The Prime Minister, Mark Carney, announced that, for the first time in four decades, VIA Rail passenger cars will be built in Canada. The federal government is investing more than $4.7 billion for VIA Rail to acquire and maintain 313 new passenger rail cars from Alstom Canada.
Thats one issue. This announcement addresses a different issue.
The current VIA long-haul fleet is 70 year old equipment. It’s getting increasingly expensive to maintain, and if it isn’t replaced it will become almost impossible to keep them safely operating.