All aboard! Take a look inside Via Rail Canada's new, accessible train fleet

Via Rail Canada unveiled its new passenger railcars in London on Thursday, touting the new rolling stock as an upgrade in comfort and accessibility.

"These trains provide a barrier-free and fully accessible travel experience," said Via President Mario Péloquin. "Each train set has spaces for mobility aids, wheelchair lifts, Braille and raised displays and fully accessible washrooms, ensuring everyone can travel comfortably."

Since the fleet replacement program launched in 2022, Via has been aiming to design 32 trains that travel along the Windsor-Quebec City corridor.

Via re-worked their fleet to ensure they are more environmentally friendly and accessible by producing fewer emissions, providing at least five mobility aids per passenger car and more space for service dogs, among other improvements.

More than half of the trains were completed while the others are on schedule launch by the end of next summer, Péloquin said.

Although Via has not yet improved travel times for those riding to and from London, there is a new plan in place to bring frequent train times in the near future, according to Péloquin.

"We just released our strategic plan called Via Action 2030 last week in Toronto at the Board of Trade," said Péloquin. "We're constantly working on adding routes, adding frequencies so that more people can take the train."

Mayor Josh Morgan named London a "regional transportation hub" and says he will continue to push for accessible transportation linking London to other major cities.

"We've had a tremendous number of people come to the city of London from the GTA," said Morgan. "And so the train is a way for people to reliably connect with remote work."

Guests had an opportunity to experience a 30-minute ride to Glencoe on the new train.

"It was great," said Carol Greenwood, vice-president of operations and partnerships at the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario. "The width of the aisle ways are good for wheelchairs as well. There's great storage for people that want to have their bikes and do a cycling tourism event…It's very comfortable."

Greenwood said the next step is to add more trains.

"Ontario is very large and often we need to actually continue to improve our infrastructure to allow trains more access to airports, ease for people with bus routes," said Greenwood. "We need to be able to support that because a lot of people don't have cars and so this allows them that opportunity to see our province."