This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
Traveling on the rails between Toronto and Vancouver means agreeing to move at a different pace and in the middle of a setting frozen in another time.
Where else can you meet an entrepreneur from India who can read your palm (“You will live long and be rich.”)? A Vancouverite with a passion for filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard who speaks to you fervently about The Chinese (1967) and Funny Wars (2023), his final opus, against a backdrop of black spruce trees? Two Albertans in caps suddenly silent when the author of these lines announces to them that he works as a journalist? All this is banality in the dining car of the Canadian. This legendary train has been in operation since 1955, connecting Toronto and Vancouver, crossing 4,466 km of quiet things, four days and four nights between plains and mountains, forests and anonymous suburbs. And most of the time without cellular network or Internet access.
Of the 4.1 million passengers that VIA Rail Canada carried in 2023, 61,670 of them took the Canadian to travel to the two major cities of the country, or somewhere along the way, for example to Winnipeg. This is where part of the staff ensuring the comfort of the passengers leaves this steel (and brown leather…) machine to be replaced until its final destination.
To experience this unique train, as much for its old-fashioned charm as for its amazing amenities—taking a shower in an unevenly rocking cabin is unforgettable!—is also to accept the shortcomings of passenger rail transportation in Canada. They originated with the founding of VIA Rail in 1977, when Canadian National, once a Crown corporation, shed passenger service to focus on freight. Canadian Pacific followed suit the following year. Since then, products have taken precedence over people when it comes to travel, and delays have continued to mount. As have budget cuts, including those that occurred under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, between 1984 and 1993. In 1982, VIA Rail had 7.2 million passengers, but that number had dropped to 3.6 million by 1992.
So why choose this mode of transport which, in its Canadian version, seems frozen in the distant past? And this is especially true in comparison to the best performers (Europe, Japan and China) and even the worst, such as the United States, whose first TGV, between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, is planned for 2028. First, for this delicious impression of anachronism, of thumbing one’s nose at a world where everything goes too fast and where everything must be planned.
Guess who’s coming to dinner
Moreover, whether you are alone or as a couple, and especially if you occupy the cars with sleeper beds (from the personal room with bathroom to the individual cabin, including the dormitory-type section), there is something for everyone. The dishes offered on board will make you discover the country from a new angle. When you arrive at the dining car, the waiters will assign you a seat, dictated by the desire to fill the tables for efficient organization. Were you dreaming of solitude or privacy? You will have the rest of the journey to do so. At mealtimes, the chances are high that you will find yourself with a German intellectual denigrating television or an American couple reluctant to criticize certain policies of their country (two real-life events!). Moreover, with its succulent menu that can satisfy carnivores, fish lovers and vegetarians, you will be satisfied if not always well nourishing your mind with edifying remarks.
Other opportunities remain possible to do so, either in front of a puzzle — minimum 1000 pieces! — offered to idle travelers or under the panoramic dome showing the beautiful landscapes of the route. This is particularly the case in Alberta and British Columbia, or, then, during the night to admire the starry sky.
The ambassador on the rails
The luckiest travellers might run into Jason Shron, president of Rapido Trains, a company that designs miniature trains. This Ontario-based railway enthusiast has even built a life-size version of an old VIA Rail passenger car in his basement. For family reasons, but mostly because any excuse is good for travelling by train, Jason Shron is a regular at the Canadianespecially between Toronto and Winnipeg.
“Last year, I did the route three times,” recalls the skilled handyman. “It was the employees who drew the attention of the other passengers to point out that I was on my fortieth trip—I had never counted them. Everyone applauded!” Indeed, VIA Rail could not find a better ambassador than this living encyclopedia of the evolution of the Crown corporation’s rolling stock. Ask him the name of a model, its decoration, its routes, and he will answer you with many details.
This passion, which dates back to childhood, has never wavered. Jason Shron would so much like his compatriots to share it, despite all the flaws he himself sees in VIA Rail, including, of course, the delays and the fewer cities served. Speaking of the Canadianhe is full of praise, both for the quality of the food and the nostalgic decor, as well as the impromptu encounters with people from here and elsewhere. “I don’t know a better way to discover this country,” he observes. “You don’t fly over Canada, you cross it right through the heart, and you do it in the middle of a true microcosm of our society.”
How does he see the future of this mode of transportation in Canada? “It’s like a political football game right now. And what saddens me even more is to see that we find billions of dollars to build pipelines and so little to develop passenger rail,” he says. Jason Shron will be happy to tell you more if you run into him on your next trip aboard the Canadian.
This report was made possible thanks to the excellence scholarships of the Association of Independent Journalists of Quebec (AJIQ).
This content was produced by the Special Publications Team of Dutyrelevant to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part in it.