SKAGWAY, Alaska — The White Pass & Yukon Railway will resume trips into Canada this summer, the first such operations since before the COVID-19 pandemic, KHNS Radio reports.
One-way passenger service to Fraser, British Columbia, will run daily from early May to early October, with return or continuing service by bus. Service to Carcross and Bennet, Yukon Territory, will begin in late May and continue through mid-September.
Tickets are now available for the Fraser trips; prices have been set for the Carcross service, with excursion dates coming soon, according to the White Pass & Yukon website. Information on combined rail and bus excursions is also available at the website.
Tyler Rose, the railroad’s executive director of human resources and strategic planning, told KHNS that the railroad has a great deal of infrastructure work to complete before the 2023 season begins but that it should be done in time: “Things look very positive right now,” he said.
Ultimately, I would love to see the route restored all the way and have them build a nice lodge in Whitehorse so one can take excursions into the Yukon Territory. The inner Yukon has some beautiful country and incredible wildlife.
I think the current owners of the WP (the parent of Carnival Cruise Lines) would love to do the same, but the pandemic changed all that. That is why the WP bought a bunch of new engines and rolling stock.
A bigger issue in Skagway is getting help. Most of it is imported college students from Seattle and Portland to work the busy summer schedule. For reasons unknown kids don’t want adventure, they want a living wage to cover their Starbucks account.
I took the whole ride to White Horse in 1971 when you couldn’t drive to the Yukon. Too bad it doesn’t still run all the way; most of the tracks were still there in2010 when I was last there. I still remember watching the cars being unloaded off the flats at what seemed like freeway speeds.
I will be in Skagway in June. I look forward to seeing what they have done, including the rock fall problem at the cruise docks.
I took the WP summit trip 10 years ago. There is a shack at the border, but appears unstaffed and rail-only access. No passport required for that trip. For Fraser trip there is a border crossing office at Fraser. I would guess the conductor would want to make sure passengers had passports before they left Skagway.
My question would be how are customs handled?
I believe the sentence is badly worded. The return should be by train but traveling on into Yukon would be by bus
Why is the service to Fraser one way? Don’t the trains have to come back eventually?
I would assume it’s to allow more people to ride the train. By making it a one-way trip, they can take one group of people from Skagway to Fraser by rail, and then bus them back. Meanwhile, they can use the same buses to take people up to Fraser and give them a train ride back. Thus allowing twice as many people to ride with the same equipment and schedules. It does take a while to build more cars, and the route isn’t exactly conducive to lengthening sidings or building new ones on that stretch.
Note that the Carcross runs work basically the same way. Bus one direction, train the other, pick which way you go (I think). Although that’s probably more due to the distance involved. The bus-rail combo is 9 hours, so an all-train trip would probably be too long for most cruise layovers and/or wouldn’t allow time to explore Skagway during the layover.
We’ve done the train when on a cruise. Booking with the cruise line, it’s the train to Fraser and a bus back down with other activities, such as a salmon bake, before returning you to the ship.