Passenger Trains > VIA RAIL Announces New "Black & Blue" Service

** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ** July 5, 2006

Following the lead of its U.S. counterpart Amtrak, VIA RAIL CANADA announced today some major service cutbacks on its transcontinental rail passenger service.

In a cost cutting maneuver, the railroad announced the inauguration of its new "Black and Blue" service, informally known as "Cardboard Class." Under this new programme, passengers will be able to view the scenic beauty of the Canadian Rockies from the comfort and convenience of a cardboard cut-out of the original Budd-built stainless steel passenger cars that first entered service in 1955. The cardboard cutouts will be transported on the back of flatbed trucks traveling along the Trans-Canada Highway.

"Since our stainless steel fleet has been in continuous service for over fifty years, we figured we would actually be improving our product line by converting to the cardboard cutouts and truck transport. Let's face it, the scenery looks just as good whether you're looking at it from a genuine train or from a cardboard facsimile." said Dudley Doo Wright, Manager of VIA Service Curtailments. "By traveling the Trans Canada Highway, we will once again be able to serve the resort towns of Banff and Lake Louise on a schedule that will actually be faster than rail. With this new service, our passenger "trains" will no longer be subjected to endless delays caused by the many freight trains on Canadian National and Canadian Pacific tracks. CN and CP are very enthusiastic about this new conversion, as it opens up much needed capacity on their already over-crowded freight corridors. We are more than happy to assist our freight railroad partners so that Canada can remain competitive in the global marketplace. We're confident our passengers will feel the same way, even though there may be some cases of frostbite in the winter months." said Doo Wright.

"Right now, we're having an informal contest with Amtrak to see which carrier can downgrade their services to the fullest with the least amount of negative impact on our valued customers." said Doo Wright. "Our joint motto is 'How low can you go?' "

An unidentified Amtrak spokesperson confirmed that the carrier recently downgraded their dining car service. "Fortunately, a new batch of riders, who never experienced the "good ol' days" of meals cooked on board trains, thinks our glorified TV dinners are the greatest thing since sliced bread. Boy, did we luck out!"

Here's a photograph of VIA RAIL CANADA'S new "Black & Blue" Service:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v679/Dave_Des/Trains_II/Park_Car.jpg


(This was too good to wait until April 1, 2007 to release. Thanks to Walter Zullig for passing it along!)

I suppose Amtrak could try this, too. After a trip on the Coast Starlight, a passenger would be "Black & Blue..."

- gb -

Sad state the Coast Starlight is in currently - this was once a great train, and once promoted as the premiere train of the West (Coast). As such, it was comparable to VIA Rail Canada's premiere Canadian.

Now, I don't recommend the Coast Starlight for travel to anyone (except northbound from LAX to the Bay Area). Glad I travelled on it when I did!

I would recommend travelling aboard the Empire Builder though. Amtrak has done a descent job in preserving this long distance train. Completed a great journey on this train a few weeks ago.

Now it appears the Empire Builder is the premiere long distance train in the whole Amtrak system - but unfortunately the scenery is not as superior as some of the other long distance trains in Amtraks's long distance fleet (i.e. CA Zephyr and Coast Starlight). For me, the Southwest Chief and Empire Builder are tied for third in terms of best scenery.

The Capitol Limited and CA Zephyr would make a great combination for a premiere Amtrak coast to coast, long distance train - something on par with the current Empire Builder and VIA Rail's Canadian. But still retain the change at Chicago between these two trains etc. Unfortunately the Capitol Limited and CA Zephyr suffer under dispatching issues from the UP (west of Denver) and CSX (Capitol Limited east of Pittsburgh).

But the current administration (i.e. political leaders and Amtrak Board) is more in tune with hampering the long distance onboard experience, rather than enhancing it.