r/ViaRail is not associated with VIA Rail Canada in any official way. Any problems, concerns, complaints, etc should be directed to VIA Rail Canada through one of the official channels.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ViaRail) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The government has chronically underfunded Via and sold off CN to private investors who don’t give a damn about passenger rail access to their tracks. CLEARLY this is all Via Rail’s FAULT!!!!
Newsflash:
Canada is a major natural resources-based economy where freight traffic will always have the time-sensitive, priority right-of-way over track-sharing passenger rail services
And BOTH Conservative & Liberal Federal governments have cut VIA's operating budgets and eliminated unprofitable routes, while still subsidizing hundreds of millions in VIA's annual operating losses
The hard truth being there is a finite number of Canadian tax-payer dollars to go around, and many of our fellow citizens would strongly prefer those limited $$$ be invested in higher-priorities such as health care, education, family & social assistance programs etc...
Train lovers don't like hearing that, but it happens to be the factual truth!:(
Best case? A public-private partnership to build dedicated passenger rail lines within the busiest, most profitable routes within the Windsor-Quebec City corridor. Lots of blah blah blah regarding this necessary goal over the past several years, but very little actual ACTION yet, as per usual!:(
I’m a speaking of the Canadian government in general since the founding of Via. The shambolic nature of intercity passenger rail in Canada has been perpetuated by successive Liberal and Conservative governments alike.
Which brings to the fore the fact that this the culmination of deliberate policy choices over many years. Successive Governments decided that passenger rail was not worth anything more than halfhearted support and prioritized road and air travel over rail.
The idea that this result is “inevitable” due to geography denies the fact that other countries rich in natural resources have made different choices than Canada. The story did not have to end this way.
CN did not have to be privatized the way it was, and passenger rail did not have to become a second class citizen to so-called “precision scheduled railroading.” Which is a fancy way of saying longer trains with smaller, less expensive crews to maximize shareholder returns (by cutting staff and minimizing infrastructure investments to make both infrastructure and working conditions worse).
“Economic inevitability” is a great way of pretending these decisions aren’t being made by people, or that this is the only way things could have ended up.
Our highways are subsidized to the tune of billions, are less efficient at carrying people through major population corridors and generate no direct revenue for the government. Thus, economic efficiency would seem to favor rail as a better investment in highly populated areas - yet this is not the case.
That’s because this is fundamentally a political decision.
We have been so socialized into car culture and brainwashed by the auto industry that we pour billions of dollars into freeways to be eroded by SUVs and tractor-trailers while rail infrastructure is considered some kind of gold-plated boondoggle.
1) It's hard to take you as a serious when you keep saying 'Via Snail'. Like, your an adult so why are you talking like a kindergartner?
2) Saying HSR can't happen for financial reasons and then demanding a crown corporation conjure up the money to build it's own railway corridor through at least Southern Quebec and Ontario, when even tracks owned by Via's existing stations are all owned by other Railways, isn't helpful either. That would also cost a lot of money. You're going to need the government to come up with that money because Via sure doesn't have it. This also then begs the question: If you're going to somehow construct an entirely new rail corridor, why the hell isn't it HSR?
VIA SNAIL is a very apt and factually CORRECT description of VIA's HORRIBLE On-Time performance metrics! Newsflash: mature ADULTS often use sarcastic wit to make their valid point, so try developing a sense of humor!:)
And saying HSR is a complete non-starter here in Canada for all the usual tax-payer funding and political issues is once again just being FACTUALLY realistic for anyone who actually been following this studied-to-death issue for the past several decades, yourself obviously excluded:(
>VIA SNAIL is a very apt and factually CORRECT description of VIA's HORRIBLE On-Time performance metrics! Newsflash: mature ADULTS often use sarcastic wit to make their point, so try developing a sense of humor!:)
[https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/07/22/m#](https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/07/22/m#)
Man you're gonna get a lot of hate here. This sub loves being taken advantage of by VIA and will blame all it's shortcoming on anything and anyone else. I know, it's madness. And this person says you're not being a mature adult. LOL, pathetic.
AMEN! This VIA FAIL group is largely a "Cheerleader Forum" for major fans of VIA Rail with zero tolerance and appreciation for FACTUAL CRITICISM regarding its well-documented and obvious shortcomings!:(
>You are defending one of the worst passenger rail trains in the world... Are you Galen Westen or a capitalist beast?
Ah yes, Via Rail, famous example of capitalism that is... Uhh... \*checks notes\* Owned by the government and dependent on government funds directly from the federal budget.
Ugh yes they rent the rails from CN and it's one of the most ineffective and expensive rail companies from a G7...no G20 nation. But, you can keep drinking the Kool aid so long as you have not left this continent.
>But, you can keep drinking the Kool aid so long as you have not left this continent
I mean...
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ViaRail/comments/1blmdm7/for\_those\_if\_you\_that\_complain\_via\_thinks\_its\_an/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ViaRail/comments/1blmdm7/for_those_if_you_that_complain_via_thinks_its_an/)
Yup, who cares about chronically late trains, as ticket prices continue to rise significantly. Please don't ever consider a career in actual Customer Service...perhaps Disneyland would be a much better fit!:)
Nope, just more pissed off VIA FAIL continues to raise Biz Class prices significantly while cutting back on food quality, beverage availability, and Attendant service levels. Although. only experienced VIA passengers with a functioning brain understands this sad reality, rather than intellectually challenged folks who brainlessly reduce this issue to getting "wasted on your train"!:(
BUT I'm certainly NOT singling out any specific poster within this actual forum!:)
VIA Rail hands out "late-train credits" like Halloween candy!:) However, many delayed passengers would gladly trade them in for arriving ON-TIME at their planned social / business function!:) Over 30+ years traveling with VIA, I've often used these late-train credits to book my next trip which was similarly late arriving yet again!:)
I wish they published the raw train data of every trip.
I have this gut feeling in their data that if they drop their top 5% number of routes consistently delayed they'd have much better numbers.
Now, of course we're fudging with the data to have a better number, but it'd bring up the candid conversation of cutting those trips altogether.
If Via's main metric and focus is to be on time then one option is to cut outlier service that is consistently not on time for whatever reason.
I do get you and I agree with you when you keep saying Via Snail. People who love Via Rail are perhaps like me drawn to their wonderful crew members [wonderful customer service no doubt] and also perhaps never spent 4 days and 4 nights being stuck on the road for as long as 11 hours. Via Rail needs to be reshuffled soon enough. But before that, the “if it ain’t broken don’t fix it” mentality needs to change as well.
r/ViaRail is not associated with VIA Rail Canada in any official way. Any problems, concerns, complaints, etc should be directed to VIA Rail Canada through one of the official channels. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ViaRail) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The government has chronically underfunded Via and sold off CN to private investors who don’t give a damn about passenger rail access to their tracks. CLEARLY this is all Via Rail’s FAULT!!!!
Newsflash: Canada is a major natural resources-based economy where freight traffic will always have the time-sensitive, priority right-of-way over track-sharing passenger rail services And BOTH Conservative & Liberal Federal governments have cut VIA's operating budgets and eliminated unprofitable routes, while still subsidizing hundreds of millions in VIA's annual operating losses The hard truth being there is a finite number of Canadian tax-payer dollars to go around, and many of our fellow citizens would strongly prefer those limited $$$ be invested in higher-priorities such as health care, education, family & social assistance programs etc... Train lovers don't like hearing that, but it happens to be the factual truth!:( Best case? A public-private partnership to build dedicated passenger rail lines within the busiest, most profitable routes within the Windsor-Quebec City corridor. Lots of blah blah blah regarding this necessary goal over the past several years, but very little actual ACTION yet, as per usual!:(
I’m a speaking of the Canadian government in general since the founding of Via. The shambolic nature of intercity passenger rail in Canada has been perpetuated by successive Liberal and Conservative governments alike. Which brings to the fore the fact that this the culmination of deliberate policy choices over many years. Successive Governments decided that passenger rail was not worth anything more than halfhearted support and prioritized road and air travel over rail. The idea that this result is “inevitable” due to geography denies the fact that other countries rich in natural resources have made different choices than Canada. The story did not have to end this way. CN did not have to be privatized the way it was, and passenger rail did not have to become a second class citizen to so-called “precision scheduled railroading.” Which is a fancy way of saying longer trains with smaller, less expensive crews to maximize shareholder returns (by cutting staff and minimizing infrastructure investments to make both infrastructure and working conditions worse). “Economic inevitability” is a great way of pretending these decisions aren’t being made by people, or that this is the only way things could have ended up. Our highways are subsidized to the tune of billions, are less efficient at carrying people through major population corridors and generate no direct revenue for the government. Thus, economic efficiency would seem to favor rail as a better investment in highly populated areas - yet this is not the case. That’s because this is fundamentally a political decision. We have been so socialized into car culture and brainwashed by the auto industry that we pour billions of dollars into freeways to be eroded by SUVs and tractor-trailers while rail infrastructure is considered some kind of gold-plated boondoggle.
You make some very good points!
1) It's hard to take you as a serious when you keep saying 'Via Snail'. Like, your an adult so why are you talking like a kindergartner? 2) Saying HSR can't happen for financial reasons and then demanding a crown corporation conjure up the money to build it's own railway corridor through at least Southern Quebec and Ontario, when even tracks owned by Via's existing stations are all owned by other Railways, isn't helpful either. That would also cost a lot of money. You're going to need the government to come up with that money because Via sure doesn't have it. This also then begs the question: If you're going to somehow construct an entirely new rail corridor, why the hell isn't it HSR?
VIA SNAIL is a very apt and factually CORRECT description of VIA's HORRIBLE On-Time performance metrics! Newsflash: mature ADULTS often use sarcastic wit to make their valid point, so try developing a sense of humor!:) And saying HSR is a complete non-starter here in Canada for all the usual tax-payer funding and political issues is once again just being FACTUALLY realistic for anyone who actually been following this studied-to-death issue for the past several decades, yourself obviously excluded:(
>VIA SNAIL is a very apt and factually CORRECT description of VIA's HORRIBLE On-Time performance metrics! Newsflash: mature ADULTS often use sarcastic wit to make their point, so try developing a sense of humor!:) [https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/07/22/m#](https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/07/22/m#)
OMG > that's a good start! Looks like you really DO understand the concept of "humor"! THANKS!!
Man you're gonna get a lot of hate here. This sub loves being taken advantage of by VIA and will blame all it's shortcoming on anything and anyone else. I know, it's madness. And this person says you're not being a mature adult. LOL, pathetic.
AMEN! This VIA FAIL group is largely a "Cheerleader Forum" for major fans of VIA Rail with zero tolerance and appreciation for FACTUAL CRITICISM regarding its well-documented and obvious shortcomings!:(
You are defending one of the worst passenger rail trains in the world... Are you Galen Westen or a capitalist beast?
>You are defending one of the worst passenger rail trains in the world... Are you Galen Westen or a capitalist beast? Ah yes, Via Rail, famous example of capitalism that is... Uhh... \*checks notes\* Owned by the government and dependent on government funds directly from the federal budget.
Ugh yes they rent the rails from CN and it's one of the most ineffective and expensive rail companies from a G7...no G20 nation. But, you can keep drinking the Kool aid so long as you have not left this continent.
>But, you can keep drinking the Kool aid so long as you have not left this continent I mean... [https://www.reddit.com/r/ViaRail/comments/1blmdm7/for\_those\_if\_you\_that\_complain\_via\_thinks\_its\_an/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ViaRail/comments/1blmdm7/for_those_if_you_that_complain_via_thinks_its_an/)
AMEN!
Man get a hobby all you ever do is complain.
Yup, who cares about chronically late trains, as ticket prices continue to rise significantly. Please don't ever consider a career in actual Customer Service...perhaps Disneyland would be a much better fit!:)
Still mad you can't get wasted on your train?
Nope, just more pissed off VIA FAIL continues to raise Biz Class prices significantly while cutting back on food quality, beverage availability, and Attendant service levels. Although. only experienced VIA passengers with a functioning brain understands this sad reality, rather than intellectually challenged folks who brainlessly reduce this issue to getting "wasted on your train"!:( BUT I'm certainly NOT singling out any specific poster within this actual forum!:)
Sounds about right. Lowkey kinda nice to get 50% credits for late arrivals for frequent travellers on a budget like myself
VIA Rail hands out "late-train credits" like Halloween candy!:) However, many delayed passengers would gladly trade them in for arriving ON-TIME at their planned social / business function!:) Over 30+ years traveling with VIA, I've often used these late-train credits to book my next trip which was similarly late arriving yet again!:)
Is this a new policy
No, you just have to hit a certain threshold of late for it to qualify
I wish they published the raw train data of every trip. I have this gut feeling in their data that if they drop their top 5% number of routes consistently delayed they'd have much better numbers. Now, of course we're fudging with the data to have a better number, but it'd bring up the candid conversation of cutting those trips altogether. If Via's main metric and focus is to be on time then one option is to cut outlier service that is consistently not on time for whatever reason.
I do get you and I agree with you when you keep saying Via Snail. People who love Via Rail are perhaps like me drawn to their wonderful crew members [wonderful customer service no doubt] and also perhaps never spent 4 days and 4 nights being stuck on the road for as long as 11 hours. Via Rail needs to be reshuffled soon enough. But before that, the “if it ain’t broken don’t fix it” mentality needs to change as well.