Via's Canadian

[O-GaugeOscar]

Kevin,

I rode the first VIA Rail #2 (eastbound Canadian) last fall following the change to the new off-season schedule.  It was a wonderful trip through the Canadian Rockies after the first significant snowfall of the season.  Onboard service, food and amenities were great.  According to the "white board" in the Park Car, our train from Jasper eastbound consisted of two locomotives and nine passenger cars (one baggage, one dining car, two domes (one each for coach and first class - the Park Car), two regular coaches and three sleeping cars, I believe) for a total length of 942 feet and weight of 760 tons.  In addition, one locomotive and a dome coach were set out at Jasper.  (These would be added to the next westbound Canadian.)   While the train seemed full (e.g. both seatings for lunch and dinner were always filled to capacity), everything seemed to work well, a real credit to the experienced (30+ years in some cases) onboard staff.  

VIA Rail, however, was not very forthcoming regarding performance statistics when I called prior to booking my trip online.  (I was more concerned with the connection time for my flight back to the US.)  BTW, our train was 45 minutes late arriving in Toronto.

Have you searched the Canadian Government's website (under VIA Rail's auditor/inspector general report or equivalent)?

Hope this helps.  Good luck with your search.

Mark

[Kevin C. Smith]

Already posted something like this on the General forum but thought someone might have more information here...

I have recently been interested in Via Rail's Canadian. It is pretty easy to find videos of 20-30 car long consists. Still, with single level equipment (primarily sleepers), the passenger loads are not as great as I would expect. (I ran across an Ed King column referring to a 28 car train carrying 250 passengers). What little I have read about the present edition of the train seems to indicate that the off season passenger loads are much smaller-but I can't seem to find any numbers.

Does anyone know of a place I can find either station boarding numbers or, ideally, passenger loads for segments of the line?