Is the Canadian about to be cooked?

In the forthcoming July issue of Trains, Ross Capon of the National Association of Railroad Passengers describes Amtrak’s long-distance trains as “meat waiting to be roasted” by fiscal conservatives and insists there is no guarantee that those trains will always be there — words well spoken. Now comes news from Canada that VIA Rail Canada’s premier train, the Canadian, also faces an uncertain future.

The Globe and Mail of Toronto this week quotes from Transport Canada ministry documents that suggest the Canadian may be privatized in whole or in part. Do I take this seriously? Yes and no. Yes if the government continues to subsidize the service under private owners, and yes because an operator is waiting in the wings if it does. And no because without continued subsidy nobody would touch a $50 million-a-year money loser. There is simply no possible way to make money if you take in $39 million a year but spend $89 million doing so (these numbers are derived from VIA Rail’s 2010 annual report).

The newspaper reports that Transport Canada (that nation’s equivalent to the U.S. Department of Transportation) is considering four options: privatizing the Canadian, privatizing that portion of the train’s route between Jasper, Alta., and Vancouver, B.C., selling the train’s luxury cars, and requiring VIA Rail to recoup more of its costs between Jasper and Vancouver.

Why the emphasis on the scenic Jasper-Vancouver portion of this Toronto-Vancouver train? That’s easy. Between those cities the Canadian competes against the for-profit Rocky Mountaineer, owned by Peter Armstrong’s family. The Armstrongs are understandably enraged that their government is pouring almost $1 million a week into their rival. And sure enough, reports The Globe and Mail, Rocky Mountaineer president Randy Powell met with the transport minister last December. According to prepared talking points, the minister solicited Powell’s views on privatizing the Canadian. No decisions of any sort have been reached, a Transport Canada spokesman insists.

But the newspaper followed the next day with a story that quotes the former transport minister, who retired in 2011, as saying: “You’re subsidizing a foreign traveler to ride on a train and arguably they’re not spending a lot of money in the country. I mean, they’re spending it on the train ride, but they’re not buying hotels or meals. They’re sitting on the train.” I ask you, does that not sound like one of my fellow Republicans mouthing off in the U.S.?

It would be a tragedy for the Canadian to be gutted and run as a day-coach train. On the other hand, part of me is curious how the Armstrongs might operate the Canadian under some incentive arrangement that would reward them for reducing the train’s loss while maintaining high standards of service.

The lesson, if you need to be told, is never to take life for granted. Ride this train and those of Amtrak while they’re here. My next ticket aboard the Canadian is already in hand. As Ross Capon suggests, the oven is always on and waiting. — Fred W. Frailey