Looking for a Unique Rail Journey? Try VIA Rail’s Winnipeg-Churchill Train.

October 04, 2012 5 Comments
Without doubt, one of the most interesting and unusual train rides I’ve ever taken is operated by VIA Rail, Canada’s equivalent to Amtrak. The train, which only operates twice a week, originates in Winnipeg the biggest city in Manitoba with almost 700,000 people.  Churchill is at the far end of the train’s route and near the opposite end of the population spectrum as well.  It’s a community of less than a thousand souls located on the shores of Hudson Bay and just 600 or so air miles below the Arctic Circle. 
Just a few hours north of Winnipeg, the train stops in the town of Dauphin on the Manitoba prairie.

Between Winnipeg and Churchill, the train passes from prairie into dense forests and finally onto the tundra before reaching Hudson Bay itself. Along the way, it makes 26 scheduled stops, although the timetable lists another 54 “flag stops” where the train will stop if someone wants to get on or off.
 

A full day, and some 700 miles farther north, passengers take a stroll in the snow as the train stops in Thompson.

Every year starting in mid-October, the train runs full for six or eight weeks. That’s when polar bears appear in the Churchill area waiting to go out onto the ice when the Bay freezes over for the winter to hunt the ringed seals, essentially their only food. People come from all over the world to see these bears and I can tell you that it is a unique and thrilling experience.

The highlight of the trip is seeing polar bears in the wild … this one absolutely unafraid of our big tundra buggy.

Dog sled rides are also available for visitors although, because of climate change, there is less snow now and sometimes dog carts are substituted for the sleds. But sled or cart, it’s another extraordinary experience. Later in the winter, visitors take the train to Churchill for optimum viewing of the aurora borealis, the Northern Lights.

Because it is the only practical way in or out of many very small communities in the northern part of Manitoba – no roads link these areas with any major cities – VIA Rail is mandated to operate this train by the Canadian government. Some visitors choose to fly one way and take the train in just one direction, but either way, a trip to Churchill is an amazing and unique experience.


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