Canadian Railroads > VIA No. 4

The first running of VIA No. 4 (in this century) left Vancouver on time Tuesday at 15:00 but soon fell off schedule. I saw it in Matsqui at 18:11 just before it crossed the Fraser River and I don't know if it stopped at Mission Harbour, but it would have reached that point about 18:15, whereas the timetable calls for 16:35.

As I type this, Reservia is showing a time at North Bend of 21:39 (TT calls for 19:46). The train does not appear in the transitdocs system, perhaps because its train number varies from the norm for the Canadian.

The train is formed of two units and 11 cars (listed below). Of note is the use of an unconverted Park car (i.e, not Prestige class), providing a chance for "ordinary" sleeping car passengers to occupy the front seats in its dome.

6454 F40PH-2d
6425 F40PH-2d
8613 baggage car
8106 coach
8511 Skyline dome
Rogers Manor sleeper
Hunter Manor sleeper
Brant Manor sleeper
Burton Manor sleeper
8512 Skyline dome
Princess dining car
Chateau Lasalle crew sleeper
Yoho Park dome-lounge-observation-sleeper

Is this the first summer without 3 through trips per week? Also, what reason is given for the truncated service? Very sad situation. Thanks in advance.

41bridge Wrote:
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> Is this the first summer without 3 through trips
> per week? Also, what reason is given for the
> truncated service? Very sad situation. Thanks in
> advance.

Yes, it is. Last summer, VIA and CN had discussions about what could be done to avert the regular lengthy delays the train was incurring. The first step was to adopt the timing that took effect in late July and continued until the end of April, as a stopgap for the fall/winter.  Next, because CN is embarking on an extensive program of double-tracking between Edmonton and Winnipeg this summer, making delays inevitable, it was agreed last September that a new schedule would take effect as of May and that one of the tri-weekly services would run only between Edmonton and Vancouver.

The rationale given by VIA at that time was the this latest schedule would  provide "schedule predictability, travel through the Rockies in the dyatime, and balanced maintenance time in Toronto and Vancouver".

Here's a post from the time of the September announcement. https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,4636571,4636571#msg-4636571



 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/19 03:58 by railsmith.

Starting with the next departure of #4 (7th May) Reservia is showing  Prestige cabins available. The Prestige fare on this one-day trip this month is $5618 plus 5% tax, rising to $7190 next month. There is also a cabin for 3, aka drawing room, available on this train. On trains 1 & 2 neither drawing rooms nor Prestige are available between Vancouver and Edmonton.

DrawingroomA Wrote:
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> Starting with the next departure of #4 (7th May)
> Reservia is showing  Prestige cabins available.
> The Prestige fare on this one-day trip this month
> is $5618 plus 5% tax, rising to $7190 next month.6
> There is also a cabin for 3, aka drawing room,
> available on this train. On trains 1 & 2 neither
> drawing rooms nor Prestige are available between
> Vancouver and Edmonton.
no
$7190? Clearly, VIA is not exactly appealing to the masses. 
Still, if someone want's to part with that much cash for novelty transportation....more power to 'em. 
As for me, a lower berth in a section would be just fine for my novelty transport experience. $865 for one on 05/06. Same scenery, same service. Depart and arrive at the same time. 

ATSF3751 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> DrawingroomA Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Starting with the next departure of #4 (7th
> May)
> > Reservia is showing  Prestige cabins
> available.
> > The Prestige fare on this one-day trip this
> month
> > is $5618 plus 5% tax, rising to $7190 next
> month.6
> > There is also a cabin for 3, aka drawing room,
> > available on this train. On trains 1 & 2
> neither
> > drawing rooms nor Prestige are available
> between
> > Vancouver and Edmonton.
> no
> $7190? Clearly, VIA is not exactly appealing to
> the masses. 
> Still, if someone want's to part with that much
> cash for novelty transportation....more power to
> 'em. 
> As for me, a lower berth in a section would be
> just fine for my novelty transport experience.
> $865 for one on 05/06. Same scenery, same service.
> Depart and arrive at the same time. 

How could it appeal to the masses when there’s only six bedrooms even available in the Prestige Sleeper, and the max that could run is a total of eight sleepers between the three consists needed to hold down trains 1 and 2 and the one consist to hold down train 3 and 4. VIA’s going to charge all it can - and max dollar - to get those FEW rooms sold. Can’t blame them. The masses have Sleeper Plus as an option. 

ATSF3751 Wrote:

> $7190? Clearly, VIA is not exactly appealing to
> the masses. 
> Still, if someone want's to part with that much
> cash for novelty transportation....more power to
> 'em. 
> As for me, a lower berth in a section would be
> just fine for my novelty transport experience.
> $865 for one on 05/06. Same scenery, same service.
> Depart and arrive at the same time. 

The fare between Edmonton and Vancouver is well out of proportion to the full run. With tax Prestige is $7549 for one day and nine hours w/b (two nights) and one day and almost three hours e/b (one night).  By comparison, a cabin for 3 (drawing room) is $4294. Prestige on the full route (four nights each way) is $12,023 w/b and $11,172 e/b. The difference is on account of the sales tax.

Cost in Delta One from DTW to AMS is over $6,000. That gets you 7 hours in the air, a mostly pre plated meal and unlimited free entertainment. So VIA's fares for over 24 hours on the train including excellent meals, normally excellent service and a bed that you can actually roll over in isn't all that out of line. That said, on a daily basis, VIA's Prestigue fares are way higher than other luxury cruise trains. So for me, a Cabin for 2 with single occupancy works just fine. I'm only in there to sleep and use the toilet.