Canadian Railroads > VIA Annual Report for 2024

The report is now available.  In some ways the press release is more interesting than much of  the 147- page report.  At the bottom is the link to the current and past reports.

https://media.viarail.ca/en/press-releases/2025/transformative-year-rail-amid-ongoing-operational-challenges

 

Annual Report, a few comments that came to my mind in reading:

• Although this is more "numbers" based the reader is still left wondering how exactly VIA is trying to solve the OTP problem that it faces from railroad host CN in regards to the brand new Sieman's equipment... The report seems to be a lot of "fluff" regarding this with no real action plan explained. Course that's more of an operational report than perhaps the "Annual Report" content. Some sort of better detail on a the future of this major problems - outlined quite heavily - perhaps should have been discussed (rather than generalities) to give the reader some positive answers on this topic. Just language of "we are working with the regulatory authorities and our CN host." 
• In general, with ontime performance being such an issue in the corridor, how about the re-launch of an overnight train between Toronto-Ottawa/Montreal-Quebec. I know, sleeper cars are hard to come by, but overnight travel could be an alternative to trying to operate a train that doesn't necessarily have to stick to a high speed schedule. Recall the VIA Rail Enterprise overnight train from Montreal to Toronto took a 2 hour rest (???) enroute. But how about consider extending it to Quebec City. Route to Ottawa and perhaps there'd be less of an overnight dwell time, yet Ottawa would be a bit screwed over with non-passenger friendly arrival/departure times as serving Montreal by 6:30 am would be the earliest, and then that would mean Quebec City in the 10 am hour - still not bad. It's still an all day trip from Toronto to Quebec City that might find appeal with a late night departure from Toronto and mid-morning arrival in Quebec City. Yes, I get that flying would be much quicker. But just trying to think outside the box.....
• "Connecting more communities, moving more Canadians." Its too bad that VIA can't come up with some sort of new corridor route, be it Edmonton to Calgary (long talked about) or even Winnipeg/Calgary to Banff/Golden. The latter is a year-round heavy car trafficked route no matter how you look at. Explosive growth in this region as well. In visiting the Canadian Rockies last year, I can't help to think that a passenger train service between at least Edmonton-Calgary-Banff-Golden would indeed be GOLDEN!
• Interesting to note that the "Long Hauls" are producing about the same "shortfall" as the corridor trains..... 

Found this to be a positive and insightful comment from the CEO of VIA Rail. Imagine Amtrak's leadership saying something like this!!!

"Among my most memorable journeys was a trip aboard The Canadian, travelling from Toronto to Vancouver. Over four days, I spoke with Canadians and travellers from around the world who had come to Canada  specifically for this experience. As breathtaking  landscapes passed by, I was reminded of the magic of long-distance travel— the way it brings people together, sparks conversations, and creates lasting memories. I was also reminded of the remarkable dedication of our onboard teams, who consistently go the extra mile to ensure every passenger feels welcomed and valued. CEO of VIA Rail Canada

Glad there's some sort of noted value in the long haul trains - of the two main that exist in Canada. Hopefully the remote service to Gaspe gets resurrected soon. Again, not a subject matter for the Annual Report, but curious as to what the update there is.....Service on Vancouver Island is certainly dead and off the table. 

Good report to read and lots of interesting analytics and disclosures even on train ops by business lines - more than what Amtrak releases. 

Can't imagine any ATK CEO saying anything remotely that laudatory about the Sunset, the Chief, the Builder, or the Zephyr.  But I'm not surprised that the Canadian gets that sort of praise, from ANYONE.

It is certainly well deserved.

-John

jcaestecker Wrote:
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> Can't imagine any ATK CEO saying
> anything remotely that laudatory about the
> Sunset, the Chief, the Builder, or the Zephyr. 
> But I'm not surprised that the Canadian gets that
> sort of praise, from ANYONE.
>
> It is certainly well deserved.
>
> -John


Yet we have had people here on Train Orders who said that the Canadian was the worst train ride of their life! One poster even got off in Winnipeg because he and his wife were afraid to continue their trip.
 

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> jcaestecker Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Can't imagine any ATK CEO saying
> > anything remotely that laudatory about the
> > Sunset, the Chief, the Builder, or the
> Zephyr. 
> > But I'm not surprised that the Canadian gets
> that
> > sort of praise, from ANYONE.
> >
> > It is certainly well deserved.
> >
> > -John
>
>
> Yet we have had people here on Train Orders who
> said that the Canadian was the worst train ride of
> their life! One poster even got off in Winnipeg
> because he and his wife were afraid to continue
> their trip.
>  

Yeah I read that discussion from that ONE person. Between Melville and Winnipeg the train does get up there in speed to stretch its legs - and things shake rattle and roll in the evening!!! But other than that ONE person on TO, I've never really read any other scathing review about VIA's Canadian. I'm not re-litigating that ONE person and his wife that decided to end their trip early in Winnipeg. If they felt they needed to get off because of speed, not from onboard service issues, they have that respectable right. Took the Canadian across from Toronto to Edmonton last August - beautiful ride, great onboard service, on-time into Edmonton, no issues. Top speed was reached somewhere in the night across the prairies. And I did happen to recall that ONE person's review on TO.  

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
>
> Yet we have had people here on Train Orders who
> said that the Canadian was the worst train ride of
> their life! One poster even got off in Winnipeg
> because he and his wife were afraid to continue
> their trip.
>  

I do remember that posting and the many comments made by others.  No-one has ever said the Canadian is perfect all the time.  I have been riding the Canadian regularly since 1968 in accommodations from the humble roomette to Prestige.  There have been problems, of course, but fortunately I have not encountered any major issues except for a CP derailment in 1988 which required a lengthy "bustitution" which was out of VIA's control.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/25 05:35 by DrawingroomA.

The Canadian is an excellent train route but you have to build in a lot of time to take it. It is often a couple of hours late along part of its journey but thankfully, there is a ton of wiggle room built into the schedule. I took it twice-once in 2023 between Toronto and Vancouver and the other time in 2024 between Toronto and Winnipeg. The equipment is so iconic and lovely to look at and ride in. However, those Budd HEP cars are supposed to be retired in the middle 2030s. VIA Rail has to do something about those RDC cars that run on the Sudbury-White River line. I had a very bad experience on that trip bc of those cars breaking down. We only went as far north as Cartier. I have heard that last April, the runs on the Sudbury-White River line have been cancelled half the time. It sounds like the reliability of the VIA Rail RDC cars is only getting worst. VIA Rail should consider bringing up some F40s and some Budd HEP cars to run on the Sudbury-White River Line until the brand new rolling stock enters revenue service. I have a feeling that whatever next generation equipment that VIA Rail decides to order to replace for all of its long distance, adventure, mandatory services routes will also go toward replacing the RDCs. It would also be nice if the Sudbury-White River Line was extended to Thunder Bay. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/25 09:35 by Passfanatic.

Passfanatic Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Canadian is an excellent train route but you
> have to build in a lot of time to take it. It is
> often a couple of hours late along part of its
> journey but thankfully, there is a ton of wiggle
> room built into the schedule. I took it twice-once
> in 2023 between Toronto and Vancouver and the
> other time in 2024 between Toronto and Winnipeg.
> The equipment is so iconic and lovely to look at
> and ride in. However, those Budd HEP cars are
> supposed to be retired in the middle 2030s. VIA
> Rail has to do something about those RDC cars that
> run on the Sudbury-White River line. I had a very
> bad experience on that trip bc of those cars
> breaking down. We only went as far north as
> Cartier. I have heard that last April, the runs on
> the Sudbury-White River line have been cancelled
> half the time. It sounds like the reliability of
> the VIA Rail RDC cars is only getting worst. VIA
> Rail should consider bringing up some F40s and
> some Budd HEP cars to run on the Sudbury-White
> River Line until the brand new rolling stock
> enters revenue service. I have a feeling that
> whatever next generation equipment that VIA Rail
> decides to order to replace for all of its long
> distance, adventure, mandatory services routes
> will also go toward replacing the RDCs. It would
> also be nice if the Sudbury-White River Line was
> extended to Thunder Bay. 

Agree that it is, sadly, time for the RDC's to be retired from the White River-Sudbury route and be replaced with a more traditional train set of F40 and HEP I or II coaches. They can be shuttled to/from Toronto for maintenance via the Canadian from Capreol. It would make a LOT more sense if the route was extended to Capreol or Sudbury Junction to make a direct continuity connection with the Canadian. Likewise, extension to Thunder Bay would be GOLDEN, and perhaps more in reach of it had a traditional train set that perhaps could achieve better speed/operationg results? Thunder Bay was once a very popular on the old CP-Canadian run train! Unfortunately, it's about 4 hours by car, so that would likely mean a 12+ hour trip by train from Sundbury to Thunder Bay? Might be somewhat comparable to the old CP Canadian Rail timetables, but who knows these days with passenger trains being secondary to freight. And it certainly would be greater cost for VIA to operate.  

12+ hours by train from Sudbury to Thunder Bay-forget it. We want the travel times by train between those two stations to be as close to that of driving. I just wish that that travel time could significantly be lowered. It would be nice to have the Sudbury-White River line end at Sudbury Jct.

Heading to the corridors, is VIA Rail considering restoring any roundtrips from Toronto to Sarnia and vice versa? It would be nice to have a train that departs Toronto in the morning bringing you to Sarnia around lunchtime and then having that same set depart Sarnia late afternoon and arriving back into Toronto mid evening.

Posted from iPhone

When I rode the Canadian, the On Board Personel were absolutely top notch, personable, and REAL with you. Despite the DEPLORABLE CN Dispatching from Vancouver to Winnipeg, and thanks to ample time padding, I arrived Toronto, Eastbound, 2 hours early, and westbound at Jasper, On time, to connect to the Skeena to Prince Rupert. The time padding saves this train's "Canadian Bacon", as the amount of time spent in sidings and or at the end of double track waiting for several 10K+ foot landbarges in the opposite direction, when there was a siding 5 miles away to duck into, seemed rather pointless. Yet when the "Moonlighters Special" comes about, the Canadian owns the railroad. SMMFH....Great train, phenomenal ride, the best on board train crews in the world, but the host treats it like its basturd step child. I think its time the Canadian moves back to the original route of the CP across Canada and the let CN rot in Hunter Harrison's ashes....IMHO

Drew Mitchem
Centralia, WA

Passfanatic Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
...
>
> Heading to the corridors, is VIA Rail considering
> restoring any roundtrips from Toronto to Sarnia
> and vice versa? It would be nice to have a train
> that departs Toronto in the morning bringing you
> to Sarnia around lunchtime and then having that
> same set depart Sarnia late afternoon and arriving
> back into Toronto mid evening.
>

The answer I received from a VIA manager a couple of years ago is no.  In 2012 the morning Toronto -  Sarnia train and evening return (#85 and 88) were cut back to Toronto-London only.  After the reduction in services  during the pandemic those trains were not restored.  At the moment VIA is short of equipment, which may seem strange considering 30 of the 32 Ventures have been received.  There have been reliability issues with the Ventures and a further problem of CN requiring slow-downs due to "shunting" concerns.  The two Toronto - Windsor round-trips that were Ventures for a short time have been replaced with HEP-2 equipment.  Some of the Toronto-Ottawa trains have been cancelled on certain days.