Interim VIA CEO questioned on equipment issues, remote trains

OTTAWA, Ontario — VIA Rail Canada’s interim CEO faced pointed questions about equipment problems and remote service during a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday, with equipment reliability issues spurring a resolution calling for VIA’s upcoming long-distance equipment purchase to follow “Buy Canadian” rules.

The session before the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure, and Communities was the second in about a month to address VIA. But it was far different from a Feb. 23 hearing in which VIA issues were overshadowed by those of Canadian ports [see “VIA gets little attention …,” Trains.com, Feb. 24, 2026], in part because interim CEO Mathieu Paquette and three other high-ranking VIA officials were on hand.

Paquette opened his remarks by addressing the December incident in which passengers spent the night on disabled Toronto-Ottawa trains, arriving more than 12 hours late [see “VIA passengers stranded overnight …,” Trains.com, Dec. 11, 2025].

After calling the incident “unacceptable,” he said, “Following the December incident, expectations on fleet reliability have been expressed very clearly with our supplier Siemens. Short-term measures are in place to address immediate issues, and we’re working together to develop long-term improvements.”

Conservative MP Phillip Lawrence noted reports that availability of the Siemens trainsets had fallen below 50% this winter [see “Weather issues with Siemens equipment …,” Feb. 8, 2026]. “What went wrong with the procurement, and how are you going to fix it?” Lawrence asked.

Paquette responded that “on-route reliability” for the Venture equipment is now at 98% — a figure Lawrence greeted with skepticism. Graham Blackwell, VIA’s vice president, mechanical operations and asset management, said VIA had focused with Siemens on “engineering solutions, operational mitigations that we immediately put into place, and ongoing software and hardware upgrades that were immediately improving the reliability. … We’ll continue to work with Siemens to push them, to pull them along, to make sure we reach that availability.”

Lawrence also asked if winter weather had played a role.

“Reliability in wintertime is not where it should be,” Paquette said. “… And right now, we’re working closely with Siemens to make sure that the reliability of the fleet is meeting our expectations and the passengers’ expectations.” He said VIA would provide the committee with its plan to improve winter fleet reliability.

Bloc Québécois MP Xavier Barsalou-Duval returned to the reliability issue later, saying “the Liberals chose to buy equipment from a company in California rather than something that would have been built here in Quebec. I think a train that would have been built here would have been able to work in winter.”

He then introduced a motion to have the committee request that Transport Canada ensure VIA’s forthcoming order for long-distance equipment will come “from Canadian companies in conformity with the Buy Canada policy.” That motion passed on a voice vote.

Remote service questions

Paquette was also queried about two of VIA’s remote services, the long-dormant operation to Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula, and the current RDC service between Sudbury and White River, Ontario.

The hearing had opened with a statement from Micheline St-Onge, spokeswoman for the Coalition for the Return of Passenger Train Services in Gaspésie, calling for the return of the VIA service discontinued in 2013 [see “Canada promises Gaspe line repairs,” Trains.com, Sept. 12, 2019].

“For 40 years, travelers in the Gaspé Peninsula have been campaigning for decent rail service,” St-Onge said. [Her comments, like all those that follow regarding the Gaspé service, were translated from French.] “… On Jan. 7, 2026, the freight train ran for the first time since 2011 to Port-Daniel-Gascons. But where is the passenger train? The Gaspé Peninsula needs a passenger train that meets regional needs.”

Paquette was subsequently asked by Liberal MP Stéphane Lauzon what would be required to restore service.

“VIA Rail always committed to coming back once the track was rebuilt,” Paquette said. “Then we learned that the Quebec government decided to not repair that segment past Port-Daniel-Gascons.” [This is about 140 kilometers, or 87 miles, short of the former terminus in the town of Gaspé.] “So we had to go back to the drawing board.”

Paquette said VIA would have to determine where the service would end, noting New Carlisle, Que., as a possibility because there is a wye to turn the train. He said VIA would need to reach agreement with the owners of the route, and its stations, for their use. While he said, “I have no doubt we’ll do it, and we’ll do it in an efficient way,” he demurred when pressed by Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Deschênes for the earliest when service could resume: “I can’t give you an answer, really. We’re at the drawing board.”

Conservative MP Jim Bélanger later brought up the Sudbury-White River service, saying that route has “a big reliability issue with the Budd Cars.” That service was halted for 25 days earlier this winter when the 1950s-era Budd RDCs were sidelined for maintenance [see “VIA equipment shortage …,” Feb. 20, 2026].

Denis Lavoie, VIA’s chief legal officer, explained that the Sudbury-White River service will be addressed as part of the current long-distance procurement. “There will be brand new trains for that specific segment,” he said. “…. We will award the contract in the coming months, and then the design and manufacturing of those trains will start, and it will take a couple of years.”

Responded Bélanger, “I fear that the train we have in Sudbury is not going to last that long. It breaks down often.” Noting there is no backup plan in such instances, he asked if VIA could present a plan “for the Sudbury-White River [train] that will be reliable and consistent.” Paquette promised to do so.

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