VANCOUVER, British Columbia — VIA Rail Canada’s revised schedule for its trancontinental Canadian is meeting with mixed success.
In lengthening and adjusting the schedule at the end of April [see “VIA’s summer shuffle,” July TRAINS], VIA sought to ensure that the company’s flagship would pass through the Canadian Rockies in daylight, even if subjected to hours-long delays by construction and infrastructure improvements of host railroad Canadian National.
So, from the day that the new schedule took effect at the beginning of May, Trains News Wire has tracked each twice-weekly cross-country Canadian — as well as the weekly short-turn Vancouver-Edmonton, Alberta, round-trip — to see how the train performs with so much slack in the schedule.
Here are some early takeaways:
Mountains in daylight? Success! While en-route delays routinely averaged about 4 hours over at least a portion of the route, every train managed to avoid darkness on the route’s peak segment west of Jasper, Alta. That included westbound No. 1, departing Toronto June 9, that was delayed about 24 hours by a forest fire near Capreol, Ont. Though it departed Jasper over 31 hours late, it benefitted from summer’s long days. On the other hand, 15 of 21 westbound trains through June 19 left Jasper on time or within an hour of the scheduled 9:30 a.m. departure. Eastbound Jasper arrivals scheduled for 10 a.m. ranged from an hour early to 8 hours late (for the June 14 departure delayed by the day-late train noted above), but those travelers got to see more of the route from Kamloops usually seen in sunlight only by Rocky Mountaineer tourists.
Winnipeg and Edmonton suffer: Unfortunately, on-performance compared with the schedule resembles an accordion, with the biggest variation at intermediate stations. Here are some staggering examples:
Winnipeg eastbound:
Scheduled arrival: 10:00 p.m.
Actual range: 8:46 p.m. to 7:01 a.m.
Arrivals between midnight and 7 a.m.: 10 of 15.
Edmonton westbound:
Scheduled departure: 12:01 a.m.
Actual range: 12:01 am to 8:25 a.m.
Departures between 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., train No. 1: 6 of 15.
This unpredictability has substantially diminished the train’s utility for providing transportation to communities along the route. At Saskatoon, Sask., for instance, the eastbound train is supposed to leave at 6:57 a.m,. but actual departures during the period have ranged from 7:24 a.m. to 6:05 p.m.
Early Vancouver arrival: For travelers deciding which direction to ride, keep in mind that VIA’s desire for dependability makes the Vancouver scheduled arrival at 8:00 a.m. a “worst case scenario,” meaning that arriving sleeping car passengers don’t have the benefit of waking up on a moving train. VIA says people can stay on board until the scheduled arrival time, but here’s the actual range of arrivals for train No. 1 from Toronto and No. 3 from Edmonton:
Trains arriving:
Before 6 a.m.: 12
Between 6-8 a.m.: 4
Between 8-10 a.m.: 3
After 10 a.m.: 2
Trains News Wire will continue to monitor the Canadian’s performance through the summer.
If the Canadian does not provide reasonable basic transportation, the taxpayers should NOT be subsidizing it. That’s for sure.
I was on Train 1 of the 9th that was delayed at Capreol for the fire.
A few comments about the ride.
It is very much a cruise train, and they know it. As such, the service is outstanding. Running 32 hours late at one point, and I never hear a complaint from either passengers or crew. A very cheerful diner crew kept up fed very well. The service of the sleeper attendants was outstanding as well
As for the price, we booked early selecting the cabin for 2 discounted price which at the time of booking was 5200 canadian which at the time came out to about 3600 usc. I watched the prices which did rise as the date approached, but then they had a sale which then resulted in fares lower than ours as well.
The train does indeed fail as basic transportation. Most of the intermediate towns are conditional stops, and you have to make arrangements ahead of time for the train to stop.I know of at least 2 occasions where someone was booked to board, and no one was there when the train approached (24 plus hours late at the time).
As for speculation of occupancy of the sleepers, departing Toronto our train had 2 F40’s, a bag, 2 coaches, 3 domes, 2 diners, 13 SLEEPERS, and the Park Car.
A few take-aways from the trip.
Most comfortable bed on rails I have experienced.
Best food on rails I have experienced.
Best crews on rails I have experienced.
Best service on rails I have experienced.
No good for basic transport needs of the people
When talking about how expensive The Canadian is, I hope that Americans realize that the Canadian dollar is very low compared to the American dollar.
The Canadian is expensive, but the discount on the Canadian dollar may help some readers be able to afford the trip.
LANDON -If you want to ride a cruise train (and have the time and the money) that’s up to you. When I rode The Canadian (1984) it wasn’t a cruise train, it was transportation that got me where I was going when I wanted to get there. Now it’s a cruise train. It has zero to do with the transportation needs of the people along the route it runs.
North Dakota and Manitoba haven’t been connected by rail for five decades. However regretable that may be for us rail fans, neither the state nor the province has shut down.
Late or not, I would lobe to ride the Canadian, but not in coach. Now if there could be a Grand Forks-Edmonton section of the Empire Builder and the Canadian could reliably serve Winnipeg during daylight hours, those of us in the Midwest could travel to Vancouver (or Jasper) via the Empire Builder & Canadian.
Penelope – You bring up an important point. While everyone admires (to this present day) the ex-CP Budd fleet on the Canadian, rival Canadian National fielded a very large fleet of competent plain-Jane cars going from everywhere to everywhere.
Robert – DTW is Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Romulus Michigan.
When Canadian National branded its passenger train operations as ‘Via’, I dreaded that something comparable to Amtrak is coming to Canada. My fears came true and it has been downhill from there. Numerous service eliminations occurred as in the States.
The beautifully designed Pullman-Standard and Canadian Car & Foundry passenger cars of CN heritage were phased out and replaced by former Canadian Pacific Budd cars. The Super Continental was eliminated and replaced on its own route with The Canadian and its original equipment. Meanwhile, Calgary and Regina were left without intercity passenger trains.
In the 1960’s, Canadian National passenger trains remained the pride of North America with thick system timetables to reflect that while Canadian Pacific and American railways were phasing out their operations. Of course, CN was government owned and subsidised then. With more trains, people rode them.
Mister Drake:
DTW is not the initials of a name. DTW is the IATA designator for Detroit/Wayne County airport. And don’t ask me what IATA means, ‘cuz I ain’t telling.
The above comments are general in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Find your own damn mouthpiece.
PLEASE when posting fully state full name before using initials as in DTW .THANKS MUCH
Rail has its place.
Or should I say, rail ONCE UPON A TIME had its place.
Decades ago when VIA and Amtrak seemed to hold some promise, I remember searching the length of the long train for two seats togther on a VIA/ Amtrak trip from London (Ontario) to Lapeer (Michigan) via Sarnia – Port Huron. I also remember when the branch line from Sarnia (Ontario) to London and Toronto still had a fairly decent frequency. And many rides out of Windsor for London, Toronto or Montreal. Back then, Canadian rail seemed a natural conveyance either for a railfan like me or for anyone else traveling in our neighbor to the north.
That was then and this is now. VIA has collpased to a silly shell of itself. Robert McGuire posts about Air Canada. It’s not just Air Canada. Air Canada and its rival WestJet each has more flights to some obscure American airport than VIA has trains to major Canadian cities. Delta (along with its code-share affiliate WestJet) can get you from anywhere in Canada to anywhere in Canada through its DTW and MSP hubs, in about the same time as a VIA trains’ lateness over schedule.
I wrote a fictional story which included a character flying on Delta from DTW to Ottawa. Catching myself, I said to my author self, No, there can’t actually be a flight from DTW to Ottawa, you’d need to transfer in Toronto. So I looked it up. Yes there’s a flight from DTW to Ottawa.
Anna – If on a limited budget the only way to cross Canada is by air. The train costs more, takes more time and of course one must eat for the several days.
Aside from the need to eat three meals a day my time is worth something to me. My most recent vacation, Wisconsin to Warren (Michigan), including flights at both ends and time at the airports and time driving to/ from the airports, consumed a whole lot less of my life than a one-way trip on VIA across Canada sitting on one’s bum and getting older.
Unfortunately, I have watched the deterioration of both VIA and Amtrak over the years. In 2000, I rode the “Canadian” from Toronto and Vancouver in 72 hours, and it arrived on time. In 2004, I rode the usually-reliable “Empire Builder” from Seattle to Chicago, but ended up three hours late, all lost in Wisconsin.
Personally, I am a big European passenger train fan. Fast and frequent service to just about anywhere, and a few neat overnight sleeper trains left. Very few delays in all of my foreign travels.
If you want a five day ride in a coach seat the price on Via Rail from Toronto to Vancouver is fairly reasonable – and, now with the demise of Greyhound about the only way other than flying to get there.
But if you want any kind of creature comfort be prepared to pay big time. Me, I would love to do this ride, but not as a coach passenger, and not at the prices charged for a sleeping compartment. I’ll ride the Empire Builder instead. I could get an entire bedroom and spread out for less than the cost of a sleeper on Via Rail.
Does anyone have any idea what their occupancy rate for sleeper service is? I would wager it isn’t all that high.
The above comments are general in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Find your own damn mouthpiece.
If you want to arrive in Vancouver on time(or mostly so) buy a first class ticket on Air Canada for far less than your VIA ticket and you’ll be on the west coast the same day that you leave. And you have a vast choice of departure and arrival times rather than one train twice a week. If you want to view the scenery then take the Rocky Mountaineer. You get to sleep in a real bed and take a shower in a bathroom that isn’t moving. Service, especially in Gold Leaf class is really good. It’s expensive but so is VIA and you get service and food that is just as good or better than VIA provides. Plus the scenery you see is the best and it is all in daylight. No boring “miles and miles of miles and miles” east of Edmonton. And, you can help the beleaguered Canadian taxpayers because Rocky Mountaineer is profitable and pays income taxes to the government whereas the Canadian sucks the money down a black hole and it disappears. The Canadian long ago stopped providing any meaningful service to the local communities along the line due to its lack of frequency and slow schedule.
GLENN – I agree with all of your points about the freight railroads. I wish to add that VIA and Amtrak share the blame as well.
Both VIA and Amtrak should know (but, apparently don’t) that schedule padding doesn’t do much to improve “on-time” performance. It simply gives the host roads reason to delay trains believing that they will “make it up” from the heavily padded schedule which it rarely does. Truth is virtually all Class I railroads have grossly under invested in their infrastructure and overall capacity and they can’t run anything like a “schedule” and that there is certainly nothing “precise” about what they are doing. Today’s railroad management are little more than puppets for the martinet’s on Wall Street.
Instead of Precision Scheduled Railroading its move trains only when its profitable. CN can’t keep their own trains on schedule due their lack of spending because they have to keep their investors happy.
That’s probably exactly what CN is hoping.
This is Precision Railroading? What is C.N.’s reason if any for such lousy perfomance
Who in their right mind would ride a twice-weeklty train that can’t run on time now matter how much the schedule is lengthened.