Bombardier's JetTrain tours Canada

by Jim Repass
TRA Advisor
Founder of National Corridors Initiative

Bombardier JetTrain gas turbine high-speed locomotive was unveiled to invited guests in Montreal on March 12. Similar showings will occur on March 19 in Toronto and on April 7 in Calgary. The carbuilder conducted a limited showing at its La Pocatière facility around the end of January. The trainset was formally unveiled at a major event at Washington, D.C.’s Union Station on October 15.

A spokesman for Transport 2000, a Canadian pro-rail organization, said the locomotive is “probably a key part of the strategy for the fast travel times between Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec and other corridor cities described in VIA Chairman Jean Pelletier’s talk to the Canadian Club on March 10 and in the Minister of Transport’s press conference on 25 February.

The locomotive and a former Amtrak Metroliner car used for test instrumentation were in Ottawa a fortnight ago between test runs on VIA Rail’s improved 100 mph (160 km/h) Alexandria subdivision. The train is capable of 150 mph sustained speeds.

The JetTrain avoids the need for electrification when upgrading or building new track for moderately high-speed rail, some half as much again faster than VIA’s conventional operations. It uses a Pratt & Whitney turbine aircraft engine. A Q-400 70-seat turboprop aircraft, for example, carries two.

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Used by Permission
Copyright 2003, NCI, Inc.
Reprint from Destination Freedom, Vol. 4, No. 11.