard to believe. guess anything is possible but id think theyd get 200 in one summer month alone.

 

[Willbridge]

https://thestarphoenix.com/news/sas...of-moving-via-rail-route-through-saskatchewan

I don't see this happening, seems like an odd choice. While it would possibly reduce delays from freight, it would be 20km North of Saskatoon. VIA Rail and the federal transport department haven't responded to them either. As a side note, I'm shocked that the station only sees 200 people annually!

These cities were previously served by the Yellowhead Highway route of Greyhound Lines of Canada. The last rail passenger service was a Railiner from North Battleford into Edmonton in the morning and back in the evening.

That's if you don't count the Royal Train for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, which was run on that line, perhaps to avoid interference with freight traffic.

When Prairie train service was serious, CNR had a clever pair of trains on the secondary main lines inherited from the Canadian Northern. Trains 9/10 ran Winnipeg - Canora - Warman - Saskatoon - Kindersley - Alsask - Drumheller - Calgary and Trains 5/6 ran Winnipeg - Brandon - Regina - Saskatoon - Warman - North Battleford - Vegreville - Edmonton. In connection with an all-stops Winnipeg - Edmonton local on the main line inherited from the Grand Trunk Pacific, a huge number of points were connected via Saskatoon. And then there were the CPR lines...

Given the previous levels of service it's easy to understand the interest, but it's hard to imagine finding the resources for this.

 

[danasgoodstuff]

We've discussed this previously, but to recap - the train is just barely stopping 'in Saskatoon' now. When the freight yards were removed from the middle of town in the mid-60s the passenger service went with them to Chappel Yards on the very SW edge of town. If anything, street changes and traffic have made access worse since then. The ideal route would put passenger service back to the middle of town on the CP tracks which still go by the old CP station at the edge of downtown Saskatoon. Service to the Battlefords and other towns on the northern route would be nice but Saskatoon is bigger than all of them put together. I don't know how much work it would take to go through S'toon and then back to the northern route. Willbridge probably does. For people on the north end Warman wouldn't be much if any worse than Chappel, but neither is very good. There is no perfect solution, and of course getting the train back to daily and service on the CP mainline thru Regina and Calgary is more important than any of the rest of this. But there is still only a little over a million people in the whole province and eve3n just the southern half where the vast majority live is a lot of real estate and even a lot of freight lines have been abandoned.


When the CNR built their castle in Saskatoon, it was 4 blocks from the front door of their depot, now it's miles away.

 

[railiner]

yeah i find it hard to believe only 200 people use the saskatoon station. 2k maybe ok...but 200 hard to believe. guess anything is possible but id think theyd get 200 in one summer month alone.

I am not sure. We stopped there aboard Number 1, on April 9th, and didn’t count, but there were maybe half a dozen or so, boarding. 200 per year would be about 4 per week, or only 1 per train. Surely there are more than that?
I will say the depot was way more than adequate, but certainly out “in the middle of nowhere.”

 

[jiml]

I had forgotten the bad location of the "new" Saskatoon station until @danasgoodstuff posted the detailed reminder above. Given that the passenger numbers may actually make sense.

 

[MontanaJim]

I had forgotten the bad location of the "new" Saskatoon station until @danasgoodstuff posted the detailed reminder above. Given that the passenger numbers may actually make sense.

yeah but as another pointed out that averages to 1 or 2 a train per year, id imagine just in summer in one month theyd get 200. dont forget no long distance bus across canada that im aware of. anyone who doesnt fly and wants to use public transport to say edmonton, vancouver, toronto etc....i think its the canadian as the only option and thats it.

 

[jiml]

yeah but as another pointed out that averages to 1 or 2 a train per year, id imagine just in summer in one month theyd get 200. dont forget no long distance bus across canada that im aware of. anyone who doesnt fly and wants to use public transport to say edmonton, vancouver, toronto etc....i think its the canadian as the only option and thats it.

You're not wrong but the winter numbers probably drag down the average.

 

[Urban Sky]

You're not wrong but the winter numbers probably drag down the average.

According to this response to an ATIA request, there were 4,289 passengers boarding or detraining in CY 2018 at Saskatoon Station:

That works out to some 20 passengers per train stopping at the station pre-Covid…

 

[danasgoodstuff]

In the '70s when there was a train or two per day, and I took it several times per year, I remember the station as being fairly busy. I don't remember ever being late or even cutting it close, but I have recurrent nightmares about missing that darn train, still after all these decades.

 

[Anderson]

So, if VIA is going to do this, they really need some sort of bus/taxi connection into town. Admittedly there are only about 20 pax/train per those numbers (2x/week in each direction equals 208 departures per year), but that just tells me that they could cover demand for that with a large van and the ability to call for a second one at peak times.

 

[Urban Sky]

So, if VIA is going to do this, they really need some sort of bus/taxi connection into town. Admittedly there are only about 20 pax/train per those numbers (2x/week in each direction equals 208 departures per year), but that just tells me that they could cover demand for that with a large van and the ability to call for a second one at peak times.

VIA is not going to do this, as nobody is going to pay for the cost of signalizing and upgrading the Prairie North Line, which is currently „dark territory“ and subject to speed limits of mostly 30 mph or less and sidings far apart. If the province of Saskatchewan was really interested in improving the connectivity between its cities, it would revive its provincial bus service it killed less than a decade ago. In any case, this is nothing for which federal taxpayers should have to pay a single dollar…