Passenger Trains > Welcome to Vancouver, BC, Canada

On my first trip to Vancouver, BC I was welcomed like this !
I guess they didn't want the passengers to escape !

#1.....We arrived and waited in this area that looked more like a
prison than a Border check point at the station.

​Taken in September of 2002 while on our way to take a 3 day
coastal Cruise to San Francisco.

One nice thing about this Talgo trainset is it had a full Dining
area and we had to wait to sit in the diner to have our Breakfast.
Now they have a "Bistro" car serving sort of fast food. As I remember
​this trip this train set was not painted in the Cascades cream & green
​but a dark blue and some other colors.

Thanks for looking

​Jay

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Legally the train was still in the USA.
Were it not for that fence, you would have sat at the Canadian Border for 90 minutes or 2 hours while officials had their power trips.

Vancouver reminds me of Geneva, CH, where part of the train station is technically French territory.  The island platform has its own customs and immigration control, while the Swiss trains use other platforms.

 

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Legally the train was still in the USA.
> Were it not for that fence, you would have sat at
> the Canadian Border for 90 minutes or 2 hours
> while officials had their power trips.

Kind of makes a mockery of
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Arch
(which the train passes between Blaine and White Rock)
doesn't it?

TAW

Typically entering Europe. Very short line. "How long are you going to be in the EU?"  Stamp. Next. Entering the USA or Canada it's often but not always more like an Inquisition. Like somehow you are guilty for just returning to your own country. I even had an agent ask if I met my Ukrainian girl friend on line. (I didn't). But what the heck does that have to do with returning home? Two times ago it was lengthy luggage search at DTW. Maybe they thought she was in my bag! But oh now. We can't profile. That would violate someone's civil rights.

We recently took a one-day cruise from Vancouver to Seattle, and quite a few of our fellow passengers were heard mentioning that they took the Amtrak Cascades from Seattle to Vancouver to get to the ship.  A good market for Amtrak!

Vancouver does a lot of things right, including the positioning of the cruise port at Canada Place in the heart of the downtown business district, just a short distance from the Waterfront Station on the Skytrain.  The convenient Pan Pacific Hotel has direct access by elevator to the cruise terminal through selection of the CS button ("cruise ships"). And, the relatively new (2009) Canada Line from the airport provides direct, convenient access for those arriving by plane.  Even Amtrak's train and bus terminal at the VIA station  is only a few stops away from the Waterfront station by direct Skytrain (Expo/Millenium lines) from the Main Street/Science World station.  The Skytrain system features full automation, with no drivers, and the Canada line was built under a "design-build-operate" contract bringing in private capital.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/16 15:29 by reindeerflame.

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Typically entering Europe. Very short line. "How
> long are you going to be in the EU?"  Stamp.
> Next. Entering the USA or Canada it's often but
> not always more like an Inquisition. Like somehow
> you are guilty for just returning to your own
> country. I even had an agent ask if I met my
> Ukrainian girl friend on line. (I didn't). But
> what the heck does that have to do with returning
> home? Two times ago it was lengthy luggage search
> at DTW. Maybe they thought she was in my bag! But
> oh now. We can't profile. That would violate
> someone's civil rights.
I flew into Calgary last year on United.  Breezed right through without any trouble at all. 

reindeerflame Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Even Amtrak's train and bus terminal at the VIA
> station  is only a few stops away from the
> Waterfront station by direct Skytrain
> (Expo/Millenium lines) from the Main
> Street/Science World station.

This was the basis for the proposal of Cascades trains terminating at a new station at Scott Road on the south bank of the Fraser River (I was working for British Columbia Transportation Financing Authority for that). Virtually all Cascades passengers change mode at Pacific Central Station, so why not somewhere else?

The trip downtown from Scott Road is two minutes faster by Skytrain than the best possible time on the BN/CN line, even with the proposed tunnel to replace the Fraser River Bridge (the chance of which is 1/n^n where n ---> Very Huge). It is not only faster, it provides a much greater ridershed than the downtown terminal does because the two minutes faster includes all of the Skytrain stops (!). Cascades trains pass through the majority of the Lower Mainland population without stopping because of the border. Tha majority of the southern BC population is located between Vancouver and the border. Customs/Immigration at Scott Road would happen on an elevated island platform, similar to the arrangement in Geneva CH.

TAW

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Legally the train was still in the USA.


No, legally the train is in Canada.....only the passengers & crew have not yet been processed by CBSA.

Even in the opposite direction, after a passenger has been processed by US CBP and pre-cleared to enter the US......they are still in Canada until the train is across the US Border. If something were to happen on the train between the US Border and Vancouver requiring a police presence.....it would be a Canadian officer responding. Not an officer from the US.

I might have been pre-cleared to enter the US but I’m still fully protected by our Charter of Rights and Freedoms while on Canadian soil.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/16 15:20 by ghCBNS.

ghCBNS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> joemvcnj Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Legally the train was still in the USA.
>
>
> No, legally the train is in Canada.....only the
> passengers & crew have not yet been processed by
> CBSA.
>
> Even in the opposite direction, after a passenger
> has been processed by US CBP and pre-cleared to
> enter the US......they are still in Canada until
> the train is across the US Border. If something
> were to happen on the train between the US Border
> and Vancouver requiring a police presence.....it
> would be a Canadian officer responding. Not an
> officer from the US.
>
> I might have been pre-cleared to enter the US but
> I’m still fully protected by our Charter of
> Rights and Freedoms while on Canadian soil.

EXACTLY!!!!  And one is not in the USA passing through US cutoms and Border patrol at Canadian airports with this feature!

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Typically entering Europe. Very short line. "How
> long are you going to be in the EU?"  Stamp.
> Next. Entering the USA or Canada it's often but
> not always more like an Inquisition. Like somehow
> you are guilty for just returning to your own
> country. I even had an agent ask if I met my
> Ukrainian girl friend on line. (I didn't). But
> what the heck does that have to do with returning
> home? Two times ago it was lengthy luggage search
> at DTW. Maybe they thought she was in my bag! But
> oh now. We can't profile. That would violate
> someone's civil rights.

A major Human Trafficing trick involves On-Line "Romances". That's why they asked.

Same type of physical security at St Pancras Int'l in London for arrival of Eurostar.

ctillnc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Same type of physical security at St Pancras Int'l
> in London for arrival of Eurostar.

Except that on Eurostar you are cleared to enter the UK at the point you get on the train (or Lille Europe, if on a train which stops en-route). There's no immigration formalities arriving at St Pancras, just Customs & Excise.

reindeerflame Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We recently took a one-day cruise from Vancouver
> to Seattle, and quite a few of our fellow
> passengers were heard mentioning that they took
> the Amtrak Cascades from Seattle to Vancouver to
> get to the ship.  A good market for Amtrak!
>
> Vancouver does a lot of things right, including
> the positioning of the cruise port at Canada Place
> in the heart of the downtown business district,
> just a short distance from the Waterfront
> Station on the Skytrain.  The convenient Pan
> Pacific Hotel has direct access by elevator to the
> cruise terminal through selection of the CS button
> ("cruise ships"). And, the relatively new (2009)
> Canada Line from the airport provides direct,
> convenient access for those arriving by plane. 
> Even Amtrak's train and bus terminal at the VIA
> station  is only a few stops away from the
> Waterfront station by direct Skytrain
> (Expo/Millenium lines) from the Main
> Street/Science World station.  The Skytrain
> system features full automation, with no drivers,
> and the Canada line was built under a
> "design-build-operate" contract bringing in
> private capital.

I share reindeerflame's enthusiasm for downtown Vancouver.  Indeed, the Pan Pacific Hotel is ideal for catching a ship.   A year ago we stayed there for two days prior to an Alaska cruise.  Having a ship terminal in the "basement" was great. There were three ships sailing that day. Hotel porters collected luggage from hundreds of rooms and it was delivered (via port employees and the ships' crew) to passengers' cabins. 

The Canada Place terminal is built on the site of the Canadian Pacific Railway's Pier B & C.  That facility was built in 1927 and replaced previous piers in the area. The ferry to Nanaimo left from pier A close by.

Our first cruise from Vancouver was on a CPR ship in 1972.  We arrived the same day on the CPR's The Canadian (Yes, one would be mad to attempt a same-day connection these days.) It is just a short walk from the CPR station, now Waterfront Station, to the pier.

reindeerflame Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >>>>>>>>>>>>> And, the relatively new (2009)
> Canada Line from the airport provides direct,
> convenient access for those arriving by plane. 
> Even Amtrak's train and bus terminal at the VIA
> station  is only a few stops away from the
> Waterfront station by direct Skytrain
> (Expo/Millenium lines) from the Main
> Street/Science World station.  The Skytrain
> system features full automation, with no drivers,
> and the Canada line was built under a
> "design-build-operate" contract bringing in
> private capital.

Yes.....while in Vancouver…ride the SkyTrain. It’s a tourist attraction itself especially for the railfan and offers some great views of the city and the surrounding mountains….even some of the bridge crossings are pretty impressive.

Get a DayPass which is also good on the SeaBus (ferry) over to North Vancouver for a view of the skyline from the harbour.

Most of the Skytrain route is on elevated structures except in the downtown area where it is underground. Here the The Skytrain tracks have been double-decked through the former CPR Dunsmuir Tunnel that once provided a route from the station on the waterfront to the passenger car servicing facility and roundhouse at False Creek.

Skytrain's Canada Line is also underground a portion of the way but then soars over a bridge on the way to the Airport and Richmond.

http://tripplanning.translink.ca/FILE/Apps/Info/images/SkyTrain_Sys.pdf

> Except that on Eurostar you are cleared to enter
> the UK at the point you get on the train (or Lille
> Europe, if on a train which stops en-route).
> There's no immigration formalities arriving at St
> Pancras, just Customs & Excise.

That's correct. And at Waterloo station where the Eurostar first arrived in London, the remnants of the secured area for int'l arrivals are still visible... but not for long, because those platforms are being renovated for reuse by commuter trains.