Why is VIA Rail "better"?

[Andy]

I've been perusing the VIA Rail website and am impressed by the quality of the marketed on-board service, dining, and accommodation options. Their menus look much better than Amtrak's. The dining car, public spaces, and sleepers even look more nicely appointed than on Amtrak (dome car, observation car at train rear, etc.). Just see the video on the Toronto-Vancouver train page:

http://www.viarail.ca/en/trains/rockies-and-pacific/toronto-vancouver-canadian

Why is this? Does Amtrak not wish to compete with VIA in the quality of their services? At face value I'd prefer to travel with VIA long distance than with Amtrak.

Thoughts?

 

[zephyr17]

Via typically costs about twice as much or more for equivalent service over the same distance. Plus most Amtrak long distance trains are daily, with the sole exceptions of the Cardinal and the Sunset. No Via long distance service is daily. Via has an even more skeletal network than Amtrak.

Amtrak and Via do not compete with each other. They do not serve the same markets.

 

[jebr]

The "competition" factor (or lack thereof) is key. There are very few people with whom Amtrak and Via are on the same playing field.

Plus, Via is seen as more of a "land cruise" or "luxury" ride by its people, whereas Amtrak is seen as more of a "transportation" venue, and thus must be practical (to some extent) and have some sort of social benefit (such as offering transportation to/from small towns along the route, offering an alternative to airline travel, etc.)

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

The "competition" factor (or lack thereof) is key. There are very few people with whom Amtrak and Via are on the same playing field.

Plus, Via is seen as more of a "land cruise" or "luxury" ride by its people, whereas Amtrak is seen as more of a "transportation" venue, and thus must be practical (to some extent) and have some sort of social benefit (such as offering transportation to/from small towns along the route, offering an alternative to airline travel, etc.)

That's probably why VIA keeps losing trains to cuts.

 

[tomfuller]

My first solo train trip was in 2001 on a North America Rail Pass (30 days).

ViaRail may be slightly better on the food in the dining car. The dome available to coach passengers is above the kitchen/dining room. This is the only "upper level" area of the train.

Otherwise, Amtrak trains are better IMO than the ViaRail trains that I have been on.

The first time I rode the Canadian, the toilets flushed between the rails and the conductor locked the bathroom doors when the train was in the station. One conductor let me get in the bathroom while we were in a station so that I could shave with a blade while we were not in motion.

I did promise not to flush and did wait to release the water from the sink until we moved from the station. I'm glad to hear that there are retention tanks in the old stainless coach cars.

 

[MikefromCrete]

Since they serve two different countries, they're not really in competition.

 

[gn2276]

One of the reasons that VIA can take off a train easier then with Amtrak is that with Amtrak when a train route is shut down the employees on that route depending on how much time they have worked get a payment. If you have more the 10-15 years of service you and can not go to a different job with in 30 miles from where you work you get 6 years pay.

 

[Heading North]

I think perceptions go both ways. VIA has great service but some trains are clearly dated, as I saw riding the Malahat a few years ago. (What a great trip though!) Meanwhile I struck up a conversation with some Canadians in Vancouver who saw a three-car Superliner (Cascades) and remarked, "Your trains look so modern!"

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

I've ridden the CANADIAN across Canada several times, always in sleeper class. All Canadian train cars are 1950's cars that were renovated in 1980's and according to the ad in your link apparently are being renovated again 2010-2012. The roomettes are closer to the Viewliner roomettes on single level cars with toilet and sink. The bed lowers down over the toilet and must be raised to use the toilet at night. The domes are a plus but when I traveled I did not think the dining car menu's were better than Amtrak dining car menu's. In fact, they only had "bison" burgers which I did not like. I would like to ride the CANADIAN again but cost have really skyrocketed. You can purchase a discounted fare but it is nonrefundable but is exchangeble. I don't know if they have "buckets" but I priced a Toronto-Vancouver trip for May 23 and senior discounted single room was $861 where as the refundable non-discounted fare was over $1500. I will be doing a trip this July on CS LAX to PDX, Cascades Business PDX to SEA, EB SEA to CHI, and SWC CHI to LAX. All three LD trains are roomette sleepers. The total cost(I did use AMSNAG) was just over $1500 so Amtrak is the better bargain. Incidentally, VIA has reduced the CANADIAN to only two trips each week from November through April. My last trip on the CANADIAN was in April 2005 and I had the privilege of the train after leaving Hornepayne having to back up to return to Hornepayne and wait over 8 hours for derailed freight to be cleared so Amtrak isn't alone on being delayed from time to time.

 

[TML]

Maybe VIA Rail has better on-board service, but in terms of scheduling frequencies, Amtrak wins hands down. The Canadian government evidently doesn't value VIA Rail as much as the American government values Amtrak (disclaimer: I think both governments need to do more to improve their respective passenger rail systems, but I think that the American side has done a better job maintaining Amtrak's service levels than their Canadian counterparts).

 

[Trogdor]

Cost recovery of VIA's services is also considerably worse than Amtrak's.

So, one of the ways in which VIA was able to provide such nice service is they didn't have to worry about paying for it with ticket sales (and this despite their sky-high fares).

 

[Nathanael]

The "competition" factor (or lack thereof) is key. There are very few people with whom Amtrak and Via are on the same playing field.

Plus, Via is seen as more of a "land cruise" or "luxury" ride by its people, whereas Amtrak is seen as more of a "transportation" venue, and thus must be practical (to some extent) and have some sort of social benefit (such as offering transportation to/from small towns along the route, offering an alternative to airline travel, etc.)

That's probably why VIA keeps losing trains to cuts.

This difference in attitudes also explains why Amtrak's schedules are clear and readable, and it's easy to do trip planning, while Via's schedules are obscure and poorly organized -- almost as if they expect their clientele not to care when the trains run.

The difference in attitude is also very bad for the future of intercity rail in Canada.