Canadian Railroads > VIA is warning passengers re: expected delays to #1 & 2

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has written to VIA suggesting that passengers should be warned at the time of booking that delays to the Canadian should be expected. The reply I received allegedly from the CEO said that passengers are contacted when there is a known delay but as delays cannot be anticipated in advance no warning is given.  That, of course, wasn't what I was asking for.

As of yesterday, the notice reproduced below, appears when accessing the booking system Reservia.

(!) While VIA endeavors to operate on time , the realities of increased freight traffic on tracks that we do not own may give rise to significant delays. We suggest that you do not arrange connecting transportation on the day of your arrival.

Despite the warning about same-day  connections, if you ask for a Vancouver - Montreal routing, Reservia still offers a two-hour connection with #64 from Toronto to Montreal.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/15 07:29 by DrawingroomA.

DrawingroomA Wrote:
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>
> Despite the warning about same-day  connections,
> if you ask for a Vancouver - Montreal routing,
> Reservia still offers a two-hour connection with
> #64 from Toronto to Montreal.

While still not the best situation...I believe if the connection to #64 was booked in conjunction with #2....VIA would then be responsible for your meals, hotel or alternate transportation.

But if you missed that non-refundable bargin flight you booked yourself with a tight connection....you’re on your own.

so, does No.2 actually ever make that connection in Toronto to No.64 ?

The_Chief_Way Wrote:
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> so, does No.2 actually ever make that connection
> in Toronto to No.64 ?

My VIA "contacts" at Toronto Union Station told me that the Canadian arrived 30 minutes early one day about two or three months ago.  Other than that, arrivals have been between three and 16 hours late. At the present time VIA looks after passengers who miss their connection, either by re-booking to a later train the same day, or arranging a hotel for next day travel or in some rare cases a bus. If VIA is now telling people not to book same-day connections and passengers do so against this advice, it wouldn't surprise me if VIA stopped doing this.

  When the Canadian departs Toronto in the middle of the night, sleeper passengers spend the part-night in the Business Lounge (formerly known as the Panorama Lounge.)  I suppose coach passengers just sit on a station bench.  If the departure of #1 is expected in the morning - and I don't know what the actual time limit is - hotels are provided. This is obviously a major endeavour because the summer-length train usually has 10 to 14 sleepers and many departures are sold out.  Several days ago tonight's train was marked as sold out, so that is a lot of hotel rooms to be booked.  I've been told that when rooms are not available downtown, hotels are often booked near the airport or even Oakville (20 miles west) or Oshawa (30 miles east.)

The Canadian arrived in Toronto at 03:00 today. According to an angry posting on VIA's Facebook page, passengers who didn't want to join the queue for a hotel assignment if they were catching an early morning train were told they could wait in the station until the Business Class lounge opened at 06:00.  Security had other ideas - the station is owned by the City of Toronto, not VIA -  and threatened to drag the passengers out on to the street. Fortunately the lounge opened early and a nasty scene was averted.  The posting may disappear soon, not because it is negative, but because of some "naughty" language. 

I rode the Jonquire remote train last week.
1-1/4 hours late north, as usual for that train, with no freight intreference because of CN's rotten track. For that I blame VIA for not adjusing their schedule.
On the way back, CN stuck us on a siding twice, which we had to back into, for 40 minutes each for freight. Between that, and the bad track, we arrived Montreal 2 hours late.

CN managed to stab Amtrak's southbound Adirondack on Sunday for a 15 minute sit outside of St Jean Sur Richelieu. Even 4 freights a day are not kept out of the way of the twice daily passenger train. Amtrak also needs to stretch their schedule 10 minutes between the border and St Lambert because of CN's lousy track. Most of the way between Brossard and St Jean is only good for 30 MPH.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/15 12:41 by joemvcnj.

The Canadian finally departed Toronto Union at 11:40 (13 hours 40 minutes late.)  The 12 sleepers were apparently full - Reservia had shown them as sold out for a few days - but there were very few passengers in the three coaches.

Do you think that the travel agents who fill this train with foreign tourists will soon start to avoid putting their high-end patrons through this? Maybe it's already happening?

DrawingroomA Wrote:
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> The Canadian finally departed Toronto Union at
> 11:40 (13 hours 40 minutes late.)  The 12
> sleepers were apparently full - Reservia had shown
> them as sold out for a few days - but there were
> very few passengers in the three coaches.

This is back to the old 1992 schedule of the Canadian! Would be great if they could make it across in three nights and four days!

stuporchief Wrote:
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> Do you think that the travel agents who fill this
> train with foreign tourists will soon start to
> avoid putting their high-end patrons through this?
> Maybe it's already happening?

I am sure the travel agents know the drill and this is one of the reasons VIA puts passengers up in hotels for the evening. Then I am sure the travel agents build in time at the end of the trip - or at least I hope they do!!!