Canadian Railroads > Canadian Bedroom F/A and Park car access

VIA has a great sale going on this week. I reserved a bedroom on #2 from Vancouver to Toronto. I asked for bedroom F but none were available. The agent told me that bedroom A is also larger than the others. She also told me that I would have full access to the Park car. Was she correct?

Here’s VIA’s Park Car Policy:

http://www.viarail.ca/sites/all/files/media/lecanadien/AMENITIES_ENG.pdf?ga_pdf=compare-amenities

“Access to the Prestige Park car: During peak season*, access to the Prestige Park Car will be limited to scheduled times for Sleeper Plus passengers. Sleeper Plus passengers will be able to access the Prestige Park car on the following schedule: from 4:00PM until last call 10:30PM, with the exception of evenings upon departure from Toronto and Vancouver where access will be exclusive to Prestige passengers. Scheduled access times are subject to change.

*Peak Season 2018: April 29 – October 11, 2018

A select number of seats in the Prestige Park car are reserved for our Prestige passengers at all times in the scenic dome (year-round).”

cbqbill Wrote:
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> VIA has a great sale going on this week. I
> reserved a bedroom on #2 from Vancouver to
> Toronto. I asked for bedroom F but none were
> available. The agent told me that bedroom A is
> also larger than the others. She also told me that
> I would have full access to the Park car. Was she
> correct?

That is nonsense about bedroom A in the Manor sleepers. It is the exact same size as rooms B through E. Bedroom A in a Château sleeper or un-rebuilt Park car (almost never operated on the Canadian in the off-season) is much bigger but it is a "cabin for 3" and as such is sold at a much higher fare than a cabin for 2.

The access to the Park car has been explained in the previous posting. I was on the train this week and can confirm that VIA's information is correct.

So access has been further restricted during peak season? Last June, if I remember correctly, access was open to all sleeper passengers after 13:00.

It appears that you will have full access to Park car now, during OFF peak. On my recent westbound trip there was one Prestige sleeper so there was only a need for a max of 12 dome seats for Prestige people. The Prestige car was sold out. However, all 12 reserved seats were never in use. Eastbound there were only two Prestige people, one room in use. Noted that these two Prestige people did not make much use of their reserved dome seats. And there were usually many other dome seats available. So my view is that this is not a problem now during off peak.

Thanks for the information. I questioned the agent when she described bedrooms A and F as larger than the others. She must have had drawing room A on her mind. I called back and got bedroom F on a different date. Black Friday Sale offered a huge discount for me to travel alone in a bedroom. It ends on Friday.