Latest news with #railcars
CBC
15-07-2025
- Business
- CBC
Via Rail plans to use refurbished cars to improve Halifax-Montreal service
Via Rail wants to use refurbished railcars to improve service between Halifax and Montreal, but the CEO of the Crown corporation can't say whether doing so will increase the frequency of trains on the line. Mario Peloquin made the comments in an interview Tuesday after a ceremony celebrating the $27-million restoration of Via's Halifax station. He also noted that last year was the 120th anniversary of The Ocean, the passenger train from Montreal to Halifax inaugurated in July 1904. Ottawa has committed to renewing Via Rail's entire Canadian fleet within 10 years. However, in the interim, Peloquin says there are plans to refurbish stainless steel cars that are being retired in Central Canada for use in the Atlantic region. The railcars, originally manufactured in 1954 by the now-defunct Budd Company of Philadelphia, can be modernized and sent to Halifax as they become available, he said. "As soon as we free up one of those (Budd railcars), we'll repurpose it in the segments of the long-distance runs where we can best benefit from their use," said the chief executive. Some of the refurbished cars will run on The Ocean line, and others, he said, will be sent to The Churchill, which runs between Winnipeg and Churchill, Man., or The Skeena, between Jasper, Alta., and Prince Rupert, B.C. Ted Bartlett, the former president of advocacy group Transport Action Atlantic, said in an email he hopes there will be enough refurbished cars to increase service on The Ocean. The 1,340-kilometre route currently runs just three times a week. "It should not be necessary for The Ocean to wait long years for new cars to be designed and built to regain some of its former glory," wrote Bartlett. Meanwhile, Peloquin said Via would "love to" increase the frequency of the Halifax-Montreal line, but he said he doesn't know if that can happen because CN may not have openings on its increasingly busy freight lines. Via Rail relies on CN's rail network for nearly all of its routes. "The constraint is getting the additional time slots.… More freight traffic is leaving less time for running (passenger) trains. It's a constant discussion. We're trying," said Peloquin. A spokesperson for CN said in an email that adding Via trains to its lines "would be subject to negotiation between Via and CN." Bartlett said in an interview that there are also problems with The Ocean's reliability, as the service is slow and frequently late. Ottawa, he said, must take a leadership role in cutting a deal with CN to upgrade track and replace track sidings that have been removed over the years in northeastern New Brunswick. Peloquin acknowledged, "we are unfortunately incurring delays pretty regularly on the long-distance runs, including The Ocean." Upgrading the New Brunswick portion of the route, the CEO said, would be "a really good idea." However, Peloquin said there's no final price tag for the improvements to the CN line. "It's at least hundreds of millions (of dollars), but I don't have a figure yet because we're not far enough advanced on the discussions." A spokeswoman for the federal Transport Department noted that Ottawa has only recently committed to making major investments to renew Via Rail's fleet. "With this major upgrade underway, the focus remains on maximizing the benefits of the new fleet before considering further infrastructure investments or service changes," wrote Sau Sau Liu in an email. Peloquin said the announcements for the winning contracts for new locomotives and cars will be announced early next year.
AllAfrica
11-07-2025
- Business
- AllAfrica
US containerized missiles: steathy firepower, high strategic cost
The US military's turn to containerized missile launchers reflects a push for stealthy, mobile firepower that complicates targeting and enables rapid deployment but comes with operational, legal, and political concerns – especially regarding their use on allied soil and civilian cargo vessels. This month, The War Zone identified a prototype launcher known as the palletized field artillery launcher (PFAL) at Fort Bragg, after it appeared unannounced in footage from US President Donald Trump's June visit. Currently owned by US Special Operations Command (SOCOM), PFAL can fire most munitions in the multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) family – such as 227 millimeter guided rockets and Army tactical missile system (ATACMS) – from two pods housed in a standard container, though it cannot launch the precision strike missile (PrSM). Concealable on trucks, railcars, or ships, PFAL supports the Army's strategy to complicate adversary targeting. Originating from the US Department of Defense's Strike X program, it also informed designs for future uncrewed systems like the autonomous multi-domain launcher (AML). Although no longer funded after FY2021, PFAL remains strategically relevant for distributed, expeditionary operations, especially in the Indo-Pacific. Containerized launchers like PFAL offer operational benefits– concealability, rapid mobility and modular integration across partner platforms. Yet their covert nature also introduces tactical weaknesses, legal risks and political complications. While these systems enhance deterrence through ambiguity and dispersion, they risk civilian targeting, escalation and backlash from host nations wary of entanglement. At the tactical level, containerized launchers complicate detection and response. In remarks delivered at a June 2025 event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), US Army Pacific Commander General Ronald Clark stated that such systems 'literally operationalize deterrence,' likening them to 'a needle in a stack of needles' due to their ambiguous electromagnetic signatures and visual resemblance to civilian containers. He emphasized that their dispersed posture enables US forces to hold Chinese targets at risk across the Indo-Pacific, while avoiding traditional launcher vulnerabilities. In a June 2025 Proceedings article, Rear Admiral Bill Daly and Captain Lawrence Heyworth IV emphasized advantages of modular, containerized payloads: low cost, ease of production and quick scalability. They noted that mounting them on unmanned or optionally manned vessels increases survivability and complicates targeting. A standardized interface allows for rapid reconfiguration, while adaptability enables distributed maritime operations with flexible firepower suited to near-peer conflicts. However, Ajay Kumar Das noted in a July 2023 piece for the United Service Institution of India (USI) that these systems are tactically vulnerable due to their deliberate lack of radar and active defenses. Das explained that containerized launchers are designed to blend with civilian traffic, leaving them unable to detect or repel threats. He said that while concealment aids deception, it undermines survivability. He warned that such launchers, often aboard civilian-manned vessels, become 'soft targets' in high-threat environments, exposing both cargo and crew to disproportionate risk in legally ambiguous zones. Gabriele Steinhauser highlighted in a March 2025 Wall Street Journal article the operational advantages of containerized platforms such as the US Army's Typhon system. She reported that the Typhon – mounted on trucks and deployable via transport aircraft – is 'relatively easy to move,' unlike shipborne systems that are more visible and vulnerable in the early stages of a conflict. Steinhauser stressed that such mobility enables pre-positioning across the Indo-Pacific and opens avenues for allied use, injecting unpredictability into adversary calculations. R. Robinson Harris and Colonel T.X. Hammes argued in a January 2025 article for the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC) that containerized launchers support rapid, cost-effective fleet expansion. They estimated that converting surplus merchant ships into missile platforms with modular payloads can be done in under two years for $130 to $140 million each, dramatically faster and cheaper than building destroyers or frigates, which take seven to nine years and billions to construct. They advocated shifting force metrics from ship numbers to missile capacity, arguing that distributed firepower across many modest platforms complicates enemy targeting and boosts resilience. At the strategic level, US missiles on allied territory in peacetime can be politically fraught due to sovereignty sensitivities and domestic opposition. According to Jeffrey Hornung and other authors in a September 2024 RAND report, the Philippine government is especially cautious, given legal and political constraints alongside historical baggage, requiring that any US deployment serve Philippine interests and be framed as a joint effort. Hornung and others also point out that, in Japan, hosting offensive US systems raises concerns about escalating regional tensions and inviting preemptive strikes. They note that Japan has avoided hosting US ground-based missiles and prefers deployments on US territory or with regional partners, reflecting fears that such basing could entangle Japan in US-China conflict dynamics. Further, Raul Pedrozo writes in a 2021 report for the Stockton Center for International Law that using merchant ships to launch precision strikes without formally converting them into warships may violate Hague Convention VII, which requires overt identification, military command and crew discipline. According to Pedrozo, failure to meet these criteria could strip such vessels of protected status and make their use a violation of the law of armed conflict. Moreover, he adds that disguising launchers as civilian cargo risks being deemed perfidious – guilty of a treacherous act under the law of armed conflict – thereby endangering civilian mariners and undermining legal protections for commercial shipping. Containerized missile systems may be stealthy and scalable, but the ambiguity that makes them operationally effective also renders them legally and politically contentious. Their fusion of warehouse and warship invites hard questions about survivability, legality, and escalation, especially when deployed on allied soil in a region primed for great power confrontation.
Reuters
04-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Alstom wins 2 billion euro railcar deal in New York
July 4 (Reuters) - France's Alstom ( opens new tab has received a 2 billion euro ($2.4 billion) order from the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to supply M-9A railcars for the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad, the train maker said on Friday. The contract, which was announced by MTA in June, will be booked in the second quarter of the 2025/26 fiscal year, Alstom said. MTA last month said that pilot railcars from Alstom would be delivered in 2029 and enter passenger service on the Long Island Rail Road in 2030. All 316 railcars that were part of this order were expected to be delivered by 2032, it added. Those include 160 cars for the Long Island Rail Road and 156 for the Metro-North Railroad. MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said in June that the deal was an early step in the agency's plan to purchase nearly 2,000 railcars as part of its $10.9 billion capital plan. Redburn Atlantic analyst James Moore said the contract supports expectations for a strong second quarter for Alstom after an expected slower start to its financial year. Moore estimated that Alstom booked orders of around 4.1 billion euros in the first quarter that ended in June, slightly below analysts' consensus, but said it was on track to exceed expectations with orders of more than 6 billion euros in the second quarter. Analysts polled by Visible Alpha have forecast second-quarter orders at 5.1 billion euros, he said. Alstom's shares were broadly unchanged compared to last close as of 0832 GMT, after rising 1.4% in early trading in Paris. ($1 = 0.8486 euros)
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
French rolling-stock firm Alstom bags $2.3bn deal from New York
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has placed an order worth €2 billion ($2.35 billion) with French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom, the French company said on Friday. The company stated that the railcar contract is for M-9A rail cars, which will serve the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad. Alstom added that the contract will be booked in the second quarter of fiscal year 2026. According to the company, further details about the order will be shared in the upcoming days. Recently, Alstom received an order from the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Bulgaria to deliver 35 electric Coradia Stream interregional trains, including 15 years of maintenance. The contract was jointly carried out by Alstom and the local company RVP Invest, which will provide the maintenance facility. The total value of the contract is €720 million, of which Alstom's share is €600 million. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alstom wins 2 billion euro deal from New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority
(Reuters) -French train maker Alstom said on Friday it had received a 2 billion euro ($2.4 billion) order from the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority to supply M-9A rail cars for the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad. The contract will be booked in the second quarter of fiscal year 2025/26, Alstom said. ($1 = 0.8486 euros) Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
