# DownieLive: VIA Economy vs. Business class to Windsor



## jiml (Oct 14, 2021)

Another in Mr. Downie's series on Canadian rail travel. Here he compares coach to business class on VIA's service to Windsor, ON. Also of interest is his tour of the Windsor waterfront and reference to reclaiming railway land as parkland. This shows clearly the hurdle faced by through Amtrak/VIA service between Windsor and Detroit (as often discussed here), including where the tracks end today.


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## Urban Sky (Oct 14, 2021)

jiml said:


> This shows clearly the hurdle faced by through Amtrak/VIA service between Windsor and Detroit (as often discussed here), including where the tracks end today.



There is a near-universal consensus that any cross-border passenger train would cross the border underneath the river through the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel to connect with Amtrak's services at the by-then-reopened Michigan Central Station rather than taking a rail ferry like CN did until the 1950s. Therefore, the current VIA station in Walkerville will be just as misplaced for cross-border train service as the old CN station would have been...


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## jiml (Oct 15, 2021)

Urban Sky said:


> There is a near-universal consensus that any cross-border passenger train would cross the border underneath the river through the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel to connect with Amtrak's services at the by-then-reopened Michigan Central Station rather than taking a rail ferry like CN did until the 1950s. Therefore, the current VIA station in Walkerville will be just as misplaced for cross-border train service as the old CN station would have been...


No argument from me. In fact I'm one of many who have supported that hypothesis. However, the question of the present station's location has been raised several times and this video illustrates the problem with going further on the current route better than words or even a map.


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## Urban Sky (Oct 15, 2021)

jiml said:


> No argument from me. In fact I'm one of many who have supported that hypothesis. However, the question of the present station's location has been raised several times and this video illustrates the problem with going further on the current route better than words or even a map.


Now I get you! Windsor's waterfront would be so close to Detroit, but yet so far...

It really would be a shame to void all the very recent investments into Windsor's VIA station in Walkerville, but cross-border service only makes sense if it is moved to basically the old CP station site...


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## jiml (Oct 15, 2021)

As has been discussed elsewhere here, the tracks used to continue past the current point through the distillery to the shoreline where they were transferred to ferries. That was the park path he was walking next to the river. I'll give the guy credit - he does his homework.


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## Cal (Oct 15, 2021)

jiml said:


> As has been discussed elsewhere here, the tracks used to continue past the current point through the distillery to the shoreline where they were transferred to ferries. That was the park path he was walking next to the river. I'll give the guy credit - he does his homework.


I saw his Amtrak videos as well, they're great.


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