Renaissance (railcar)


The Renaissance fleet is a set of intercity railroad cars owned and operated by Via Rail Canada.

History

The cars were built by Metro-Cammell in the mid-1990s for the proposed Nightstar overnight service between the United Kingdom and continental Europe via the Channel Tunnel. They are based on the British Rail Mark 4 design, but with heavy weight steel construction to meet safety requirements for the carriages to run through the Channel Tunnel.
In 2000, after the Nightstar concept was abandoned, Via acquired an initial three carriages for trials. In December 2000, the remaining 136 carriages were acquired, entering service in June 2002.

Accessibility

The Council for Canadians with Disabilities successfully sued Via Rail in Council of Canadians with Disabilities v. VIA Rail Canada Inc. over the lack of accessibility of the Renaissance cars. The Canadian Transportation Agency ordered Via to retrofit some of the fleet to ensure the availability of accessible accommodations. Nevertheless, the Renaissance cars remain the least accessible in the fleet.

Car types

Via acquired the entire original 139-car fleet; as designed it comprised 72 sleepers, 47 coaches, and 20 service cars. Via rebuilt fifteen of the sleepers into dining and baggage cars. Thirty-three carriages never entered service, remaining in store at Thunder Bay.
TypeIn serviceFleet numbersNotesImage
Baggage car97000-7011Built out of unused sleeping car shells.
Club car147100-711448-seat capacity in a 2+1 configuration.
Coach337200-723248-seat capacity in a 2+1 configuration.
Lounge car207300-7316; 7354-7359Via Rail refers to these as "service" cars.
Dining car37400-740248-seat capacity; built out of unused sleeping car shells.
Sleeping car277500-758910 double bedrooms. 29 unfinished shells were stored at Thunder Bay. These have since been scrapped.
Transition Car37600-7602Barrier vehicle used to transition between the European Renaissance couplers and the standard knuckle couplers on HEP rolling stock.