VIA Rail orders 313 Alstom cars for C$4.7bn to replace its long-distance fleet
VIA Rail Canada has signed a C$4.7bn (about €3bn) agreement with Alstom for 313 new Adessia cars and 15 years of technical support. The fleet will serve eight long-distance, regional and remote routes and will be built in Quebec and Ontario.
VIA Rail Canada has chosen Alstom to replace its entire long-distance fleet. The agreement covers 313 Adessia rail cars and a 15-year support contract, for a total of C$4.7bn (about €3bn), according to the Alstom press release of 3 September 2026. The cars will be designed and built in Canada.
The deal in figures
| Customer | VIA Rail Canada, funded by the federal government |
| Supplier | Alstom |
| Fleet | 313 Adessia cars in 9 configurations: coach, sleeper, accessible, berth, Prestige, panorama, dome, dining, baggage |
| Value | About C$4bn for the cars + nearly C$700m for 15 years of technical support and spare parts = C$4.7bn |
| Network | 8 long-distance, regional and remote routes serving nearly 400 communities |
| Industrial plan | Engineering in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville (QC), car bodies in La Pocatière (QC), final assembly in Thunder Bay (ON) |
| Jobs | Up to 670 direct jobs at Alstom Canada; Alstom estimates more than C$1.6bn added to GDP |
| Delivery dates | Not published |
Source: Alstom, 03/09/2026. The order is booked in the second quarter of Alstom's 2026/27 financial year.
The routes that will change
The new cars will replace a fleet that Alstom describes as 77 years old. They will run on VIA Rail's iconic transcontinental and remote services, with destinations including Montréal, Halifax, Gaspé, Jonquière, Senneterre, Toronto, Vancouver, Churchill, Prince Rupert, Jasper, Sudbury and White River. Many of these lines serve First Nations communities with no road alternative for part of the year.
VIA Rail wants to keep what makes these trains special: dome cars, full-service dining and lounge areas. Interim CEO Mathieu Paquette describes the new cars as keeping the signature features while adding modern comfort, accessibility and reliability. The cars must also handle Canada's climate extremes, from Prairie winters to coastal humidity.
A "made in Canada" order
Alstom, which took over Bombardier Transportation in 2021, is the only passenger train manufacturer in Canada. Engineering will be done in Quebec, car bodies built in La Pocatière and final assembly carried out in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon framed the deal as an investment in Canadian workers and industrial resilience against trade disruption.
An engineer's view
This is a coach order, not a train order. VIA Rail's long-distance services are locomotive-hauled, so the 313 cars will need compatible traction, braking and head-end power from whichever locomotives VIA uses on these routes. The interface work between new cars and existing or future locomotives is often where delays appear.
Two other details stand out. First, no delivery schedule has been published, which is unusual for a contract of this size. Second, the 15-year support deal, worth almost 15% of the total, shows that operators now buy availability, not just vehicles. For remote routes such as Winnipeg–Churchill, where a breakdown can strand passengers far from any workshop, spare parts logistics matter as much as the cars themselves.
Related reading
- World Rail Market Study 2026: a €266.8bn market
- Riyadh Metro: Alstom wins €460m order for more driverless trains
- Vietnam: Siemens signs up to €1bn high-speed deal with VinSpeed
FAQ
How many cars has VIA Rail ordered from Alstom?
313 Adessia cars, in nine different configurations including sleeper, dome and dining cars.
How much is the contract worth?
C$4.7bn in total: about C$4bn for the cars and nearly C$700m for 15 years of support and spare parts.
Where will the cars be built?
Engineering in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville and car bodies in La Pocatière (Quebec), with final assembly in Thunder Bay (Ontario).
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TrainsNews est un média indépendant et bilingue d'actualité ferroviaire mondiale, publié depuis 2024. La rédaction couvre la grande vitesse, le matériel roulant, l'infrastructure, la signalisation et les télécoms ferroviaires (ERTMS/ETCS, CBTC, FRMCS, GSM-R), l'exploitation, le fret et le financement des projets. Chaque article cite ses sources et donne les chiffres avec leur total. TrainsNews is an independent, bilingual (French/English) news outlet covering the global rail industry since 2024: high-speed rail, rolling stock, infrastructure, signalling and telecoms, operations, freight and project financing. Every article cites its sources.
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