Canadian Railroads > Need Help Finding VIA's Secret Schedules

I know others have asked this in the past, but I failed to bookmark the responses. VIA's site is fine if you put in a particular day, but is there somewhere to look up the schedule for a particular train and find out, for example, that it runs MWF and these are the schedule timings? VIA's stupid site assumes you already know your travel dates, as opposed to letting you peruse things in general so you can work out an itinerary. An inefficient search on VIA's site seems to show the schedule for VIA 5/6 matches what's in the 2025 TSG, but I'd also like to confirm the 'schedule' for #1/2. I'm trying to plan a railfan trip to Kamloops from Edmonton, wondering what days to be where for best shooting/chasing options. Thanks in advance.
Fred

Here you go.

https://www.railpassengers.org/resources/amtrak-timetables/

Timetables can't be beaten as the most efficient way to see the range of schedules available for a given route.

stuporchief Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here you go.
>
> https://www.railpassengers.org/resources/amtrak-ti
> metables/
>
> Timetables can't be beaten as the most efficient
> way to see the range of schedules available for a
> given route.

This is super helpful; thanks so much. I've bookmarked it this time. Why VIA doesn't want you to find this out on their website is beyond me. How do I know when I want to travel (hypothetically) if I don't know when they run? Bizarre. They should have the timetables, and below each one have a link, 'Book Now.' Too obvious, I guess.
Fred

stuporchief Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here you go.
>
> https://www.railpassengers.org/resources/amtrak-ti
> metables/
>
> Timetables can't be beaten as the most efficient
> way to see the range of schedules available for a
> given route.

Fantastic resource, and nice job to overlay the "expansion routes" that have been talked about on the interactive map......

Double check those timetables with the times on the VIA website. It is not always up to date. 
VIA, like Amtrak and most bus companies, is too lazy to produce traditional pdf timetables. 

VIA has what they call  "accessible timetables" on their website.  I haven't looked at it for a few years.  There were obvious errors, especially regarding the Canadian, but after a quick glance I notice it has improved. Regarding the Canadian the days of operation could be shown more clearly.  The Toronto-Windsor timetable acknowledges changes that are necessary on week-ends due to Metrolinx closing the Oakville Sub. There is a print button, but I haven"t tried it.  

https://www.viarail.ca/en/plan/train-schedules
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/26 06:05 by DrawingroomA.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Double check those timetables with the times on
> the VIA website. It is not always up to date. 
> VIA, like Amtrak and most bus companies, is too
> lazy to produce traditional pdf timetables. 

Point well-taken about cross-checking with the VIA website; the info for #5/6 matches, at least.
Fred

DrawingroomA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> VIA has what they call  "accessible timetables"
> on their website.  I haven't looked at it for a
> few years.  There were obvious errors, especially
> regarding the Canadian, but after a quick glance I
> notice it has improved. Regarding the Canadian the
> days of operation could be shown more clearly. 
> The Toronto-Windsor timetable acknowledges changes
> that are necessary on week-ends due to Metrolinx
> closing the Oakville Sub. There is a print button,
> but I haven"t tried it.  
>
> https://www.viarail.ca/en/plan/train-schedules
>  

This link takes you to the current model, which is the point of frustration I had reached. You have to put in departure and destination, and choose a date. From there you can scroll forward and backward through a 'linear' calendar that doesn't indicate day of the week. You can eventually build up the picture.
Fred

You just need to scroll down the page a bit until you see accessible schedules - then click the link which takes you to a page of "real" timetable links. Not the easiest to find.

caprr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You just need to scroll down the page a bit until
> you see accessible schedules - then click the link
> which takes you to a page of "real" timetable
> links. Not the easiest to find.

It's good that VIA provides these timetables, but I find those at this link (https://www.railpassengers.org/resources/amtrak-timetables/) much more useful. You can see all the trains operating on a given route — in both direcitons — in a single view, plus the presentation is much more concise and easy to read.

This whole business of having to chose a route and put in a departure date to get the schedule is ridiculous and needs to be regulated out of existence in both the U.S. and Canada, in favor of PDF schedules. It's just governmental negligence in both countries that allows this to continue.

Here's a VIA pdf, so please don't bring down the Canadian government.  Took all of 3 seconds to bring up
!https://www.viarail.ca/en/plan/train-schedules/sudbury-white-river#

caprr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here's a VIA pdf, so please don't bring down the
> Canadian government.  Took all of 3 seconds to
> bring up
> !https://www.viarail.ca/en/plan/train-schedules/su
> dbury-white-river#

4 pages for one train. The opposing train would be 4 more pages.
A printer friendly pdf format woud be one page.

The Keolis-run Orleans Express knows how to do it:
https://www.orleansexpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/horaires-aoe-imprime-EN_february-2025_rev.pdf



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/26 15:51 by joemvcnj.

caprr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You just need to scroll down the page a bit until
> you see accessible schedules - then click the link
> which takes you to a page of "real" timetable
> links. Not the easiest to find.

You're right that it wasn't the easiest to find, but once you told me what heading to look for, I persisted. My sense is it should be more obvious, but then I never played Super Mario, so that's not my forté. Thanks.
Fred

NPRocky Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This whole business of having to chose a route and
> put in a departure date to get the schedule is
> ridiculous and needs to be regulated out of
> existence in both the U.S. and Canada, in favor of
> PDF schedules. It's just governmental negligence
> in both countries that allows this to continue.


It is frustrating that both Amtrak and VIA seem to not understand the usefulness of a timetable to plan a trip, especially for those trains that they do not operate on a daily schedule

Posted from Android

The timetables on railpassengers.org are more pleasing to the eye and no doubt easier to print.  Their timetables I just looked at are out of date.  All six trains from Toronto to Montreal  depart at different times.  The first difference is the morning train #60 which on the railpassengers site show as 06:47.  VIA's timetable shows it as 06:32 which is correct according to the booking site Reservia.