Via Rail Canada Inc, operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada.
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The Via Rail logo began to appear on CN passenger locomotives and cars, while still carrying CN logos as well.
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Via Rail initially had a tremendous variety of equipment — much of it in need of replacement — and operated routes stretching from Sydney, Nova Scotia to Prince Rupert, British Columbia and north to Churchill, Manitoba.
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In 1981, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's government endorsed Minister of Transport Jean-Luc Pepin's plan which slashed Via Rail's budget, leading to a 40 percent reduction in the company's operations.
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Via Rail sought to reduce its reliance on over 30-year-old second-hand equipment and placed a significant order with Bombardier Transportation for new high-speed locomotives and cars which would be used in its corridor trains.
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Mulroney cuts allowed Via Rail to consolidate its fleet of cars and locomotives, resulting in a fleet of refurbished stainless steel and LRC cars, as well as rationalizing its locomotive fleet with GM and Bombardier units.
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Via Rail was not spared from further cutbacks in Jean Chretien's Liberal government elected in 1993.
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Via Rail attributed this to problems with the aging F40 locomotive fleet.
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On 21 July 2009, Via Rail announced its engineers would go on strike as of 24 July if no deal was reached by then, and began cancelling all trains in anticipation of strike.
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Via Rail experienced more service cuts at the dawn of the 2010.
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Via Rail received significant backlash, as it initially appeared there was no limit on the number of passes available.
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Via Rail ultimately addressed the issue by eliminating its late policy on its cross-Canada trains but retaining it for the Corridor routes.
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However, Via Rail continues to compensate inconvenienced guests with necessary hotel accommodations prior to the journey, as well as ensuring continued transportation where a connection to a second Via Rail train had been missed.
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The delivery of the new trains will allow Via Rail to retire LRC and Renaissance equipment from the corridor, and re-allocate the HEP2 and corridor-based HEP1 cars to other parts of the network.
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The Royal Crown indicates that Via Rail has police constables appointed for the enforcement of the laws relating to the protection of persons and property.
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Via Rail is operated as an independent crown corporation and receives a subsidy from the Minister of Transport to provide service to remote communities.
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Via Rail operates more than 500 trains per week from coast to coast.
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The Annual accounts of Via Rail are audited to GAAP principles by the Auditor-General of Canada, under the Financial Administration Act.
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Via Rail has explored the introduction of daily regional service in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to complement the thrice-weekly Ocean service to Montreal.
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In Ontario, Via would run a new rail line on currently underused tracks from Toronto to Ottawa through Peterborough instead of Kingston.
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Via Rail claimed this would allow them to run more trains in the corridor, reduce trip times by 25 per cent and improve on-time performance to over 95 per cent.
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However, in January 2020 Via Rail announced the hiring of a joint venture of engineering firms AECOM and Arup to undertake a detailed engineering study of the proposal.
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Later in 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly all Via Rail trains were suspended with the exception of the Winnipeg-Churchill train as well as one train daily on each route within the corridor.
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Via Rail was the first North American transportation service to offer Wi-Fi to its passengers in early 2006, and was one of the first in the world to do so.
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All Via Rail trains are capable of accommodating wheelchairs, although capacity is limited.
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Via Rail operates in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.
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Via Rail operates over 475 trains per week over 19 routes, marketed in four broad categories:.
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Unlike Amtrak, which gives every route a specific name, most Via Rail trains are identified only by their route number and destination.
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In total, about 88 percent of Via trackage is owned by Class I railroads, 8 percent by shortline railroads, and 5 percent by government agencies.
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Via Rail has connection agreements with several local and intercity bus operators, car-sharing services, and airlines.
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