Connections from Canadian to Corridor trains?

[thully]

I’m currently booked on the Canadian leaving Vancouver on November 18th, arriving in Toronto on November 22nd. I was originally planning on staying overnight in Toronto for a night or two before continuing to Windsor on the Corridor (and ultimately returning to Michigan). However, it seems Taylor Swift has shot the hotel prices up for that weekend, and I’d really prefer to just get down to Windsor that same day, even if I have to stay overnight there (I was planning on using the Tunnel Bus+D2A2 to get back to Ann Arbor, and that doesn’t run very late).

Does anyone have experience with how reliable this connection is, and what VIA might do in the case of a missed connection? It does seem like the 7:45pm train to Windsor (train 79) is offered on a single booking, and if on-time 75 would be makable as well. I could do a hotel further out, though if I’m going to be out by the airport or in some suburb I’d rather get home sooner.

 

[zephyr17]

The Canadian's timekeeping is always iffy, generally much more so than Amtrak. The Canadian has generally been doing pretty well at endpoints the last couple years, but things can happen on any trip.

With that said, if a connection is offered on a single ticket, that is a guaranteed connection and VIA will take care of you like Amtrak does. However, like Amtrak at Chicago, if downtown hotels (Swisshotel for Amtrak, Royal York for VIA) are booked you may have a long ride out to the burbs and back.

If you are up against Taylor Swift crowds, it is probably worth it shift the risk and cost onto VIA. But only do so on a Corridor train that is offered on a single booking. Again, like Amtrak, if a connection is booked on separate reservations, you're on your own. If the Canadian gets in on time or early (last time I rode it it was almost 2 hours early to Toronto), you can always ask to have your ticket shifted to an earlier train.

 

[railiner]

I was on VIA #1 on April 7-11, and took a chance booking a same day trip from Vanvouver to Stanwood, WA on Amtrak.
I did have over 8 hours to make the connection, and we arrived only 2 hours late.

I didn't really have a “Plan B” if we misconnected, so glad it worked out…

 

[thully]

The one issue is that I currently have a reservation from Vancouver to Toronto - booked that the day it became available on the reservation system, but at that point was unsure about plans in Toronto. Given that, the price (in points) has gone up since then, and I obviously don’t want to redo the reservation at the current price of the cabin.

I was talking to one VIA Preference agent who was looking into options but didn't get the chance to finish the call since I got another call I had to take - called back later and the other person seemed to want to make a separate reservation and “link” them (and didn’t know of any guarantees besides putting you on the next train, which in this case would be the next day).

Any suggestions here? Also, if I do the connection, is there a place to leave your bags in Toronto Union Station, and are you allowed to use the business lounge as an arriving sleeper passenger who is in economy the following leg?

The Canadian's timekeeping is always iffy, generally much more so than Amtrak. The Canadian has generally been doing pretty well at endpoints the last couple years, but things can happen on any trip.

With that said, if a connection is offered on a single ticket, that is a guaranteed connection and VIA will take care of you like Amtrak does. However, like Amtrak at Chicago, if downtown hotels (Swisshotel for Amtrak, Royal York for VIA) are booked you may have a long ride out to the burbs and back.

If you are up against Taylor Swift crowds, it is probably worth it shift the risk and cost onto VIA. But only do so on a Corridor train that is offered on a single booking. Again, like Amtrak, if a connection is booked on separate reservations, you're on your own. If the Canadian gets in on time or early (last time I rode it it was almost 2 hours early to Toronto), you can always ask to have your ticket shifted to an earlier train.

 

[zephyr17]

According to the viarail.ca, use of Toronto's Business Lounge is allowed on arrival since it isn't on the exclusion list of stations where access on arrival isn't allowed. However, to the best of my recollection, it does not have a luggage storage area. Perhaps they will allow storage behind the desk or in a conference room like they do in Amtrak’s LA lounge (also without a storage room), but that is just speculation. VIA's Business Lounges generally don't seem to have luggage storage in my recollection (I have been in Toronto's, Montreal's, and Vancouver's) so perhaps it isn't a thing for them.

As to having separate reservations, I don't know if actual linking of reservations is possible in VIA's brand, spanking new reservations system. I know such "linking" in Amtrak’s antique system is just a manual note and won't cause the system to spit out your itinerary when generating lists of misconnecting passengers for rebooking/hotels.

 

[Urban Sky]

According to the viarail.ca, use of Toronto's Business Lounge is allowed on arrival since it isn't on the exclusion list of stations where access on arrival isn't allowed. However, to the best of my recollection, it does not have a luggage storage area. Perhaps they will allow storage behind the desk or in a conference room like they do in Amtrak’s LA lounge (also without a storage room), but that is just speculation. VIA's Business Lounges generally don't seem to have luggage storage in my recollection (I have been in Toronto's, Montreal's, and Vancouver's) so perhaps it isn't a thing for them.

Baggage storage in Toronto (or at other major stations where such service is offered) is not at the Business Lounge, but at the baggage reclaim, when you descend the ramp from the main hall to the departure area, to the right:



https://www.viarail.ca/en/plan/baggages/station-checkroom

https://www.viarail.ca/en/explore-our-destinations/stations/ontario/toronto

 

[zephyr17]

Baggage storage in Toronto is not at the Business Lounge, but at the baggage reclaim, when you descend the ramp from the main hall to the departure area, to the right:


View attachment 36809
https://www.viarail.ca/en/plan/baggages/station-checkroom
View attachment 36810
https://www.viarail.ca/en/explore-our-destinations/stations/ontario/toronto

Thanks for clarifying.

Most Amtrak Metropolitan Lounges have free, though unsecured, baggage storage available. That's in addition to paid ($10/bag) day check available at Amtrak baggage counters, similar to the VIA service you reference. So the question of lounges having free storage available is a logical one for many here.

 

[railiner]

Baggage storage in Toronto is not at the Business Lounge, but at the baggage reclaim, when you descend the ramp from the main hall to the departure area, to the right:


View attachment 36809
https://www.viarail.ca/en/plan/baggages/station-checkroom
View attachment 36810
https://www.viarail.ca/en/explore-our-destinations/stations/ontario/toronto

That's what I did at Vancouver...we arrived from Sleeper Plus class, and were connecting to Amtrak later that day. They checked all four of our bags, and we were free to explore Vancouver for the six hour layover, unencumbered.
We retrieved them an hour before Amtrak departure...

 

[thully]

Thanks for the advice - currently undecided as to what I’m going to do. I did find a Holiday Inn near Oakville VIA/GO station with a reasonable price for the overnight, but I’m afraid they’ll cancel my reservation and jack up the price as hotels sometimes do when they sell a room at a reasonable rate on what turns out to be a high-demand day. Could also use points at some airport/suburban hotels, though I may rather save those…

If I connected I’d still be staying overnight, but in Windsor (unless I could get a taxi/Uber across the border and one the rest of the way at midnight - that would cost as much as the hotel and trying to do that at midnight in Detroit doesn’t sound great). Though I’d still get home earlier regardless, as I could catch a morning Tunnel Bus if staying in Windsor (may even get a hotel next to the transit hub it stops at). May call VIA again and see what they can do as far as stitching the reservations together.

 

[railiner]

Thanks for the advice - currently undecided as to what I’m going to do. I did find a Holiday Inn near Oakville VIA/GO station with a reasonable price for the overnight, but I’m afraid they’ll cancel my reservation and jack up the price as hotels sometimes do when they sell a room at a reasonable rate on what turns out to be a high-demand day.

If you paid in full in advance, I don’t believe they would or could, cancel your reservation and resell for that reason…

 

[jiml]

If you paid in full in advance, I don’t believe they would or could, cancel your reservation and resell for that reason…

I think the reference might be to the recent controversy of hotels in Niagara Falls (both Canada and US sides) doing exactly that during the recent eclipse demand. It was a significant break with established norms and there was considerable media coverage of the many cases.

 

[thully]

I called VIA back to see if they could add the connecting train to Windsor to my reservation, and they said they could only do that if I cancelled and rebooked at the current points value. Also said that train #2 has been running late and cautioned that I may not make that transfer (and that they don’t really guarantee it). Given that (I also got a similar answer when I called a few days ago to ask questions about upcoming changes to baggage/points redemptions), I ended up booking the Holiday Inn in Oakville next to the VIA station and a train the next day.

Side note - I booked the train from Toronto instead of Oakville in case the hotel were to cancel on me (something I’m a bit leery of with Taylor Swift there) - and most of my other options would involve a subway ride to Union. Changing the ticket then would mean I get charged the new bag fees/points values, which I did not want - since they said I could board in Oakville if I let them know I figured that made sense. So at least that’s taken care of - would have liked the option to connect on Friday, but the cost of getting across the border and back to Ann Arbor late (or a hotel in Windsor) is not that much less than I’m paying in Oakville. Ended up being about $300 CAD/night, which given the circumstances seemed great - fingers crossed.