A major overhaul is coming to VIA Rail’s long-distance fleet, and much of it will be built in Canada.
Via Rail
Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced more than $4.7 billion for VIA Rail to acquire and maintain 313 new passenger rail cars from Alstom Canada.
It is the largest investment in VIA Rail’s history and, for the first time in four decades, the passenger cars will be built in Canada.
Manufacturing will happen in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and La Pocatière, Québec, while design and engineering work will take place in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Québec.
“For the first time in four decades, VIA’s passenger cars will be built in Canada,” Carney said.
Replacing a fleet that has been around for generations
VIA Rail’s long-distance, regional and remote passenger cars average about 77 years old, and some equipment has been operating for more than 70 years.
The new fleet will include nine types of cars, among them 78 sleepers, 58 coaches, 38 panorama cars, 25 dome cars and 20 dining cars.
You can also expect accessible spaces in every class, improved onboard amenities and cars designed to operate in temperatures ranging from -50 C to 50 C.
VIA Rail interim president and CEO Mathieu Paquette said the new cars will preserve familiar features including “dome cars, full-service dining, and social areas.”
Jobs, suppliers and Canadian steel
The project is expected to support nearly 700 jobs in Ontario and Québec and generate about $1.6 billion in economic benefits.
Alstom will draw on a Canadian supply network of more than 900 companies, while maximizing Canadian steel in structural and fabricated components.
The project is also expected to account for 4,850 person-years of employment, including about 615 full-time equivalent jobs annually during design, manufacturing and delivery.
Serving remote and regional communities
The new cars will operate on eight long-distance, regional and remote routes across eight provinces.
Those services cover roughly 12,500 kilometres and connect Indigenous, rural and remote communities, including 93 Indigenous communities without another public surface transportation option.
More than 216,000 passengers used these routes in 2025.
When will you see the new trains?
The first passenger cars are expected to enter commercial service in 2031, with the full fleet scheduled for deployment by 2035.
Combined with earlier investments in 45 locomotives and a Montréal assembly and maintenance facility, Ottawa’s spending on VIA Rail’s long-distance, regional and remote fleet renewal now exceeds $6.6 billion.