Sunday 6 March 2011

What You Get When You Travel VIA

When you travel on the VIA Rail, you have many luxuries that you may not experience by other means of transportation. Some of the luxuries depend on the route that you are travelling on.

The following are available on all routes across the country:

Canada-wide

Business Class Seating

  • Economy Class: Passengers are seated in the Economy Class cars according to their destination. The majority of the seats face forward, but on the LRC equipment, some seats face backward, contrary to the North American standard. Hot meals, drinks, and snacks are sold to passengers.
  • Business Class: This is the first-class seating on VIA Rail. It is modeled similar to the old style of first class flights, where hot meals and drinks are served free of charge. Business Class offers customers individual, more spacious seating, with all seats facing the front of the train (with the exception of 2 four-seaters in each car), window blinds, hot three-course meals complete with wine and liqueurs, in-seat AC outlets and Wi-Fi access. Business class passengers are also offered priority boarding and first access to the Panorama lounges at certain stations. 
  • Economy Class Seating
  • Sleeper: Provided to late night passengers and passengers on long routes. Sleeper cars offer single, double, and triple bedrooms and berth sections, including bunkbeds, a chair, and a private bathroom. Each Sleeper car also contains a public shower.
Route Specific
  • Sleeper Touring Class: Available on The Canadian and The Ocean. This is a deluxe inclusive package which features a Sleeper accomodation, three meals a day in the dining car, access to the Skyline or the Park car, and access to the lounges at the departing stations.
  • Touring Class: Only available on the Jasper - Prince Rupert train. This will give you access to the Park car on board the Skeena. The Touring Deluxe package gives passengers seating in the Panorama car. The touring class only operates from May to September.
On Board Amenities
  • Smoking is prohibited on all VIA Rail trains
  • Washrooms are provided for each car
  • VIA Rail offers checked luggage for it's longer trips, however in the Corridor, only certain trains have luggage cars.
  • VIA Rail offers accommodation for passengers in wheelchairs but it is very limited. Each train may only accommodate one passenger in a wheelchair, however there is limited storage for the wheelchairs of passengers who can transfer into a seat
  • It also offers assistance to those who need more time to board the train. Platform heights vary in different stations so the 'bridge' or gap in between platform and train must be paid attention to.

What's Your Destination?

VIA Rail offers many routes across Canada, that go by the following names and pass through the following cities:

Canadian

  • Toronto, Sudbury, Hornepayne, Sioux Lookout, Winnepeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Jasper, Kamloops, Vancouver
Ocean
  • Halifax, Truro, Moncton, Campbellton, Montreal
Montreal-Gaspe Train
  • Gaspe, Perce, Rimouski, Montreal
Montreal-Senneterre Train
  • Senneterre, Montreal
Montreal-Jonquiere Train
  • Jonquiere, Montreal
Sudbury-White River Train
  • Sudbury, Cartier, Chapleau, White River
Winnepeg-Churchill Train
  • Winnepeg, Dauphin, Canora, The Pas, Thompson, Gillam, Churchill
Jasper-Prince Rupert Train
  • Jasper, Prince George, Prince Rupert
Victoria-Courtenay Train
  • Victoria, Nanaimo, Courtenay
Corridor
  • Montreal-Ottawa
  • Montreal-Quebec City
  • Toronto-Kingston-Montreal
  • Toronto-Niagara Falls
  • Toronto-Kingston-Ottawa
  • Toronto-London-Sarnia
  • Toronto-London-Windsor

VIA Rail - The Facts

Via Rail is the the leader of service excellence in passenger transportation. As an independent Crown corporation, VIA Rail was established in 1978, running a scheduled 150 trains per week on 4 railroads. Today, VIA Rail boasts a whopping 3000 employees, 480 scheduled trains per week including 300 in Southern Ontario and Quebec. VIA runs on 14,000 km of track across Canada serving 450 communities, carrying 3.9 million passengers per year. VIA Rail runs in 8 of 10 Canadian provinces, excluding Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island.