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| - This is a review for the VIA Rail network, spanning from the Pacific to the Atlantic shores of Canada, although it is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. I believe that it is domiciled closer to the center of the city.
My experiences with them comprise of one trip and several phone calls to their toll free line over the years. I rode on VIA Rail for the 2 hour trip, which has but a few stops, between Ottawa, Canada's capital, and Montreal's Gare Centrale, which is an inter-modal station in the center of the city which connects to the Metro, AMT's trains de banlieue, and other buses.
As has already been mentioned, traveling on VIA Rail is not cheap, particularly if in Canada's West, along a route such as Vancouver to Edmonton, which is a lengthier trek and, according to photos, features a domed car which affords views of the beautiful Canadian Rockies. Shorter, same day trips between Montreal and Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City, and within the provinces of either Quebec or Ontario are more reasonably priced. Furthermore, much like Greyhound, they have various tiers of fares and, the earlier one books, the cheaper the ticket is. Not only that, some seats in the less expensive categories appear to be available on each train schedule.
The Via Rail stations in both Ottawa and Montreal are very clean, the personnel is courteous, and, as always, it's exciting to board the train. The Ottawa-Montreal run seems to utilize a single level train combine. Once aboard, the cars are very clean, the seats are comfortable, the conductors are polite and helpful (more so than in the U.S.), there will be some snacks they sell which are actually sensibly priced, and there will be many interesting people aboard, mirroring Canada's "cultural mosaic." And, of course, the excitement mounts as one approaches Montreal and the train starts to weave through the high rises in Centre-Ville en route to Gare Centrale (Metro stop: Bonaventure).
I'm only deducting a star for a few reasons. First, longer treks, particularly overnight ones, are expensive. It's probably cheaper to fly. You can always look down on the Canadian Rockies from above, so go for that window seat. Second, there was once a Via Rail train on the schedule that functioned like a red eye between Montreal and Toronto. You could board close to midnight, sleep on the train, and arrive at Toronto's majestic Union Station at about 8:00 am, or enjoy the reciprocal experience if coming into Montreal's Gare Centrale. For that train to keep those hours, it must have moved like a milk train. Taking it would have been cheaper than one night's lodging and an air ticket in many cases. Sadly, they removed that train schedule from their slate of services and I never had the opportunity to experience the overnight train trip between Montreal and Toronto.
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