JASPER, Alberta — Anyone planning to travel on VIA Rail Canada’s Canadian, ocean or other regional trains outside the Quebec City-Windsor, Ontario corridor should leave the departure date and overnight options open. That’s because this is the first summer VIA will use a more advanced reservation system that now offers wide price swings based on the percentage of space sold for a particular train.
Navigating the VIA website
The company unveiled the long-planned upgrade last November 18 [see “VIA Rail Canada to launch new website …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 8, 2023]. Its site uses sophisticated algorithms to price accommodation for each departure or fare type to search between city pairs. VIA also tried to introduce seemingly complicated terms and fees for carry-on and checked baggage depending on the type of aircraft. However, these charges met with immediate customer backlash, so they’ve been “free for a limited time” ever since.
The main advantage of the new system, which uses the same provider and booking process as Florida’s Brightline, is that it not only shows different fares for different trains on the same date, but also lists the lowest fare for dates before and after the one selected . For example, on April 13 there were four “lowest” Toronto-Montreal coach fares (from C$96 to C$127) and six “lowest” business class fares (from C$169 to C$307 for 10- those departures for April 15. But the customer can see a range of “lowest” fares from $127 on April 13. In each class, the passenger is given different refund options (higher prices for less cancellation or refund penalties) after choosing economy or business class.
When booking a VIA non-corridor intercity or regional train, passengers are also shown the lowest economy (coach) fare for the one train departing on each departure date. But the user has to click on each day of departure to see the Sleeper Plus accommodation rates: bed, room (VIA calls this “cabin for 1”), bedroom (“cabin for 2”), bedroom Prestige (Canadian only), living room (cabin for 3) available on ocean and Winnipeg-Churchill Chateau bedrooms) and a Renaissance cabin for 2 (ocean only). However, the format is a significant improvement, as passengers are now shown a calendar of when trains depart that are less frequent than every day, rather than being directed to the “next available” when selecting a date on which the train does not run.
Best deals on sleeping places
As for the sleepers, they are the last vestige of the once ubiquitous “section” accommodation on almost every overnight passenger train in North America. Only VIA Rail Canada still offers them; stainless steel Budd equipment first entered service in 1954 and 1955! everyone A mansion and Chateau the sleeping car has three sections (one was converted into a shower cabin during the 1990 reconstruction). Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, VIA sold upper and lower berths separately; now it’s just one price for a ‘sleeper’, the cheapest place to sleep.
Travelers are more likely to find bed availability, as the corridor’s night curtain and daytime open spaces offer less privacy than rooms and bedrooms. Another reason is that one or two of the four rooms in each A mansion slept on Canadian are reserved for board employees (Chateau sleeping cars of ocean and the Winnipeg-Churchill train has eight double rooms).
Canadian advices
Starting May 1 west of Toronto and May 3 east of Vancouver, until October 31, each Canadian consists expands to eight A mansion sleeper berths, two economy coach cars, two Skyline domes, two all-inclusive restaurant cars for Sleeper Plus and Prestige Passengers and Park observation dome lounge in the rear of two Prestige sleeper cars, which Sleeper Plus passengers can also access after 16:00 (except for departures from Vancouver, BC)
It’s an expensive experience. So although the idea of spending the money to drive Canadian from Vancouver to Toronto or back on a four-night trip may be appealing, planning a layover or switching between sleeper accommodation and overnight economy can offer more value per travel dollar.
Since the Vancouver-Jasper, Alta., segment has the most patronage (there are the mountains), a News Wire spot check of six trains from May to August 2024 (as of April 14) showed the following price ranges in Canadian dollars before taxes apply. (The current exchange rate is 1,378 Canadian dollars per 1,000 US dollars; HST taxes vary by direction of travel).
All accommodation (including Premium Class, not shown) is sold out on certain trains for some segments, possibly resulting in large price differences. For example, the fare for a westbound departure from Toronto on July 17 is $1,071 to Jasper. but the Jasper-Vancouver segment of the same train is sold out. This is not a coincidence.
Timing lag still occurs, especially when exiting Vancouver rail traffic, but generous portions of recovery time still allow Canadian to return periodically on schedule.
Updates to mark regional routes
Prince Rupert, BC-Jasper with an overnight stop in Prince George, BC, (once known as skin) still works with a Park observation dome, but the one-story panoramic dome that served food in Touring Class remains on the sidelines (the cars also haven’t returned to Canadian).
Winnipeg-Churchill, Manitoba (once known as Hudson Bay) only one sleeping car is assigned and only snacks are available for purchase on the two-day trip. The crew have restaurant menus at Thompson’s, Manchester, and takeaway orders are delivered on the train during the long lunch stop there.
Travel planning
To take full advantage of the lowest fares between possible stopping points, passengers need to know the main intermediate stops. Unfortunately, VIA’s new site, like Amtrak’s website, only offers “on-demand” schedules that require the user to know the stations. The Rail Passengers Association website fills the gap by offering the following downloadable timetables that make strategic journey planning possible:
— Canadian: Toronto-Winnipeg-Jasper-Vancouver, BC
– Ocean: Montreal-Halifax, Nova Scotia
— Long-distance services: Montreal-Senneterre/Jonquiere, Quebec, Sudbury-White River, Ont., Winnipeg-Churchill, Man., and Jasper, Alta.,-Prince Rupert, BC
Getting the most out of VIA Rail Canada’s summer cross-country travel takes some effort, but experiencing the company’s unique routes, trains and service is often worth it.
