of coaches in the Quebec-Windsor rail corridor, but some of its older trains now require “buffer cars” on either end to ensure crashworthiness, raising doubts as to how long certain cars in the fleet can remain in service.Until the 1970s, Canada’s two largest freight railways, Canadian National and Canadian Pacific, operated most of the country’s passenger trains.
This summer, our sleeping car to Winnipeg was Blair Manor, named for 19th-century New Brunswick premier Andrew George Blair. Our bedrooms were “spacious apartments by day,” complete with “four easy chairs, two picture windows and two disappearing beds in each room,” as well as “plenty of lights, luxurious carpets, air foam mattresses [and] snowy linen.”
The CN fleet was built from mild steel rather than stainless, and extensive corrosion precluded rebuilding. To replace these cars, VIA purchased second-hand Budd coaches from American railways and refurbished them. These cars were introduced in 1996 and are still in daily service in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. The newest of these cars is 69 years old; five just celebrated their 75th birthdays.
If you look at train timetables from 100 years ago, the travel times are not that much different than today on the few routes left. If you google map train times in Europe they are often faster than driving.
Trains and railway system in Canada is a joke when compared to the ones in Europe 😞
our rail system in Canada is embarrassingly archaic compared to the developed countries. you reach destination faster and arguably cheaper using your car highspeed trains would benefit us immensely
It is inappropriate to divert tax dollars that should be spent on healthcare and education to increase subsidies to VIA rail, when private for-profit passenger aviation is already doing the job. Air travel is also the most emissions efficient. cdnpoli
Trains should be the focus along certain corridors. Need passenger rail to have separate tracks from freight. Additional fees on short haul flights to fund rail travel
Too expensive