Aside from metropolitan areas with established local or regional public transportation, it’s difficult for a non-motorist, non-flyer to get around the United States these days. I rarely fly, but I know the experience is often frustrating. For this commentary, I’m focusing on long-distance passenger trains in Canada, which has an extremely limited network, VIA Rail, the country’s equivalent of Amtrak.
Amtrak’s long-distance network is skeletal, some state-supported trains that Amtrak operates are in trouble (the Heartland Flyer between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City might be discontinued later this year). As well, local and regional transit everywhere is suffering the effects of the post-COVID fiscal cliff that appears to be sending many agencies hurtling in the direction of financial desperation as they implement massive service cuts or threaten to do so. Intercity bus service has declined dramatically in recent years, too. It might not be as bad for transit in Canada, because there is no equivalent of the fiscal cliff that threatens continued operation of many lines in the U.S., along with continued fear of catastrophic cuts to the amount of mobility transit riders will have in the future.
VIA Rail: Mostly Corridors
Just so you know, this is not a political piece. Everybody knows about the political turmoil now ruling the U.S., and it seems that Canada is catching it, too. It’s strictly about getting around if you don’t bring a private automobile with you. The airlines are operating, but ground transportation serves many more places, including cities with airports, at least in theory. In Canada that’s less clear.
Despite the rosy picture that VIA Rail paints (its annual report follows this commentary), Canada’s long-distance carrier runs very little service outside of its corridors in Ontario and Quebec. Greyhound Canada has been gone for several years and, while new carriers have emerged, they run very few routes and low levels of service. VIA Rail operates a few corridors in the most-populated part of Canada: parts of Ontario and Quebec. Those lines center around Toronto and Ottawa in Ontario, and Montreal and Quebec City in that province. East of Montreal and Quebec City, there is only one train: the tri-weekly Ocean between Montreal and Halifax, running through northern New Brunswick. Two tri-weekly trains serve rural areas and small towns between Montreal and northern Quebec. In Ontario there is an isolated train, also tri-weekly, between Sudbury and White River. Some buses connect with that train, but no other trains do and have not for many years. It runs on what was part of the old Canadian Pacific Canadian until January 1990.
West of Toronto, there is the VIA Canadian, named after the 1954-vintage equipment running on that train and originally built for CP Rail by the Budd Company. The cars are true vintage streamliners, but the train only runs twice a week. There is the Skeena train (no longer officially named) between Jasper, Alberta and Prince Rupert, B.C. with an overnight stop at Prince George. There is also the Hudson Bay train (also no longer officially named), which wends its way from Winnipeg to Churchill, Manitoba, the northernmost point on the system and a place where bitter cold prevails, except in the summer. The latter train runs twice a week from Winnipeg but only makes a schedule departure on Tuesdays that allows one day in Churchill (Thursday). It runs three times a week further north, as does the Prince Rupert train.
I rode all those trains in August and September 2023 and filed trip reports that ran as a series headlined Adventures on VIA Rail. I did not ride the former Skeena that trip, but I rode it years ago, so I have ridden on all of VIA Rail. My “Canada bucket list” today includes three trains: the White Pass & Yukon (now a tourist railroad in Alaska and the Klondike, to be paired with a trip on the Alaska Railroad), the Tshiuetin Railway in northern Quebec, and the Keewaitin Railway train in northern Manitoba, if that’s possible.
Only One Great Travel Experience
One phenomenal rail travel experience is still available on VIA Rail, but it’s expensive. It’s riding the transcontinental Canadian between Vancouver and Toronto, or at least the part west of Edmonton, through the Canadian Rockies. The scenery on that part of the line is magnificent, the food in the dining car is reminiscent of the “golden age” of rail travel, and there is always activity in the dome-lounge cars (VIA Rail calls them “Skyline” cars). The catch is that only sleeping car passengers are allowed such an enjoyable trip. Passengers in coach (VIA Rail calls it “economy class”) are prohibited from setting foot in the dining car, and the food offerings available to coach passengers are microwaved and barely edible, except for the coffee, which is good (maybe it’s Tim Horton’s?). Unlike on many Amtrak trains, there are very few places to get off and buy some food during the train’s standing time. The entire trip from end to end takes four days.
The Ocean in Atlantic Canada runs primarily with ex-British equipment that has a narrower loading gauge than cars that customarily run in the U.S. and Canada. The dining car food is not as good as that on the Canadian and, again, only sleeping car passengers are allowed to eat it. For coach passengers, the lounge car has few seats, and the snacks are terrible, in my opinion. The seats in the British coaches (VIA Rail calls the equipment “Renaissance”) are as uncomfortable as the worst coaches running on corridor-length trains, but the trip from end to end took 25 hours when I rode. There are no longer meals for anyone on the train to Churchill, whether they ride in coach or sleeping car, and there is only an opportunity to buy a meal in downtown Thompson, Manitoba, about a mile from the train station.
Few Buses
Greyhound Canada is long gone. A few other bus companies are operating, and they only to go a few places. I took an overnight bus from Thompson to Winnipeg. I also took Orleans Express, which runs in Quebec, to get from Jonquiere to Quebec City, a three-hour ride. There are a few other bus companies in Canada, but they are regional. They include Maritime Bus Lines Atlantic Canada, Ontario Northland bus (related to the railroad of the same name) in northern Ontario and as far west as Winnipeg, Kaspar bus Lines in Manitoba, and Rider Express in Western Canada. They each operate a small number of routes, and service is limited. Only some routes have a bus every day. A few shorter routes offer two or three daily frequencies. There are more buses running between major cities like Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa, but VIA Rail runs relatively frequent service in those areas.
A Trip Not Taken
I had planned a trip to western Canada, using Amtrak and VIA Rail to the extent I could, but the itinerary also included a several long bus rides where there is no train, or where VIA Rail’s twice-a-week schedule was not convenient. It’s not difficult to get to and from Vancouver on Amtrak, but the Canadian portion of the itinerary I had planned was more problematic. My objectives were to ride some light rail transit in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta that started running after I last visited the province in 2009, to spend some time in Saskatchewan, and to visit Kamloops, B.C., a city on the VIA Rail route that sounded interesting from information I got from other travelers.
Rider Express is the regional carrier, and I had planned to use it for several segments. They included Vancouver to Kamloops (a seven-hour layover there), Kamloops to Calgary (which last hosted scheduled passenger trains in January 1990), and Calgary to Edmonton (probably the busiest bus corridor in Canada, outside of Toronto and Montreal). From there, I had planned to take VIA Rail Train 2 to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, spend two days there, and return to Vancouver on VIA Rail’s Train 1. I was also thinking about a side trip by bus to Sasketchewan’s capital, Regina. At one point I had thought about taking the overnight bus on Rider Express from Regina to Winnipeg and taking VIA Rail Train 2 to Toronto, but the Regina-Winnipeg bus runs only once a week: from Regina on Friday nights and returning from Winnipeg on Saturday nights. While it’s still possible to cross Canada by bus, the link between Sasketchewan and Manitoba is the most limited, with only one frequency per week. VIA Rail’s two weekly frequencies between Toronto and Vancouver feel frequent in comparison.
Travel in Canada without a personal vehicle has a ruggedness to it. I took some long bus rides in the summer of 2023, such as the time I went from Winnipeg to White River on Ontario Northland’s buses to catch the “Budd Train,” the last scheduled intercity train in North America that runs with the classic Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs) from the 1950s. The bus left Winnipeg at 12:30 PM, after an early lunch and a long walk to the “bus terminal” that served only eight departures per week at the time. Except for an opportunity to buy a sandwich later in the day at a rest stop, there was no food available. The bus ended its run at midnight with a one-hour layover at Thunder Bay, the only eastbound bus on that route. I changed for an overnight bus to White River, which arrived at 6:00 AM, 25 hours before the departure of the “Budd Train” the following morning. The ride on another Ontario Northland bus from Sudbury to Ottawa took eight hours.
My planned itinerary on Rider Express buses would have taken slightly more than five hours from Vancouver to Kamloops, slightly under ten hours from Kamloops to Calgary, and another 4.5 hours from Calgary to Edmonton, for a total of 19.5 hours for the three segments. A side trip from Saskatoon to Regina would have taken 3:20 each way. It could have been worse, but it would have been much better if there were daily trains between those cities. Sadly, that sort of service ended 35 years ago. It also would be better today if, on the existing VIA Rail trains, coach (“economy”) passengers were treated better. The coaches are still comfortable, because they are the 1954-vintage cars with reclining seats and leg rests that made the old “streamliners” comfortable, even for coach passengers. It took several inquiries before I received confirmation from a person of appropriate authority at VIA Rail that there is still a Skyline lounge car assigned to the coach section of the train, so I would not have been denied the great scenery between Vancouver and western Alberta.
The big problem is the food offered to “economy” passengers. I have taken several trips on both of VIA Rail’s feature trains, some in a sleeping car, and others in a coach, so I am familiar with both classes of service. The dining cars feature meals freshly cooked by a chef with varying menus, with food far better than Amtrak offers. However, the class segregation on VIA Rail is so strict that, when I was riding on a sleeping car ticket and walked through the coaches to take a passenger count, an employee told me that I did not belong in that car and forced me back to my more-expensive accommodation! When I rode that train several times about 20 to 25 years ago, coach passengers were allowed to purchase dining car meals, if there was room in the car to accommodate them, a practice that Amtrak follows on some trains. Now VIA Rail considers coach passengers unworthy to set foot in a dining car, as if their presence would contaminate the experience for the passengers who paid four times as much money to ride in a sleeping car.
What coach passengers are offered to eat is a disgrace. In the past, there was an employee who made fresh sandwiches and grilled burgers. It was simple food, but it was far better than what is offered today. The meager offerings are all heated in a microwave. There are pre-made sandwiches and the like, perhaps a cut below Amtrak’s lounge car offerings. The VIA Rail food I had was barely edible, and the only good thing I had was the coffee. It’s not that difficult to forego the meager food service during a short segment, but the trip is scheduled to take four days, end to end, and some people ride that far. To make matters worse, the only place where there is enough standing time to get something to eat is Jasper, Alberta. If the train gets to Winnipeg on or close to schedule, it’s possible to go to VJ’s Drive Inn, about two blocks from the station, but it closes at 11:30. I had a great burger there, but it was during the day. East of Winnipeg, Sioux Lookout is hit or miss.
The Ocean between Montreal and Halifax has a dining car, but facilities are limited, and the food is nowhere near as good as it was when that train carried the old Budd diners and allowed sleeping car and coach passengers to eat there. Coach passengers are not allowed to eat in the dining car anymore, and the lounge car offerings looked even worse than those on the Canadian. The train to Churchill no longer serves meals at all, not even for passengers in the sleeping car, during the 44-hour trip. There is food available on the layover in Thompson, where the station is about one mile from downtown.
Why I Didn’t Go to Canada
I knew what I was getting into when I planned the trip, and I was willing to put up with the discomfort for the adventure, the opportunity to ride some rail transit in Alberta that I hadn’t ridden before, and the chance to see Saskatchewan. What stopped me was that I could not pay for one of the segments. To ride on VIA Rail, as with Amtrak, it’s necessary to pay for a seat or a sleeping car accommodation when making the reservation. Typically, that means charging it.
At the time I booked the trip, the sleeping cars on that departure were sold out (VIA Rail’s reservationist informed me that they often sell out far in advance in the summer, even though there are many such cars in the consist), so I could only book a coach seat. I knew what I was getting into, so I made a best effort to do so, but my payment was declined. I complained to my bank, and somehow the matter was straightened out and I had the seat booked. I did not do as well in my effort to book a seat from Edmonton to Saskatoon. The fare was only about $70 U.S., but VISA again declined my payment. I had enough to pay the fare, but my payment was declined every time. After much effort, I learned from an employee at the bank that VISA was declining payments to VIA Rail because of “fraud reports,” although I was not given any details. I accepted the “three strikes and you’re out” rule and changed my itinerary to make it an all-Amtrak trip.
I spoke with several VIA Rail employees, and I alerted the Media Relations department at VIA Rail about my efforts to pay my fare being dishonored in that way (a problem I have never had with VISA before). VIA Rail told me that “Customer Satisfaction” would contact me, and someone did. Still, the Media Relations department appeared unconcerned about the problem with payment through VISA. I also reached out to VISA’s press office and have not heard a response at this writing. It does not appear to me that VIA Rail is taking this problem seriously, but I could be wrong. Still, I changed my trip from Alberta and Saskatchewan to Oregon and California, all on Amtrak and local transit.
The Big Picture
I’m sure that very few people have ridden all of Amtrak and VIA Rail. Sadly, the experience on VIA Rail has deteriorated significantly, except for sleeping car passengers on the Canadian. It has deteriorated on Amtrak, too, but not as badly. I am planning to visit the part of Canada that includes Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec City, where VIA Rail runs corridor-level service. I hope I can book my seats, though. Time will tell. I am not giving up on visiting Western Canada, either, as I had planned. That will have to wait at least until next year, however.
Both Amtrak and VIA Rail are subject to politics in their respective countries, and politics in this country has not been this chaotic perhaps since the Civil War in the 1860 and certainly not since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Canadian politics is turbulent these days, too. How Amtrak, VIA Rail and local transit in both countries will survive is anyone’s guess, and the picture does not look good.
While the airlines are still operating as they have been, mobility available to both motorists and non-motorists is declining in both countries, and it seems to have declined more in Canada. That’s sad, because there is a lot to see in that country. Does the problem I encountered have anything to do with politics, or is there a specific problem between VISA and VIA Rail? I don’t know, but I do know that, whether the cause is political or not, I’m not going to Western Canada this year.
I still have my “bucket list” trips: the Alaska Railroad and the White Pass & Yukon, Hawaii (when the Skyliner in Honolulu opens its next segment), and London and elsewhere in the U.K. and Europe, which will include riding true high-speed rail and plenty of other trains. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to see more in Canada. I hope that it only means I must wait until the problem with paying fares on VIA Rail is resolved. Of course, I also hope that there will still be some trains and buses to ride in Canada when that happens.
VIA Rail 2024 Annual Report (download below)
Here’s what VIA Rail has to say about its service and performance in 2024. It looks nice, but …
“VIA Rail marked a year of significant progress in 2024, continuing the strong growth trajectory seen since the pandemic. From Jan. 1s to Dec. 31, 2024, total revenues increased by C$49.5 million to C$480.2 million (11.5%) compared to 2023 due to higher demand. Ridership increased to 4.4 million passengers, an increase of 272,000 (6.6%) compared to 2023.The Corporation unveiled its bold new strategic plan, VIAction 2030, which aims to position VIA Rail as a best-in-class operator in North America and a leader in integrated mobility, placing passengers at the heart of the travel experience and setting the stage for the future of passenger rail in Canada. VIA Rail received funding to replace its pan-Canadian fleet and offer new trains to Canadians from Coast to Coast to Coast.
“While 2024 was a year of growth and transformation for VIA Rail, it also presented operational hurdles, particularly in the Québec City-Windsor corridor. In the fourth quarter, new infrastructure regulations significantly impacted on-time performance, posing challenges in maintaining the high level of service passengers expect. VIA Rail is actively addressing these issues to enhance reliability and ensure a smoother travel experience. ‘This past year laid the foundation for VIA Rail’s future, but it also brought unprecedented challenges,’ said Mario Péloquin, President and CEO. ‘In October, new regulations imposed by the host railway (CN) created significant disruptions in our corridor services. Despite these setbacks, Canadians continue to choose train travel in record numbers, and our financial performance remained strong, with a greater-than-expected reduction in our operating deficit.’
“2024 saw the introduction of VIA Rail`s 5-year strategic plan, VIAction 2030. Grounded in five strategic pillars, VIAction 2030 aims to improve VIA Rail’s operations, enhance passenger service, and establish the company as a key player in integrated mobility across Canada. The plan sets out a transformative vision to provide Canadians with a seamless, sustainable and customer-centric travel experience.
“In 2024, VIA Rail marked a major milestone with the arrival of its new fleet in Southwestern Ontario. This modernization effort paves the way for the entire Québec City-Windsor corridor to be served by state-of-the-art, accessible, and environmentally friendly trains by summer 2025. The launch of these new, modern trains offers businesses a unique opportunity to integrate sustainable rail travel into their corporate travel policies. Adopting this approach is simple and can significantly lower an organization’s environmental impact. With improved ergonomics, enhanced stability, brighter interiors, and better connectivity, these trains are designed to support productivity on the move, making them the smart choice for companies seeking both efficiency and sustainability. In 2024, building on the success of its new reservation system introduced in 2023, VIA Rail launched a new mobile customer app. This app provides passengers with a convenient and efficient way to manage their reservations and access their VIA Preference accounts.
“A landmark moment for VIA Rail came in 2024 when the Government of Canada announced funding for the replacement of the Corporation’s pan-Canadian fleet as part of the federal budget. This historic investment, the largest in VIA Rail’s history, will allow the Corporation to select a supplier to design and build modern, comfortable, accessible and sustainable trains, ensuring a more connected Canada.”
David Peter Alan is one of North America’s most experienced transit users and advocates, having ridden every rail transit line in the U.S., and most Canadian systems. He has also ridden the entire Amtrak and VIA Rail network. His advocacy on the national scene focuses on the Rail Users’ Network (RUN), where he has been a Board member since 2005. Locally in New Jersey, he served as Chair of the Lackawanna Coalition for 21 years and remains a member. He is also a member of NJ Transit’s Senior Citizens and Disabled Residents Transportation Advisory Committee (SCDRTAC). When not writing or traveling, he practices law in the fields of Intellectual Property (Patents, Trademarks and Copyright) and business law. Opinions expressed here are his own.
