The federal government says it plans to spend $1.6 billion to replace 45 of Via Rail’s aging locomotives and another $357 million to build a new assembly plant and maintenance facility.
“Locomotive assembly is returning to Canada,” Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said Wednesday at a news conference in Montreal, where the plant will be built.
Ottawa says the trains will be built by Switzerland-based Stadler. The first nine are to be built in Spain with the remaining 36 built in Canada, after Canadian workers learn how to build them from their Spanish counterparts. The locomotives are expected to be the first hybrid trains in North America.
“An aging fleet comes with challenges. Today’s announcement gives us the tools we need to do better by our passengers,” Via Rail CEO Mathieu Paquette said.
“The new hybrid locomotive offers us better performance, reliability, and will allow us to reduce our emissions and fuel use.”
The trains will replace Via Rail’s fleet across the country, except for the Windsor-Quebec City corridor, where the federal government is planning a new high-speed rail line. The trains along that corridor were replaced in 2018.
MacKinnon says the deal will create 1,200 new full-time jobs and the hybrid trains will be built with Canadian-made batteries.
The first trains are expected to enter service by 2031.
