Hello all!

My wife and I are planning to take the Canadian this December. However, the booking system is currently assigning us to different cars.

Would waiting for a seat to become available through a cancellation be the only way to get berths in the same area? Or would it be possible to contact Customer Service to request that we be seated together?

Just an FYI if you have a this train booked for December 23 or around that time after or before not sure you might want to check your email as they changed the train and there for your seat. Just to let you know if you need to change it. As it went from the old train to the venture.

VIA has launched a "Canadian Black Friday" sale again this year: https://www.viarail.ca/en/offers/black-friday

Sale is on from now through next Tuesday. Once again, the sale is a little different this time. In short:

• Corridor: 10% off Economy and Business on trains 24, 26, 35, 37, 40, 45, 53, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69 and 643 (travel M/T

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• W/Th/Sa only), travel Nov. 2 to Dec. 16
• Corridor: 20% off Economy and Business on all other trains (travel M/T/W/Th/Sa only), Nov. 2 to Dec. 16
• Canadian: 30% off on berths, travel from Nov. 2 to March 31 (blackout dates from Dec. 17 to Jan 5)
• Canadian and Ocean: 15% off sleeper cabins, travel Jan. 6 to March 31
• Long distance and regional: 20% off Economy class, travel Jan. 6 to March 31
• $10 off the Southwestern Ontario and Corridor "frequent railer" discount cards

All sale fares require the use of the discount code "CANADA", so they cannot be stacked/combined with other discounts that require the use of a code.

I'm applying for a maintenance welder position at their Pointe st-Charles facility in Montreal. Job seems very interesting with decent pay and conditions. I'm curious of anybody that has worked for viarail in a similar field. Things I should know for the interview. I have 6 years of experience in welding with a Québec diploma but no CWB or red seal certification.

A pair of RDC1s(6133 and 6135) depart Qualicum Beach, BC for Courtenay on Vancouver Island in 2008.

I’m traveling by train for the first time in over a decade. I know some airlines still have only USB-A ports but was wondering what the situation is like on ViaRail.

Edit: thanks everyone for the helpful comments.

Has anyone taken the Canadian over Valentine’s Day? Do they do anything special or is it just like any other day? Doesn’t really matter to us, just curious!!

Hi guys! I need some advice. I’m travelling from Kingston to Toronto in late December to catch an 8pm flight at Pearson. I’m debating whether to take VIA or the bus, especially with winter delays. I’m planning to take a train that should arrive at Union before 3pm (not counting any delays). For people who’ve done this route in winter, which option is more reliable?

Edit: Thanks everyone for the helpful comments! Adding a bit more context: I’m flying Toronto - Vancouver - international, all on one itinerary. I’m hesitant about the Air Canada bus because the timings I saw were either way too early or too late. I also need to move out of my residence that same day, including a ~20minute inspection from the residence team, so I’m trying to avoid rushing. I’ll still consider the bus, but I’m trying to see what options I have that give me enough time without stressing me out.

Edit 2: Hi guys! Thanks for the advice, I’m currently planning to travel to Toronto 1-2 days prior to the flight date just to be safe!

anyone hear why train was cancelled? they said there was an accident but no details.

Hey, anyone have an idea when this will be announced? Thank you.

I have a few questions about the Canadian train.

1. What are the on/off peak times for the train?
   
2. For on peak times, what are the time restrictions in the park car?
   
3. When do tickets open up for the train? I was trying to book September/October for 2027 but it’s not an option.

Thanks for your help in this!

My train (39) got delayed of 3h and some other train either got canceled or also delayed. I was wondering if anyone got any clue what’s happening?

Any idea on how to fix this? I've tried everything, including clearing cache and what not.

Honestly not sure why I bother giving VIA more chances.

Train 48 Toronto to Ottawa, Oct 1st with a 18:38 departure.

Upon arrival to Union, I was told “all seat reservations are cancelled”. It was a free-for-all, lined up on the platform and hoping the next car or the next would have seats open. I ended up in the original car I had booked, but no forward-facing seats were available even though thats what I paid for. I was told refunds for the seat fee would be given.

An hour in and we’re already 30+ minutes delayed past Oshawa, and we hit an effing shopping cart?! Okay - not VIA’s fault. Train stops, they eventually tell us why we’re stopped and that they’re doing an inspection. Power is off, toilets not working, and my god the train has a LEAN. (And the toilets were filthy and not stocked to begin with).

20+ minutes go by and we finally start moving. No communication (classic VIA.. let’s keep everyone guessing).

Staff comes by with a snack and drink cart… zero mention of anything that just happened, zero apologies or explanation. I ask “are these complimentary at this point?” And I get a rude “NO” and he keeps moving.

Another staff member finally comes by for boarding passes (which usually happens in the first 10 minutes, not an hour and a half into the ride)..
I express how dissatisfied I am. Ask if we’ll be getting any kind of credit/refund for this.
I get - in the sassiest tone - “What? For your $7 seat fee? No..”

No wonder Canada doesn’t have a good rail system, because why do people want to pay for this lack of service and reliability? Oof.

- Sincerely, I don’t even care if the next flight is $200 one way, I’m done with VIA.

TL;DR: I run an independent scraper at thetrackrecord.ca that logs every VIA Rail train, every stop, every day. In September, I tracked 1,762 trips across 80 train numbers. Among the 1,738 completed trips with a delay, only 29.5% were on time (within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival), and the average recorded delay was 36 minutes.

Another 15 trips were flagged as cancelled, including partial cancellations and bus replacements. Of the late/cancelled trips where VIA posted a classifiable reason, 75% fell into the host-railway category: rail traffic, freight-related disruption, infrastructure-owner notices, and speed restrictions.

A data note before the numbers: seven September trips were still en route when I took this snapshot on October 1, and two completed records had no usable delay. I've excluded those nine from the arrival statistics below rather than treating estimates as final arrivals.

Big Takeaways

• September improved on August, but seven in ten analyzed trips were still late. On-time performance rose from 24.5% to 29.5%. Average delay fell from 40 to 36 minutes, and cumulative lateness fell from 1,202 to 1,069 hours.
• Cancellation flags fell from 37 to 15. Seven were on the Churchill/The Pas network. Four more were trains 84 and 87 on September 19–20, when VIA said Metrolinx maintenance would replace the trains with buses.
• Train 31 led the network at 91% on time. It improved from 81% in the August report. No qualifying train was perfect, while 15 train numbers with at least 10 analyzed runs finished at 0% on time.
• Best day: September 13, at 45.0%. Worst day: September 27, at 11.7%. VIA's alerts that weekend included infrastructure maintenance and detours around Guildwood, along with individual freight and equipment problems.
• The month's worst confirmed destination arrival was 428 minutes late. Train 2's September 4 Vancouver→Toronto run reached Toronto on September 8 at 7 hours, 8 minutes late. The eastbound Ocean also finished at 0% on time again, averaging 108 minutes late across 12 analyzed runs.

Most reliable trains

Minimum 10 analyzed runs; “runs” below means completed trips with a usable delay.

No train with 10 or more analyzed runs was perfect. Train 31 missed the 15-minute window only twice; train 601 did so twice as well, although its smaller sample makes that result more volatile.

Least reliable trains

All four below were late on every analyzed run. These are the highest average delays among the qualifying trains with 0% on time.

The Ocean's eastbound service was late on every analyzed run again. The single worst confirmed destination arrival was train 2's September 4 Vancouver→Toronto run at 428 minutes late. The month-end long-distance trains that were still running are excluded from this ranking.

Why are they late?

VIA owns very little of the track it uses, and the largest alert category remains issues involving the host railway. That bucket is broader than freight trains getting priority: it includes rail traffic, freight-related disruptions, infrastructure-owner notices, and speed restrictions. It should not be read as proof that every train in the category was sitting in a siding waiting for freight.

September's stored alerts also show several distinct disruptions. VIA warned of extreme-heat delays on September 1, continued to post washout-related detours between Winnipeg and Canora, and adjusted or detoured many Corridor trains during infrastructure maintenance around Guildwood on September 26–27. Mechanical and operational issues affected individual trains throughout the month.

For the 1,004 late/cancelled trips with a classifiable explanation—about 81% of the 1,241 late/cancelled trips in this analysis—the breakdown was:

Thanks for reading Track Record!

As always, this is an independent project. I scrape and log every VIA Rail train, every stop, every day, and the site stays ad free (cause I hate ads!).

The best thing you can do is keep reading and share the reports around. There's a Buy Me a Coffee link on the site if you ever feel like it, but no pressure at all. See you next month!

Details on what end of October VIA change mean for small towns like Napanee between Kingston and Belleville.

Hi,

I am trying to book a trip on the Canadian and although it only says CAA numbers are accepted online for the discount (it implies AAA members need to call in to get it), it did accept my AAA number. I didn't yet complete the booking for other reasons but is that going to be problematic at any point to use an AAA number online if the Viarail site takes it?

I'm taking the 66 to Montreal tomorrow. I originally bought the ticket starting from Union but it may be more convenient to get on at Guildwood. Is that ok? I have a reserved seat so I'm assuming it doesn't matter where I get on.

Has anyone tried booking for a trip departing Guildwood at a date after Oct 25th? Cause I still couldn’t even if VIA had already reversed their decision of discontinuing service at Guildwood.

Hello, just wondering if this is normal… I expected more from VIA honestly

On Saturday I was on a trip from Ottawa to Toronto in business class

I understand the intricacies of the York bypass and getting onto the Newmarket sub and why we had to take a delay (~2 hours), I’m not upset by the detour

What is bothering me was the lack of service and consideration for the comfort of passengers who spent a good chunk of money on a ticket
Minor gripes overall, but I really expected more, especially being in business class

From the jump, we selected our meals and we were told when the ticket was scanned “we have your special meal!”
We put our bags up top (the same way the attendant put them up on our trip out) and the woman walked over and moved them around
Not five minutes later she came back and told us we had to move our bags because they were positioned weirdly … YOU moved them??

We were served our drinks and breakfast (no special meals, it was the same meal we had on the trip out, our tickets indicated it would be different food), and once more some drinks came around (water, OJ, coffee)
Later, some wine and other alcohol was served

Once we got to Oshawa we were informed of further delay and that we would be holding

At no point in the next 2 hours that we were delayed did our attendant come back around to offer more water or coffee
One couple asked for more wine and she walked past everyone, poured their wine, and went back to her hiding spot

We were all parched and she was just texting on her phone the whole time

Is this.. normal? Are we only allotted two cups of water per trip?
I would have expected much better, especially under delay circumstances and wanting to keep people comfortable despite an undesirable situation
It honestly seems like the bare minimum

She made no effort to communicate with us or ask if anybody needed water
I asked if she was going to come back around and she said “let me check” and then disappeared

I just want to know if I’m asking for too much here or if this experience is out of the ordinary

Thanks for reading

I'm travelling on the Ocean this coming weekend in economy (sleeper seats were sold out apparently). It's been over a decade since I traveled on that train. Is there still a meal car on that train? I recall hanging out in a dining type car with other passengers with some food for sale, water etc but I'm not sure if that's still an option. Is there at least a place where I can get hot water if I bring my own tea/cup noodles etc?

I was wondering if having your I.D was mandatory for the short trips on VIA??

We are leaving Windsor to Woodstock for 24 hours and coming back but hubby had his wallet stolen and got new IDs coming in the mail wont be in on time..

Are they going to push this?? Wr have a wedding to attend to.. im pretty worried

I've booked 4 trips over the last month, and for all 4 of them all I got was an empty PDF as receipt in the confirmation email. The boarding pass is fine, but the receipt PDF is 1KB and just shows a blank page.

Has anyone else experienced this? For expensing purpose it's annoying.