Jacobs will support VIA Rail fleet renewal through delivery of 45 Stadler locomotives and 313 Alstom passenger cars, which are due to enter commercial service between 2029 and 2035.

A VIA Rail long-distance train travels beside a lake through the Canadian Rockies
A VIA Rail long-distance train travels beside a lake in the Canadian Rockies. Photo: VIA Rail.

VIA Rail Canada has selected the company to advise on technical matters and support management of its Long Distance, Regional and Remote (LDRR) fleet renewal program, Jacobs said on September 15, 2026. Jacobs will lead the work from Montréal, with support from SYSTRA and other rail specialists in Canada and abroad. Jacobs did not disclose the value or duration of the contract.

What Jacobs will support

Jacobs’ role runs through the delivery phase. Its remit covers project management and engineering support, oversight of manufacturing, quality assurance, testing and commissioning, and regulatory compliance reviews. The company describes the program as one of the largest passenger fleet renewals now under way in North America.

The equipment comes from two suppliers. Stadler signed a contract for 45 hybrid battery-diesel locomotives, its first locomotive order in Canada, with 20 years of technical support and spare parts supply. Stadler Valencia in Spain handles design and manufacture. Part of the assembly, testing and commissioning will take place in Canada.

Alstom signed its agreement on September 3 for 313 Adessia cars, worth about C$4 billion. A 15-year support and spare parts deal of nearly C$700 million brings the total to C$4.7 billion. The order spans nine car types, from coaches and sleepers to panorama, dome and dining cars.

Commercial service timeline from 2029 to 2035

Entry into commercial service is staggered. Transport Canada expects the first locomotives in commercial service in 2029 and the whole locomotive fleet by 2032. The first passenger cars should follow in 2031, with full deployment by 2035.

Pomerleau is building a new facility for locomotive assembly and maintenance at VIA Rail’s Montréal Maintenance Centre, due for completion in 2029. Up to 36 of the locomotives will be finally assembled, tested and commissioned there before the site turns to long-term maintenance. The government has committed C$1.95 billion to the locomotives and this facility.

Official rendering of the dining car interior planned for VIA Rail’s new Adessia fleet
Official rendering of the dining car interior planned for VIA Rail’s new Adessia passenger fleet. Image: Alstom SA / Advanced & Creative Design / Adessia™.

The new cars will enter service gradually and run alongside existing equipment during the transition. VIA Rail’s current cars on these routes average about 77 years old. The network outside the Québec City–Windsor Corridor covers roughly 12,500 km in eight provinces. It carried more than 216,000 passengers in 2025 and serves 93 Indigenous communities that have no other public surface transport.

VIA Rail LDRR fleet renewal: schedule by component, as planned in September 2026
Component Supplier or builder Quantity Federal funding First commercial service Full deployment
Hybrid battery-diesel locomotives Stadler 45 C$1.6 billion 2029 2032
Passenger cars Alstom 313 More than C$4.7 billion 2031 2035
New facility for locomotive assembly and maintenance at VIA Rail’s Montréal Maintenance Centre Pomerleau One site; final assembly of up to 36 locomotives C$357 million Completion expected in 2029 Not applicable

The locomotives come first: Transport Canada expects them in commercial service two years ahead of the first passenger cars, with full deployment of the passenger cars expected by 2035.

Notes: dates refer to planned entry into commercial service, not delivery. The locomotive funding also covers a 20-year technical support and spare parts agreement and other program costs. The car funding covers purchase and maintenance, including 15 years of technical support and spare parts.

Sources: Transport Canada backgrounder, September 3, 2026; Transport Canada news release, July 29, 2026.

Experience from the Corridor fleet

Jacobs has worked with VIA Rail for nearly a decade. On the Corridor Fleet Renewal Program, it supported the purchase of 32 new trainsets for the Québec City–Windsor corridor, oversaw their manufacture and testing, and helped bring them into service. It also helped develop technical specifications for VIA Rail’s wider Fleet Replacement Program.

Marc-André Dupuis, Jacobs’ Program Technical Lead for the LDRR program, said the company’s knowledge of VIA Rail’s operating needs and long-term fleet goals should ease the move from procurement into delivery.

Both fleet programs rest on separate federal budgets. Budget 2018 financed the replacement of the Québec City–Windsor Corridor fleet, and VIA Rail began to deploy the new trains in 2022. Budget 2024 then announced new funding to replace the ageing fleet on routes outside the Corridor.