VANCOUVER, British Columbia — VIA Rail Canada will again run only two Canadian round trips between Toronto and Vancouver next summer, Trains News Wire has learned.
VIA had previously indicated that shortening one of the three summer-season trains to a Vancouver-Edmonton, Alberta round trip would only occur in 2019 while host railroad Canadian National completed track capacity improvements. During the question and answer session at VIA’s annual meeting in May, a VIA official said VIA “fully intends” to resume triweekly transcontinental operation for the Canadian’s 2020 May-October “peak season.” [See “VIA Rail Canada still studying Quebec-Windsor ‘high-frequency rail,’ Trains News Wire, May 29, 2019.]
However, in response to a request for clarification by the Pacific Coast Division of the Canadian Railroad Historical Association’s Sandhouse newsletter last week, VIA spokeswoman Marie-Anna Murat says, “We subsequently consulted with our key stakeholders, including the infrastructure owner, and decided to maintain the current schedule in order to offer a reliable service and the best customer experience possible.”
Canadian National spokesman Alexandre Boule told Trains News Wire in June that CN had embarked on a two-year $7.4 billion capital investment program, of which $3.9 billion was to be spent in 2019, “to ensure the fluidity of our network.”
Trains News Wire continues to analyze how the Canadian has been performing since the revised and lengthened schedule was implemented in April [see “Timekeeping still unpredictable for VIA’s ‘Canadian,’” Trains News Wire, June 20, 2019]. Preliminary findings show that while the goal of passing through the Canadian Rockies in daylight hours has been met by virtually every train, significant delays continue to plague the Canadian between Edmonton and Jasper, Alta., and west of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
For passengers at rural intermediate stops across Canada for which the train is the only means of public transport, the schedule designed to allow CN dispatchers to give the Canadian non-priority handling means riders can’t count on its reliability [see “Investigative reports dig deep into VIA ‘Canadian’ delays,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 8, 2019].
Another unintended consequence is that for the last month, 12 of 17 westbound trains No. 1 (from Toronto) and No. 3 (from Edmonton) scheduled into Vancouver at 8:00 a.m. have arrived before 6 a.m. Passengers are allowed to stay aboard until 8 a.m., but those waking up in pricey bedrooms will already be in the station.
Vancouver-Edmonton trains Nos. 3 and 4 are making their final peak season runs this week, meaning travelers will have only two weekly Canadian options across the entire route until next spring.
Kevin Buffel, the delays do matter. People who like riding on trains like to watch the changing scenery as the train rolls along. They may also like scheduled stops where you can get some fresh air and stretch your legs. But no sane person could possibly enjoye being locked into a stationary train at some remote siding, waiting for the signal to change so the train can resume its journey. Even a bus would be more fun than that.
This whole saga is a disgrace and an embarrassment to Canadians like me who remember the great days of train travel on both CP and CN. There are already seasonal cruise trains through the Canadian Rockies on three different routes, operated by Rocky Mountaineer, and they are fairly reliable. They are also self-sustaining. Via Rail runs its antique equipment, at the taxpayers’ expense, on a “schedule”, if you can call it that, reminiscent of Dr. Zhivago’s trip to Siberia during the Russian civil war. What’s the point? It is rare to meet a Canadian citizen on this train–it is only for foreign tourists, Either do the job properly, as Amtrak does on its trains west of Chicago, or admit that you can’t do it at all and let Amtrak and Rocky Mountaineer divide the market between them.
I rode the train last November and it was 9 hours late into Vancouver . I was hoping for 24 hours late but no luck.
Arrived Toronto on the return , 2 hours early. I am still trying to get some money back for time lost on that one.
It is a cruise train and it’s priced as such.
JOE – If it’s a cruise train then it should operate with no public subsidy. Have the passengers support it.
Fred Frailey has convinced me that CN at present is just too little railroad for too many trains, in two directions on single track, too long to clear many sidings, and that there is no conspiracy afoot to target VIA 1 and 2.
If I were to take the canadian again, last time was in 1984, I wouldn’t mind the extra time with delays because it gives more time on the train to enjoy whatever. I wouldn’t take the train to get there quick, that’s what flying is for. The train is an adventure so why not enjoy it as long as possible.
“…but those waking up in pricey bedrooms will already be in the station.”
So???
And VIA just rolls over and plays dead…
Tongue in cheek—Why doesn’t VIA Rail run a train from Toronto to Chicago and have the passengers board the Empire Builder to Seattle and transfer to a Vancouver, BC train? Would it get them there sooner? And the Empire Builder would gain a lot of passengers!!!
Rode #2 this summer in July. The assessment of ” too little railroad for too many trains” is ” right on the money” !!!!! The delays started on day one when it took 2 1/2 hours to “get out of the yard” in Vancouver. It never got any better. We had to back out of some sidings because we were nose to nose with a west bound freight in the siding. We were 5 hours late into Toronto, even with the padded schedule. BUT—- We really didn’t mind because the service personal were fantastic!!!