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VIA Rail offers early look at Prestige class
Just got off the Canadian following a Vancouver - Toronto - Winnipeg trip on which Laurentide Park was in use. In one word: beautiful. A needed upgrade to the historic Park cars. Toured the Chateau Lauzon and found the car to be very deluxe. Well done, VIA.
However, wonder if fares listed in article are correct as normally the fare between Winnipeg and Vancouver would be higher than Winnipeg - Toronto.
I seem to remember this being controversial, at least among us railroad enthusiasts, because the big windows were a structural vs. cosmetic alteration to the historic Budd-built Park-series dome-observation cars.
We are booked to leave on the Canadian, May 5th. to Vancouver, so we looked into the Prestige Class.
We are still waiting to win the Lotto Max?
The prices are ‘criminal’ to say the least!
I am offended by Via and the Ontario Government for gouging normal people!
I don’t think that passengers in Prestige Class will be any different from others in becoming impatient with the many delays due to freight train traffic. After recently departing Toronto on time, we arrived in Winnipeg nine hours late, and the following day in Edmonton 10 hours late. In one instance, we waited on a siding for three eastbound freights. To be fair, our westbound train left Toronto only a day or two after a derailment in northern Ontario was cleared, and which had created a considerable backlog of trains.
VIA faces an almost impossible situation in that it only has control over on-board services and not the operation of the train, which includes many long waits on sidings.