Canadian Railroads > VIA's Business Class has returned

At the beginning of the month VIA resumed the “corridor” Business Class service with some adjustments. I have enjoyed three trips in Business Class since it has returned and offer these few comments in case anyone is interested.
 
Station lounges have been re-opened only in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. There are no hot beverages or newspapers, but the cold drinks are still available in the self-serve fridges. Passengers are requested to use the provided disinfectant wipes.
 
As with economy, the seat assignments in Business Class are not in effect. The computer automatically assigns a seat at the time of booking, but for the time being passengers can sit anywhere. Most aisle seats are marked with a “do not sit here” sign, although two people travelling together can sit in adjacent seats. The number of passengers in Business Class is quite low, most likely because it has just started after a five-month cancellation and there is likely to be little business travel. The passenger load in economy is growing quickly, though.  On my trips, the number of passengers in Business Class was only 9, 10 and 13.
 
The regular meals are served, with the menu changing twice per month. At breakfast that means a choice of a cold or hot breakfast, at lunch there are two hot and one cold meal, and at dinner a choice of three hot meals.
 
The service has been simplified somewhat. The only bar service is red or white wine and a selection of beer. Pop is also available. Instead of a warmed dinner roll being offered from a basket, a cold roll is on the meal tray. There is no longer a glass for wine on the tray. The attendant hands out a plastic cup with the individual 200 ml. bottle of wine. On my most recent trip of barely two hours the attendant offered each of us a third bottle of wine. That makes up for not being able to have my usual “restorative” before lunch.
 
There is no china mug for coffee or tea. This is served in a paper cup. The hot food and salad are served in crockery, as usual, and the cutlery is stainless steel. (This is far better than what Air Canada is serving in their domestic Business Class. Their photos show a cardboard box containing a few cold snacks - no choice - and plastic cutlery.)
 
On most routes, especially between Toronto and Ottawa and Montreal, the minimum (i.e. advance purchase) fare for Business Class fares have increased by 20% and on some trains even 50%.  This won’t do much to increase the passenger loads.  But as long as the passenger load is low, the best reason for paying extra for Business Class might be the extra space. It is possible to have no-one in front of you or behind you or across the aisle whether sitting in a single seat or double seat. Overall, I am very pleased that the cut-backs were not worse. I will be travelling again at the end of the month and early in October.
 

Thanks for the good report Drawingroom A.  Hope you will report again on your next trip.  Any word on 1 - 2??

That's good news David. It would be great if Canada and the U.S. could come to some agreement on opening the border. Many other countries require Coved 19 negative tests within a varied amount of hours to enter. Turkey does a temp. check upon entry. That only takes a few seconds. With rapid testing now becoming more available, I would think that might be a good option. For example, the very strict UAE requires a negative test within 96 hours. Ukraine is 72 hours. The virus isn't going away completely anytime soon and they can't keep the border closed forever. I suppose proof of vaccination could also be a solution. I plan to be vaccinated as soon as it's available. 
 

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> That's good news David. It would be great if
> Canada and the U.S. could come to some agreement
> on opening the border.
>

90 percent of Canadians in a recent poll want the US Border to remain closed. It's now been extended to October 21 and probably will be extended again. Too bad you don't have the leadership down there like here where the federal government, the provinces and health professionals came together to get Covid under control.

Sure there's been some missteps here and there are some spikes again but we are in pretty good shape. In my province with nearly a million pop....we have one active Covid case and no new cases in 9 days.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-u-s-border-closure-support-mayors-tourism-trump-1.5722974

Thank you very much for the update.

What's the current time line for the restoration of the long distance trains?

ghCBNS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> andersonb109 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > That's good news David. It would be great if
> > Canada and the U.S. could come to some
> agreement
> > on opening the border.
> >
>
> 90 percent of Canadians in a recent poll want the
> US Border to remain closed. It's now been extended
> to October 21 and probably will be extended again.
> Too bad you don't have the leadership down there
> like here where the federal government, the
> provinces and health professionals came together
> to get Covid under control.
>
> Sure there's been some missteps here and there are
> some spikes again but we are in pretty good shape.
> In my province with nearly a million pop....we
> have one active Covid case and no new cases in 9
> days.
>
> https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-u-s-border
> -closure-support-mayors-tourism-trump-1.5722974

I agree! I am one of the 90% ... have been for months. I say Canada should keep the border closed until Trump is long gone from the presidency.
And yes, I do have children and grandchildren in the US that I cannot see because of the border closure.

 

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON

Thank yo for the trip report Drawing room A.
I was chatting with a Via agent just last week and he said no sleeping car service on the Canadian, Ocean, or Churchill train till at least January.
I asked him what the food service would be on the Canadian and he said they would have full meals but you won't be served from a dining car , it willbe the little kitchen under the mid train dome.
I looked at the menue  and it's not that bad. Just sitting up for 4 nights on the Canadian is not for me :(:(:(

viatrainrider Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the good report Drawingroom A.  Hope
> you will report again on your next trip.  Any
> word on 1 - 2??

Unfortunately, the official word from VIA is still not definite. This message appears regarding the Canadian and the Ocean:

"Due to the uncertainty with the COVID situation, we have blocked the sale of Sleeper Plus and Prestige Class in November and December on the Canadian. This measure will remain in place until such time as we have a better understanding of the services we will be able to offer. Existing reservations remain valid at this moment."

The same message had appeared regarding the Churchill service, but that was recently changed to say no sleepers until January. There is a sleeper on the Churchill trains at present, but it is only for the crew. There is also a Skyline car but no meals are available. Passengers will be given a free box with water and a snack. I'm not sure how many of these boxes will be distributed on the two-day one-way trip.

Considering the four eastern provinces still have severe restrictions on tourism, I have my doubts the Ocean will re-start in November, even with just coaches. A survey from Nova Scotia was recently reported in the press. About 90% of those surveyed want this to continue indefinitely.

 

Why are they discouraging Business Class with such high prices and why are they so skittish about running sleeping cars ?

My advice to my Canadian friends is to keep your border closed indefinitely.  Too many selfish Americans think not wearing masks is their right, to infect others.

As an American who loves Canada, sad to say but you are 100% correct.

This American, who visits Quebec every year, wants Canadians to remain healthy. So keep that border closed from the diseased, incompetent US as long as they need to.

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