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VIA 7200 to 7232
Renaissance Economy Class Cars |
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48 Seats |
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VIA Rail’s Renaissance trains
in the Quebec-Windsor corridor are being retired with
introduction of VIA Rail’s summer timetable on May 27, 2024. |
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The last run by a Renaissance train
in the corridor is train 37 from Quebec to Montreal on Sunday
May 26, with passengers transferring to a new Venture train
in Montreal to complete the journey to Ottawa. With half of the
new Venture fleet
now delivered, nine of the new trains will be in daily use with
all Quebec-Montreal-Ottawa trains normally being operated by the
new fleet. |
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For operational reasons, VIA Rail has extended Renaissance operations
until June 1, 2024. Train 29 from Quebec City to Montreal is now
expected to be the final revenue journey. |
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Originally designed for Nightstar overnight
services through the Channel Tunnel, the equipment never entered
service in Europe, and was acquired by VIA Rail in 2001, while
David Collenette was Minister of Transport and supporting
investment in passenger rail, and introduced as part of VIA
Rail’s Renaissance
of Passenger Rail program in 2002,
re-equipping the Ocean between
Montreal and Halifax and adding capacity in the Quebec-Windsor
corridor. |
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Modifications for use in Canada included the
addition of step traps for boarding from low platforms, and the
conversion of unfinished sleeping car shells into
baggage-transition cars to allow the fleet to operate with north
American locomotives, including the GE P42 locomotives also
ordered for VIA Rail in 2001. Both VIA 1 (business) and Comfort
(economy) class cars featured 2+1 seating. Originally designed
to run at up to 125mph (200 km/h), the trains did not get the
chance to operate at “high performance rail” speed in Canada,
and investments stalled again with the federal government’s
cancellation of the Renaissance
II program in December 2003. |
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The Renaissance sleeping
cars were also used on the Enterprise,
an overnight service between Montreal and Toronto that had been
reinstated in 2000, replacing the Cavalier that
was lost in the cuts of 1990. However, this new service was
short-lived, and was withdrawn in September 2005. |
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Five sets of the Renaissance equipment
were used in the corridor at first, but the British-built
equipment was less reliable than hoped for under Canadian
conditions, particularly in winter, with only two sets being
available for service in later years and plans to return more of
the equipment to service being shelved once the new fleet order
was confirmed. |
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The Renaissance equipment
used for long-distance service between Montreal and the
Maritimes will have to continue operating until replacement
equipment becomes available, with procurement expected
to start shortly but delivery not
expected until at least the early 2030s. The cars withdrawn from
corridor service are therefore likely to be used for parts to
maintain the remainder of the fleet. |
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