# The Canadian 2 Toronto connection



## Chessie (Jun 6, 2019)

With the current summer schedule anyone knows how the train 2 is doing timing wise? I am allowing 15 hours for delay before flying out of Toronto, is it cutting it too close?

And where is the most convenient electric outlet to use if I book a lower section? Last time we had access to a cabin but this time I am traveling by myself from Vancouver over the holiday weekend and I expect a full train. 

TIA!


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## willem (Jun 6, 2019)

Check the performance by editing the date in the following URL and then visiting the web page.
http://reservia.viarail.ca/tsi/GetT...siTrainNumber=2-&TrainInstanceDate=2019-05-03

Sorry, no information about outlets in the sections. In the Skyline dome car, I only saw two outlets, and one was in the hallway. The other one had a Via-supplied power strip with 110 volt and USB outlets; I never saw it fully used.


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## Bob Dylan (Jun 6, 2019)

willem said:


> Check the performance by editing the date in the following URL and then visiting the web page.
> http://reservia.viarail.ca/tsi/GetT...siTrainNumber=2-&TrainInstanceDate=2019-05-03
> 
> Sorry, no information about outlets in the sections. In the Skyline dome car, I only saw two outlets, and one was in the hallway. The other one had a Via-supplied power strip with 110 volt and USB outlets; I never saw it fully used.


There are No outlets in the Sections but the Park Car has several you can use ( None in the Dome)when the Premium Passengers aren't enjoying the exclusive use that they paid dearly for!


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## zephyr17 (Jun 6, 2019)

Yesterday, #2 arrived after 8 pm, which is the worst I've seen on the new schedule. I have been tracking it as I have a similar concern, being booked on the Maple Leaf the following morning at 8:15. It had been over 12 hours at some points in the journey, but the schedule is hugely padded. Under the 2 most recent schedules, the train is no longer routinely 24 hours or more late as it was before they introduced last summer's schedule.

You have a 5:30 am flight out of Pearson (15 hours after #2's scheduled arrival of 2:29 pm)? Which means you ought to get to Pearson by 3:30 or 4 am. It isn't a totally safe bet, but chances are very, very good you'll make it, barring CN putting another oil train on the ground again. You might not get much in way of a good night's sleep before your flight, though.

I have a similar concern, which is why I am tracking the train's performance. I am taking the 8:15 am Maple Leaf the next morning on my upcoming trip in November, so I will have about 18 hours.

As noted, there are no outlets in the sections. Don't know about the Skylines, never looked. Lots of outlets in the non-dome areas of the Prestige Park. There is an outlet in the bathroom right next to the sections. I've seen chargers in there (I use the section bathroom at night when I don't want to fool with the bed in my roomette).

PS - If you do have a 5:30 am flight, the Union-Pearson Express, the best and most reasonable way to get out to Pearson from downtown Toronto, doesn't run between 1 am and 4:55 am.


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## Chessie (Jun 6, 2019)

I just double checked my ticket and it says:

Car 222 unit 03L 

Is there a way to tell if car 222 is closer to the front or the tail end of the train? Manor or Chateau? Also anyone knows if berth 03L is at the same side of the Cabin for 2’s? 

I would like to call VIA to move to a manor car toward the tail but I would want to know which car number to ask.


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## Chessie (Jun 6, 2019)

zephyr17 said:


> Yesterday, #2 arrived after 8 pm, which is the worst I've seen on the new schedule. I have been tracking it as I have a similar concern, being booked on the Maple Leaf the following morning at 8:15. It had been over 12 hours at some points in the journey, but the schedule is hugely padded. Under the 2 most recent schedules, the train is no longer routinely 24 hours or more late as it was before they introduced last summer's schedule.
> 
> You have a 5:30 am flight out of Pearson (15 hours after #2's scheduled arrival of 2:29 pm)? Which means you ought to get to Pearson by 3:30 or 4 am. It isn't a totally safe bet, but chances are very, very good you'll make it, barring CN putting another oil train on the ground again. You might not get much in way of a good night's sleep before your flight, though.
> 
> ...



My transborder flight is at 10 am the next day which means I will need to be at the airport around 7 am which means I need to be at the Union Station for the UP express around 6 am, or 6:30 am the latest, which gives me 15 hours of cushion. I am hoping for the best but mentally prepared for the worst. 

As for the outlets I am thinking since I will have access to coach cars I will find an empty seat after the train empties out after the Rockies to charge the electronics. Not sure it’s a feasible solution.


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## zephyr17 (Jun 6, 2019)

Ah, OK, you were basing the 15 hours for departure from Union Station, not the flight. The 15 hours makes more sense then, I was thinking that was an awfully early flight. Your time frame is only a couple hours different than mine. I'm risking it.

Depending on where you are sitting, coach could be a long trek, there are usually only a coach or two at the front of the train, not sure how much it'll empty out, many people up there will be local passengers. IMHO, you're best bet is to bring a power strip and use the outlet in the bathroom next to your section and let others partake of your power strip. There are only 3 sections, at most 6 passengers in berths, including you, in the car.


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## Trogdor (Jun 6, 2019)

When I took the Canadian a couple months ago, they had charger outlets in the lower level of the Skyline car next to my sleeper.


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## zephyr17 (Jun 6, 2019)

Sorry, don't know about the side the berth is on. Looked at the Manor car diagram on the VIA website, but it only has the accommodation identifiers for the Cabins for 2 on the chart. The Chateau diagram has the numbers for the roomettes and the sections, and the section numbering on those is the opposite side from the roomette numbering.

They switched the Sleeper Plus sleeper car line number order from front to back to back to front last year. The rearmost sleeper is 210, so 222 should be pretty far forward. I am in 212 for my trip, I tried for 210 but the roomettes are full in 210.

Most sleepers on the Canadian are Manors. Chateaus are the exception, but they do show up, particularly in high season. VIA will know whether your car is a Manor or a Chateau. I travel in roomettes, and I hate the Chateau roomettes. Berths didn't look any different between the two to me.


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## Urban Sky (Jun 7, 2019)

I've been tracking the on-time performance of the Canadian with (publicly accessible) data from VIA's reservation system since January 2018 and the timetable changes had the following effect:


Source: compiled from VIA Rail website (by manually changing the date stamp in URL)
Data divided by timetable periods, as follows: 2018/01/01-2018/07/24 for "2018", 2018/07/26-2019/04/27 for "2018/2019" and since 2019/04/29 for "Summer 2019" (dates provided for the scheduled departure day at the train's origin, i.e. Toronto for train 1 and Vancouver for train 2).

The 10 worst delays for train 2 arriving in Toronto have been since the first timetable change on 2018/07/26 (shown are the arrival times, as recorded on ReserVIA):
#1: 06:47 (2018/10/07)
#2: 05:05 (2019/02/15)
#3: 03:13 (2019/02/26)
#4: 02:43 (2019/01/04)
#5: 00:23 (2019/02/23)
#6: 00:04 (2019/03/01)
#7: 22:24 (2019/02/01)
#8: 22:15 (2019/01/18)
#9: 21:52 (2019/02/05)
#10: 20:44 (2019/05/31)

That means that out of 99 departures, 6 (6.1%) trains arrived in Toronto after midnight, while 2 trains were terminated in Jasper (2019/01/25) or Winnipeg (2019/02/22).



As for the line-up of the cars, it currently is (from front-to-back) 02-03-20-21-22-(23)-10-11-12-13-14-15-30-31-39, but it has been 02-(03)-(18-17-16)-15-14-13-12-11-10-30-(31)-39 before the start of this year's peak season and could therefore change again completely in October...


I hope this helps, but please don't take any of this as anything close to an official answer or with any guarantee of being correct...


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## Chessie (Jun 7, 2019)

Many thanks to all of you. Really appreciate the info.

February seems to have the worst time keeping. Probably whether related? 

@Urban Sky or anyone who has insights, do you know which numbers are for the dining cars and dome cars?


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## zephyr17 (Jun 7, 2019)

Diners and lounges do no have car line numbers.

With that said, with Urban Skys consist the coach Skyline is between the last coach (03) and the first sleeper (20). They've been running the skyline/diner combination at the rear of the respective sections lately, iirc, so the first sleeper Skyline and diner would be between 22 (23) and 10. The second Skyline and diner would be between 15 and 30. The Park Car is 39. It has a line number because it is a combination Prestige sleeper/dome/lounge/obs.


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## Chessie (Jun 7, 2019)

zephyr17 said:


> Diners and lounges do no have car line numbers.
> 
> With that said, with Urban Skys consist the coach Skyline is between the last coach (03) and the first sleeper (20). They've been running the skyline/diner combination at the rear of the respective sections lately, iirc, so the first sleeper Skyline and diner would be between 22 (23) and 10. The second Skyline and diner would be between 15 and 30. The Park Car is 39. It has a line number because it is a combination Prestige sleeper/dome/lounge/obs.



Are 30 and 31 Prestige cars?


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## willem (Jun 7, 2019)

Chessie said:


> [...] do you know which numbers are for the dining cars and dome cars?



Sleeper class dining cars and domes had letters on my recent trip. An economy class dome had neither number nor letter.

Here is the numbering from my recent trip (and is consistent with what *Urban Sky* posted), with info taken from a board posted in Vancouver: 1, 2, Skyline, 220, 221, 222, Skyline A, Dining A, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, Skyline B, Dining B, DH, 231, 230, 239. All 22x and 21x cars were Manor cars, DH was Chateau, 231 and 230 were Prestige, and 239 was Park. I could try to post a picture of the board, but it has a lot of reflection from the glass front.


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## zephyr17 (Jun 7, 2019)

willem said:


> Sleeper class dining cars and domes had letters on my recent trip. An economy class dome had neither number nor letter.
> 
> Here is the numbering from my recent trip (and is consistent with what *Urban Sky* posted), with info taken from a board posted in Vancouver: 1, 2, Skyline, 220, 221, 222, Skyline A, Dining A, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, Skyline B, Dining B, DH, 231, 230, 239. All 22x and 21x cars were Manor cars, DH was Chateau, 231 and 230 were Prestige, and 239 was Park. I could try to post a picture of the board, but it has a lot of reflection from the glass front.


If you listen to VIA onboard crew on their radio channel, you'll find that the "A" and "B" they're referring to the sleeper sections of the train. In a lot of ways they treat it like 2 (or 3) trains coupled together for OBS purposes. So those are the A section's diner and Skyline and the B section's diner and Skyline. When about to depart a staton, you'll hear them call in "Economy closed...A closed...B closed". Prestige is treated like part of "B" as far as I can tell.

DH is deadhead. They've been putting a non-revenue Chateau between Sleeper Plus and Prestige and using at least some of it for crew space. Last trip, the train manager was in that Chateau's drawing room.


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## zephyr17 (Jun 7, 2019)

Chessie said:


> Are 30 and 31 Prestige cars?


Yes, 30, 31 are Prestige Chateaus.


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