One of the extra trains during the 2015-16 holiday season departs Halifax with a stainless steel consist in tow.
The Maritimes will be seeing extra passenger trains for the Christmas holiday season once again this year. It might seem early to be thinking about Christmas, but VIA is clearly trying to make sure that people have extra options when they look to book their Christmas travel, which many will do well in advance.
Similar to last year, there will be 3 extra trains in each direction, plus rescheduled trains from both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve (which fall on Sundays this year, so the trains that would run those days are cancelled), meaning that there will be a total of 5 trains each way running on unusual days of the week.
Also in keeping with past years, a set of HEP (Budd-built stainless steel) equipment will be running on 3 departures in each direction. This equipment should include a Skyline dome car, a full dining car, and sleeping cars with upper and lower berths, roomettes, and double and triple bedrooms.
The dates of operation from Dec. 20th to January 5th are listed below. Unusual dates of operation are in bold. Again, three of those are added departures, and two are rescheduled dates. The type of equipment (Renaissance of HEP) is also indicated for each trip.
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#14 Montreal-Halifax
Wednesday, Dec. 20 Ren
Thursday, Dec. 21 HEP
Friday, Dec. 22 Ren
Saturday, Dec. 23 Ren
Tuesday, Dec. 26 HEP
Wednesday, Dec. 27 Ren
Friday, Dec. 29 Ren
Saturday, Dec. 30 HEP
Monday, Jan. 1 Ren
Wednesday, Jan. 3 Ren
Friday, Jan. 5 Ren
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#15 Halifax-Montreal
Wednesday, Dec. 20 Ren
Friday, Dec. 22 Ren
Saturday, Dec. 23 HEP
Tuesday, Dec. 26 Ren
Wednesday, Dec. 27 Ren
Thursday, Dec. 28 HEP
Friday, Dec. 29 Ren
Tuesday, Jan. 2 Ren
Wednesday, Jan. 3 Ren
Thursday, Jan. 4 HEP
Friday, Jan. 5Ren
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These extra trains will provide nearly daily service during that period, and will hopefully make it easier for more people to use the train for their holiday travels.
Federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May and New Brunswick provincial leader David Coon are among elected officials who have received copies of Riding the Ocean’s Next Wave.
“VIA Rail’s Ocean is dying.” So begins the report recently completed by transportation consultant and advocate Greg Gormick for the advocacy group Save Our Trains in Northern New Brunswick. The new report is titled “Riding the Ocean’s Next Wave: A proposal for VIA Rail Canada’s Maritime services”, and was released in mid-August with considerable media coverage.
Gormick is no stranger to VIA’s Maritime services. He has completed reports on rail service in the region in the past, and toured Atlantic Canada as part of the “National Dream Renewed” campaign several years ago, aiming to generate support for improvements to VIA’s services across the country at a time when the future was looking particularly bleak.
His assessment of the current situation boils down, in essence, to three points: VIA is struggling to compete with discount airlines for end-to-end travel; their equipment is deteriorating; and the inconvenience of a tri-weekly schedule is simply unable to generate adequate ridership or effectively serve any part of the market. These are concerns that are generally shared by TAA. Continue reading “A New Proposal to Rehabilitate the Ocean”→
Attendees of TAA’s Nova Scotia Members Rendez-vous excursion wait on the platform in Truro as VIA #14 arrives. (Photo – Tim Hayman)
On Saturday, March 18th, TAA hosted the first of what we hope will be many events for our members. This event was targeted primarily towards our members in Nova Scotia, as we set out on an excursion from Halifax to Truro and back. At noon, seventeen TAA members (including our Vice President and several members of the board) gathered at the VIA Rail/Maritime Bus station in downtown Halifax and boarded Maritime Bus Route 103 to head to Truro. As we boarded the bus driver commented that this was an unusually busy trip for that time on a Saturday…we doubled what he guessed would be a “normal” load!
Despite running slightly behind schedule the bus trip was smooth and uneventful, with only two short stops in Dartmouth and at the airport. The chatter on board throughout the trip was full of discussion about public transportation locally and farther afield!
Upon arrival in Truro we made our way to the Engineroom Pub, where we enjoyed lunch before migrating over to the adjacent VIA Rail station. The waiting room was surprisingly busy – it seems we weren’t the only ones making the trip in to Halifax! Our wait in the station gave us a chance to talk a bit more about what TAA was up to, and provide an opportunity for members to provide feedback on what they thought we were doing well (or not so well), and what they’d like to see us do in the future. There were some excellent ideas floated during this chat. Continue reading “TAA hosts successful Nova Scotia members event”→
