How can Canada run a passenger railway when you look at the Amtrak tracker and there number one & two trains run up to 24 hours late almost everday, sometimes more. THE CANADIAN
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
VIA Rail is limited to running on the Canadian National system mostly, and every freight train has priority over Via. It's definitely not the way to travel except for rich vacationers with an open-ended timetable. The southern corridor is like the US North-East with a fast commuter service, but elsewhere it's hurry up and wait. Even Via's website tells you not to book connecting travel on the same days as your Via arrivals and departures, and their reviews are hot and cold. Definitely not the scene from the old railroad posters.
railroad man posted:How can Canada run a passenger railway when you look at the Amtrak tracker and there number one & two trains run up to 24 hours late almost everday, sometimes more. THE CANADIAN
I'm not sure what you're saying... Are you saying the Canadian is always late or Amtracker is the late one? Don't forget there are a much less freight trains daily north of the border to tie things up.
Yes they are late frequently 
but that also means they have to feed you more 
Aren’t there other passenger trains on CP like Calgary-Vancouver? The Royal Canadian Pacific and Royal Mountaineer?
Robert K posted:Aren’t there other passenger trains on CP like Calgary-Vancouver? The Royal Canadian Pacific and Royal Mountaineer?
Yes there are, but they are private rail outfits geared to the "rail cruise" customer as opposed to scheduled passenger service. If you do travel on The Canadian, you might still experience the sight of canoes and/or quarters of moose-meat being loaded into the baggage car at request stops in Northern Ontario.
https://albinger.me/2011/09/01...oke-over-wabakimi-2/
We were about 10 hours late on our three day trek a few years ago. That just meant I got to watch more trains go by! From what I saw there are two kinds of travelers on VIA. The first are the first class passengers for whom the journey & experience is the important thing (that was us.) Many of these seemed to be what I call "adventure travelers" from around the world. (Again, I'm in that group.) The second group were those mostly looking for a cheap & highly subsidized way to travel long distances (mostly students.)
Kent in SD
Attachments
Images (1)
I rode The Canadian from Jasper to Toronto a few years ago. It was on time arriving in Jasper and about 4 hours late getting into Toronto. The CZ that I took from Oakland, CA to Chicago was also about 4 hours late arriving in Chicago. Four to six hours late seems to be the normal delay on the long distance passenger trains that I have ridden.
I rode both trains in the summer. I imagine that trains would have bigger delays during the winter because of bad weather. NH Joe
railroad man posted:How can Canada run a passenger railway when you look at the Amtrak tracker and there number one & two trains run up to 24 hours late almost everday, sometimes more. THE CANADIAN
- First-class onboard service.
- Equipment that is among the best anywhere.
- Scenery.
- It's Canada and the people are very nice.
- Travelers with time constraints willingly use other means of transportation.
That's how they do it.
My experience with Via has only been with travel in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. I realize it is not cross country like the Canadian.
Montreal to Toronto (morning) always an hour or so late on a 4.5 hour trip due to waiting for CN freight.
Toronto to Montreal (evening) always gets in right on schedule within minutes.
