NS VIA Fan
Conductor
VIA’s Ocean is facing a similar dilemma as the Southwest Chief is over Raton Pass….. here it’s total abandonment of a key 40 mile section of the Oceans’ current route. But there was a glimmer of hope recently when Federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt appeared before a House of Commons Transport Committee and stated that VIA’s service through New Brunswick would NOT cease “because they have another route” available.
This is the NTR (National Transcontinental Railway) from St. Andre, QC (near Riviere-du-Loup) to just west of Moncton, NB. Its 75 miles shorter than the Ocean’s current route, well maintained and fast, CTC signaled and CN has previously indicated a rerouted Ocean could be accommodated.
The larger population centres are along the current route through Campbellton but a rerouted Ocean could serve Fredericton (metro pop. 100,000) the capital of New Brunswick, from a new stop at McGivney. And there are also the larger towns of Grand Falls, St. Leonard and Edmundston.
The NTR was never a big passenger player but did have service through the years with a VIA RDC lasting until Jan 1990. It was also the Oceans route for a brief period in the late 1960s and VIA has also used the NTR for detours. I was fortunate to have one of these “rare mileage runs” on the Ocean several years ago:
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=1318&p=8095&hilit=Edmundston#p8095
also a train on this route has the potential to attract US passengers too. A new station in St. Leonard would be less than a mile from the old Bangor and Aroostook Station in VanBuren, Maine that hasn’t seen a passenger train since the Potatoland Special (an overnight sleeper to Boston) in 1960.
http://www.streamlinerschedules.com/concourse/track3/potatoland195407.html
Madawaska, Maine is just over the bridge from Edmundston, NB. and at Estcourt you can't get much closer to the US/Canada Border: the bottom of the high railway fill and edge of the CN right-of-way at the south end of the lake IS the border. Map here:
https://www.google.ca/maps/preview/@47.4593584,-69.2247897,517m/data=!3m1!1e3
With the shorter distance and faster running times on the NTR…….4 hours could probably be trimmed from the Oceans current schedule…..Or:
It’s now within range of becoming a daytime run. At least between Montreal and Moncton with coordinated bus connections beyond to Halifax, Saint John and Charlottetown.
So hold onto you Haywood-Wakefield*** Seat…….It’s going to be an interesting ride until sometime this summer when the abandonment process plays-out.
***famous railway seat manufacturer
This is the NTR (National Transcontinental Railway) from St. Andre, QC (near Riviere-du-Loup) to just west of Moncton, NB. Its 75 miles shorter than the Ocean’s current route, well maintained and fast, CTC signaled and CN has previously indicated a rerouted Ocean could be accommodated.
The larger population centres are along the current route through Campbellton but a rerouted Ocean could serve Fredericton (metro pop. 100,000) the capital of New Brunswick, from a new stop at McGivney. And there are also the larger towns of Grand Falls, St. Leonard and Edmundston.
The NTR was never a big passenger player but did have service through the years with a VIA RDC lasting until Jan 1990. It was also the Oceans route for a brief period in the late 1960s and VIA has also used the NTR for detours. I was fortunate to have one of these “rare mileage runs” on the Ocean several years ago:
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=1318&p=8095&hilit=Edmundston#p8095
also a train on this route has the potential to attract US passengers too. A new station in St. Leonard would be less than a mile from the old Bangor and Aroostook Station in VanBuren, Maine that hasn’t seen a passenger train since the Potatoland Special (an overnight sleeper to Boston) in 1960.
http://www.streamlinerschedules.com/concourse/track3/potatoland195407.html
Madawaska, Maine is just over the bridge from Edmundston, NB. and at Estcourt you can't get much closer to the US/Canada Border: the bottom of the high railway fill and edge of the CN right-of-way at the south end of the lake IS the border. Map here:
https://www.google.ca/maps/preview/@47.4593584,-69.2247897,517m/data=!3m1!1e3
With the shorter distance and faster running times on the NTR…….4 hours could probably be trimmed from the Oceans current schedule…..Or:
It’s now within range of becoming a daytime run. At least between Montreal and Moncton with coordinated bus connections beyond to Halifax, Saint John and Charlottetown.
So hold onto you Haywood-Wakefield*** Seat…….It’s going to be an interesting ride until sometime this summer when the abandonment process plays-out.
***famous railway seat manufacturer
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