MONTREAL — VIA Rail Canada saw an 8% increase in ridership and a 7.4% increase in revenues in calendar 2018, marking its fourth straight year of ridership increases.
VIA carried 4.74 million passengers in 2018, with 4.5 million of those in the Quebec City-Windsor, Ont., corridor. Corridor service saw a 9.3% increase in ridership and an 11.9% increase in revenue.
“A fourth year in a row of growth in ridership and improvement in financial performance compared to 2014 is a great way to close out VIA Rail’s 40th anniversary,” VIA president and CEO Yves Desjardins-Siciliano said in a press release. “… In all areas of the business, employees are working hard to attract more passengers, making them feel welcome and well-treated. Thanks in large part to their efforts, the number of passenger miles traveled on VIA Rail has increased by 23% since 2014.”
In a presentation a couple of years ago VIA’s CEO indicated VIA did not see high speed trains as viable but instead was trying to increase frequency to attract new passengers. More departure options in the Corridor has indeed increased ridership, especially in the Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto market.
The Canadian serves two purposes, one being a ‘sightseeing trip’ across Canada. But more importantly it also serves as the sole means of access for some remote communities in Northern Ontario and elsewhere. I rode the Canadian to Vancouver and return last month and was surprised to see how many places (in the literal “middle of nowhere”) the Canadian stopped to pick up and drop off passengers. No station, no roads, no small airport and no lake for summer float-plane access. Just a milepost. The Canadian is still a lifeline to these communities.
Chris,
Did you ever consider that those awful republicans might just be representing the opinions of the voters that elected them, traditionally the less urban areas? There is (or was since much of the under 30 generation seems to have bought into the “something for nothing ” philosophy) a deep distrust of government operating services, other than the normal/traditional government operations, by many people including many independents and some democrats. Living in an area that is not urban (although not entirely rural) I have no hesitation in saying that high speed rail service is not one of the concerns that’s on the mind of voters, regardless of party affiliation.
Chris, the death of long distance trains doesn’t make me happy. Just realistic. Just like the deaths of my parents. Not a cause for celebration. Is what it is and it isn’t going to un-happen.
Canada’s passenger rail system is not any better than the ours. The reason is just as here, no funding. As far as a separate high speed system, the republicans will never ever let that happen unless it’s a private system. If we’d not beat Amtrak to death with the budget whip over the years then there might be more interest in passenger rail from the general public or maybe even from some on this site. Long distance passenger trains in this country are dead and I’m sure that will make lots of people very happy. But not me.
John, an excellent post.
Re: meaningful participation in passenger rail service
Passenger rail service can only BE “meaningful” if it’s fast and frequent. Otherwise, there’s LOTS of better options (like buses and cars). In order to HAVE “fast and frequent” passenger service you need a population to ride it AND an infrastructure to support it.
Put the “fast and frequent” passenger trains where they ARE “meaningful”, and give the low population area TRANSPORTATION that is “meaningful” to those areas.
Why are passenger train fanatics so obsessed with preserving 1950’s passenger trains running on 1920’s schedules mixed with slow freight trains. Passenger trains in the 21st century, high-speed or just fast, need their own infrastructure and need to be “meaningful” to normal-people who just want to get from point-A to point-B as-fast-as-possible. Forget the 1950’s, those trains and times are never coming back, and the obsessive desire to preserve them just ruins the chances for modern useful (aka “meaningful”) passenger service.
Charles, good post. So I guess the Canadians should be cheering because on a percentage basis they carry twice as many passengers as Amtrak. But remember, one passenger is not the same as one person. One person can be one, two or more passengers depending on the number of trips they take.
So basically Canada has a longer version of the USA’s NEC and the huge rest of the country doesn’t really have any meaningful participation in passenger rail service.
Assuming one round trip per person that would be one round trip for 1/16th of the population. Knowing of course than those who do ride VIA do more than one round trip each year, VIA doesn’t carry the vast majority of the population. And as we know many of VIA’s riders on the Canadian aren’t Canadian. There is also a heavy foreign ridership on trains east from Windsor/ Walkerville, which is in sight from Detroit. Do the math it seems like VIA carries about one percent of Canadians in any given year.
Picking on VIA is the only way we can feel good about our own national railroad.
Watch out! When growth like this happens with Amtrak it generates cut backs.