VIA Rail Canadian and the Canadians 2025

[pennyk]

From January 4, 2025 forward, please post comments discussing VIA Rail Canadian and the Canadians here. For previous posts regarding Amtrak delays, please refer to this thread, which is currently locked:

https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/via-rail-canadian-and-the-canadians.84899/

 

[traindreamer]

We enjoy Amtrak and ride about once a year. Trips are always long hauls. Our favorite though, is VIA Rail. We ride VIA at last once a year, usually round trip Vancouver to Toronto. We typically take a short run to Niagara Falls while in Toronto, and a Blue Jays game if they are in town. Yes, VIA i expensive; however, I've done a lot of comparing between Amtrak and VIA, and quite honestly, VIA isn't that much more expensive. We don't take the train on vacations because it's cheap. We take it for the love of riding the rails. We always get a sleeper. We find the service on VIA to be exceptional, and we love the old equipment. Hands down, the dining car, menu, meals, table appointments, and service are far superior to Amtrak. The dome observation car is wonderful, even if you don't go back to the Park Car. We think Amtrak is missing the boat by not putting a Prestige equivalent on their trains. The Parlour Car was a close second to the Park Car, and sadly, Amtrak took it off. Car attendants on VIA are excellent. We have always had terrific service. Always. We will gladly pay the additional cost to travel on VIA. We have taken a trip every year for the last ten years, and this year's April trip is already booked. We can hardly wait.

 

[zephyr17]

We enjoy Amtrak and ride about once a year. Trips are always long hauls. Our favorite though, is VIA Rail. We ride VIA at last once a year, usually round trip Vancouver to Toronto. We typically take a short run to Niagara Falls while in Toronto, and a Blue Jays game if they are in town. Yes, VIA i expensive; however, I've done a lot of comparing between Amtrak and VIA, and quite honestly, VIA isn't that much more expensive. We don't take the train on vacations because it's cheap. We take it for the love of riding the rails. We always get a sleeper. We find the service on VIA to be exceptional, and we love the old equipment. Hands down, the dining car, menu, meals, table appointments, and service are far superior to Amtrak. The dome observation car is wonderful, even if you don't go back to the Park Car. We think Amtrak is missing the boat by not putting a Prestige equivalent on their trains. The Parlour Car was a close second to the Park Car, and sadly, Amtrak took it off. Car attendants on VIA are excellent. We have always had terrific service. Always. We will gladly pay the additional cost to travel on VIA. We have taken a trip every year for the last ten years, and this year's April trip is already booked. We can hardly wait.

As another annual VIA Canadian rider, I completely agree.

 

[Tom C]

They are talking about having an ultra premium full width sleeper room in the new bilevel Amtrak equipment on the lower level instead of the “family bedroom” style room. It would be the full car width and have a real legit larger bed and a much better restroom.

It’s important to remember that while VIA is a bit more plugged into what railfans and others looking for a land cruise type trip in the way they operate the Canadian, Amtrak’s main mission is transportation. Amtrak’s LD trains while they may not be as nice as the Canadian provide way more transportation utility than the Canadian.

I have seen some railfans say that Amtrak should shift focus to the experience on the western routes rather than basic transportation and even saw someone suggest recently that they should consider reducing frequencies if that would give them more resources and money to provide a more unique and authentic first class on board experience and offer something closer to the Canadian. I would not support such an endeavor.

 

[MARC Rider]

I have seen some railfans say that Amtrak should shift focus to the experience on the western routes rather than basic transportation and even saw someone suggest recently that they should consider reducing frequencies if that would give them more resources and money to provide a more unique and authentic first class on board experience and offer something closer to the Canadian. I would not support such an endeavor.

Ooooo, there's this guy Richard Anderson who might make an excellent CEO of Amtrak to do that sort of thing...

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I've had good and bad customer service experiences with both Amtrak and VIA - the Canadian is 1 train that operates 2-3 times a week. Amtrak operates 3 daily trains from Chicago to the West Coast and offers pretty comparable on board services (full service dining car, sightseeing lounge car, sleepers, etc.) and the timekeeping is much better vs. VIA as well.

 

[stfletch]

Hi all,

Just joined this wonderful forum. Always loved train trips and have taken the train into University and then work pretty much my whole life. But I've never had the pleasure of taking a long distance sleeper train trip before and the real bucket list trip for me has been to take the the Canadian. So I finally took the plunge and booked the Vancouver to Toronto route on Mar 21st. And because this is probably the only time I'll do this particular journey I splurged on Prestige class (yikes it's expensive though). I'm super excited about this vacation more than perhaps any previous holiday I've taken and I wonder if any of the more regular travelers have any tips. Also my wife is disabled (Cerebral Palsy) and although she does not need a wheelchair, her mobility is definitely impacted. So any tips on what the train ride is like in terms of accessibility would also be appreciated.

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies!

 

[Tom C]

Here a lot of great things about prestige but way above my price point! Hope you enjoy the trip!

 

[Anderson]

They are talking about having an ultra premium full width sleeper room in the new bilevel Amtrak equipment on the lower level instead of the “family bedroom” style room. It would be the full car width and have a real legit larger bed and a much better restroom.

It’s important to remember that while VIA is a bit more plugged into what railfans and others looking for a land cruise type trip in the way they operate the Canadian, Amtrak’s main mission is transportation. Amtrak’s LD trains while they may not be as nice as the Canadian provide way more transportation utility than the Canadian.

I have seen some railfans say that Amtrak should shift focus to the experience on the western routes rather than basic transportation and even saw someone suggest recently that they should consider reducing frequencies if that would give them more resources and money to provide a more unique and authentic first class on board experience and offer something closer to the Canadian. I would not support such an endeavor.

I wouldn't support such an endeavor, but I wouldn't be opposed to Amtrak running a set of cars along the back of some of the Western LD trains less than daily for a "rail cruise" experience as long as it doesn't impact the overall experience. Likewise with the Canadian - coast-to-coast service really should be daily (even if it's split over two different routings that only meet in Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver), but if the Prestige service only ran on each route once a week that wouldn't be a problem per se.

I'd note that the Canadian had practical transportation utility until it dropped down below 3x/week, but once it isn't at least every-other-day the ability to use it to go places becomes painfully constrained.

 

[xzperu42]

Hi all,

Just joined this wonderful forum. Always loved train trips and have taken the train into University and then work pretty much my whole life. But I've never had the pleasure of taking a long distance sleeper train trip before and the real bucket list trip for me has been to take the the Canadian. So I finally took the plunge and booked the Vancouver to Toronto route on Mar 21st. And because this is probably the only time I'll do this particular journey I splurged on Prestige class (yikes it's expensive though). I'm super excited about this vacation more than perhaps any previous holiday I've taken and I wonder if any of the more regular travelers have any tips. Also my wife is disabled (Cerebral Palsy) and although she does not need a wheelchair, her mobility is definitely impacted. So any tips on what the train ride is like in terms of accessibility would also be appreciated.

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies!

Since you are in Prestige Class you should be right next to the Dining car and the Park Car, so you will not need to walk thru lots and lots of cars. The Prestige car staff are very helpful and will almost certainly take good care of you… and bring coffee/lattes to your room in the morning

 

[jiml]

@stfletch, here is a fairly recent review of Prestige Class that may give you some insights:



There are a couple of others on YouTube as well but this reviewer tends to deliver balanced and watchable videos.

 

[stfletch]

Thanks everyone for your replies! Appreciate it very much! It looks like they only run one prestige car in the off season, so hopefully we'll only be one car away from both the park car and dining car which will help.

 

[Old MM]

The VIA routes in Ontario are operating with the same temperatures we have in Michigan! Sure wish I understood why Amtrak is not able to do this.

 

[xzperu42]

I’m scheduled to leave on train 1 tomorrow from Toronto to Vancouver. What I assume to be my equipment (#2 arriving today) is currently pushing 20 hours late. It is not important as such as I have padded my itinerary… but I assume in the winter VIA has enough equipment for an extra train. Anyone know if this is the case?

 

[Bob Dylan]

I’m scheduled to leave on train 1 tomorrow from Toronto to Vancouver. What I assume to be my equipment (#2 arriving today) is currently pushing 20 hours late. It is not important as such as I have padded my itinerary… but I assume in the winter VIA has enough equipment for an extra train. Anyone know if this is the case?

Yes, VIA has many spares of various type cars to make up a Canadian consist!( Winter consists are much shorter than the Summer runs)

 

[OBS]

I’m scheduled to leave on train 1 tomorrow from Toronto to Vancouver. What I assume to be my equipment (#2 arriving today) is currently pushing 20 hours late. It is not important as such as I have padded my itinerary… but I assume in the winter VIA has enough equipment for an extra train. Anyone know if this is the case?

Not for that train. The same equipment will turn. May be a few hours late for servicing and crew rest...

 

[zephyr17]

Thanks everyone for your replies! Appreciate it very much! It looks like they only run one prestige car in the off season, so hopefully we'll only be one car away from both the park car and dining car which will help.

You may be in the Park car, there's one Prestige room in it.

If you are in the regular Prestige Chateau and not the Park, the Park will be one car behind, the diner one car ahead.

 

[Eternityroad]

@stfletch, here is a fairly recent review of Prestige Class that may give you some insights:



There are a couple of others on YouTube as well but this reviewer tends to deliver balanced and watchable videos.

Thanks for posting. I uduslly follow Rob and Allie of Grounded Life Travel. This was a refreshing change.

 

[xzperu42]

Not for that train. The same equipment will turn. May be a few hours late for servicing and crew rest...

VIA staff at Toronto Union Station confirmed this to be the case. They said they should send out and email update later tonight. Ticket agent figured #1 would likely be late leaving Toronto but they didn’t now specifics yet… not surprising as it isn’t here yet

Train 2 is currently a little over 20 hours late approaching Oba.

Update: received email from VIA. They are estimating 5pm departure (9:55am scheduled).

 

[stfletch]

You may be in the Park car, there's one Prestige room in it.

If you are in the regular Prestige Chateau and not the Park, the Park will be one car behind, the diner one car ahead.

That would have been cool. But according to my ticket I'm in Cabin F, which seems to be the last cabin in the Prestige Chateau.

 

[MccfamschoolMom]

Also my wife is disabled (Cerebral Palsy) and although she does not need a wheelchair, her mobility is definitely im

I remembered seeing a YouTube video once about an Accessible Cabin on the Ocean, but couldn't find it yesterday. The VIA website recommended that passengers with mobility issues not attempt climbing a ladder into an upper berth (won't be an issue for you in Prestige class), but didn't mention any Accessible Cabins (similar to the Handicapped Bedroom on Amtrak trains).