By Bob Gallegos

The Government of Canada has set aside funding to allow VIA Rail to launch the procurement process for the total replacement of its existing long-distance fleet. 

The railroad plans to acquire over 40 new locomotives and more than 300 new passenger cars. The new fleet will replace train sets used on long-distance, regional and remote services from coast to coast. The new trains are in addition to the Siemens corridor equipment now entering service on the Windsor-Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal-Quebec corridor. The Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and the Request for Proposals (RFP) was expected to begin in the coming weeks. 

VIA notes its current fleet outside the corridor services is the oldest active train fleet in North America. Most cars were constructed in the postwar era between 1947 and 1955. Notably, the iconic Canadian still operates with original Budd-built stainless steel cars built for Canadian Pacific and supplemented by a few rebuilt U.S. cars refurbished in the 1990s.