Travelers in Prestige Class service, ensconced in the Park cars, will continue to have exclusive access to the cars at certain times. However, VIA also will allow Sleeper Plus-class passengers, riding ahead of the Park cars, to have access evenings from 7 to 10:30 p.m., with the exception of first evenings out of Vancouver and Toronto.
A VIA announcement cites “feedback from customers” in creating the new policy.
The company also says it is making enhancements for Sleeper Plus passengers, including dedicated “activity programing,” the introduction of animation in the Panorama full-length dome car, and a consigned attendant in the Skyline dome cars.
VIA’s roster still includes 14 Park-series stainless-steel dome-observation-sleepers, built in 1954 by Budd and continually refurbished in the decades since. The cars are named for various Canadian national parks and are a wildly popular accommodation on the Canadian.
When I rode it in the late 80’s people just rotated as someone left for a break they lost their space and everyone moved nearer the front, I only made it to the front a couple of times, the best was at night in the B.C. canyons watching the signals and train headlights in front of us.
My wife and me, we went on the Canadian last year when Prestige Class was brand new. I use canadian trains a lot since the mid 80s and was always happy with the way how trains are run there.
But “american style” rules for passengers, is the last thing they need.
On our trip last spring, we ended up in a compartment right above the wheels. So I liked the room design and the large bed, it was a rather noisy experience. Furniture and wall panels underneath the window where rattling terribly. On board staff had no intention to take care of it or to move us more toward the centre of the car. So we had to help our self using cardboard to stop the walls from vibrating.
About the Park car, it was packed like always, occupied by the same people all the time. The only time to get a decent seat in the dome or the lounge at the end, was late at night.
We gave up on trying to spend time there, instead we where most of the time in the “Skyline” a few cars ahead of us. The situation was the same, a week later, after our stopover in Winnipeg.
I understand that something must be done for those passengers, who spend a premier amount of money for a premier experience, not just transport. But I´m not sure if it is the right way, when VIA restricts every ones access to the signature car of the train? I would say it´s better to have a diner or skyline car refurbished as a lounge, exclusively for Premier Class passengers.
To simply restrict the use of the car is the cheapest thing to do. But wait until ordinary passengers -after paying thousands off Dollars- come back home and tell there travel agents about the “experience of a lifetime”
It will be a nightmare, if they are really going to use the dining car as a divider between the 2 sleeper classes. I can already imagine how dining car attendants shout at passengers “Amtrak style” if they want to get through to the Premier Section of the train
This had been announced when I rode the Canadian in March. On board staff were not happy about it. They plan to remarshall the diner to just ahead of the Prestige cars. How they will prevent sleeper plus passengers going out the “back” door remains to be seen. Years ago when I travelled coach I was never stopped from going back there not that I sneaked back there often. Another thing to bear in mind is this restriction will only apply May-October. I only ever travel in low season when it is a much more intimate ride without all the crowds. Plus much cheaper!
Kind of a shame. I rode The Canadian during the last summer before the introduction of Prestige class. That was a magical trip! Yes, there was competition for space in both the dome and bullet lounge of the Park Car in mid-July, but who could blame any of us for wanting to be there? I met fellow railfans on that trip from Ontario, Alabama, Texas, and Australia – all of us inspired to make the trip by Fred Frailey’s profile of the train the previous winter. We rotated through the dome seats with fellow passengers the whole way from Vancouver to Toronto with permanent smiles and giggled like school children at the notion that we were having a classic streamliner experience in 2014.
Odd effort by VIA to drive away its bread and butter core passengers with an Amtrak-like policy: charge more, deliver less. And those Panorama cars are NOT “dome” cars by any definition.
Via’s overnight trains are the last commercial passenger trains to feature boat-tailed observation cars in their consists.
Santa Fe made the grave mistake of removing their Vista-series observation cars from the “Super Chief” in 1956. The train had not been the same since. This while other transcontinental streamliners except the “Sunset Limited” (and Santa Fe’s other streamliners) retained their observation cars.