OK, I confess. I’m going to be taking VIA Rail’s trans-Canada train again. In the middle of April, following the annual meeting of the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) in Washington, I’ll take Amtrak up to Toronto, then board VIA’s train #1, the Canadian, for the ride to Vancouver on the Pacific Coast. …
Amtrak has just announced that Business Class will now be an option for passengers on the Cardinal. Initial reaction has been positive, and why not? Certainly any upgrade in service anywhere these days is welcome. It’s not clear at the moment what the specifics are, but the best guess is half of a café car…
As advocates for passenger rail in the U.S., we look at VIA Rail up north and ask ourselves, How the hell do they do it? With the same lack of government support that shackles Amtrak, how does VIA manage to keep operating their premier train, The Canadian, at such a high standard? It is, after…
To re-cap briefly, several years ago, my wife and I took the Rocky Mountaineer from Vancouver to Banff. It was a two-day trip, which included a night in a hotel in Kamloops. Our baggage was tagged in Vancouver and taken on ahead by truck to Kamloops and then again to Banff, magically reappearing in our…