The Canadian
The Canadian is a transcontinental passenger train operated by Via Rail on its Western Canada service between Union Station in Toronto, Ontario, and Pacific Central Station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Canadian Pacific introduced this service on April 24, 1955, serving Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. In 1978, Via Rail Canada acquired the service, and, on January 15, 1990, designated the Canadian as its sole transcontinental service, between Toronto and Vancouver. The new service replaced the former Super Continental, Canadian National's flagship passenger service, and continues to run primarily over CN tracks.
History
In the years following World War II, passenger trains on the CP consisted of a mixture of prewar heavyweight and pre- and post-war lightweight cars, even on its flagship transcontinental The Dominion and its eastern extension, The Atlantic Limited. While these cars were serviceable, American trains of the early 1950s, such as the California Zephyr, had already adopted streamlined all-stainless steel consists featuring domed observation cars. Following an evaluation in 1949 of the dome cars featured on the General Motors / Pullman Standard demonstrator Train of Tomorrow, CP management, including then-Vice President Norris R. Crump, resolved to upgrade its rolling stock.In 1953, CP placed an order for 155 stainless steel cars with the Budd Company of Red Lion, Pennsylvania that included 18 rear-end dome cars, 18 Skyline mid-train dome cars, 30 coaches, 18 dining cars and 71 sleeping cars. A subsequent order for 18 baggage-crew dormitory cars brought the final to total to 173 cars: sufficient for establishing an entirely-new transcontinental service and partially re-equipping The Dominion. The interior design of these new cars was contracted to the Philadelphia architectural firm Harbeson, Hough, Livingston & Larson, and the resulting furnishings and pastel-shaded colour schemes were widely acclaimed.
After deciding to name the Park series dome cars after famous Canadian parks, leading Canadian artists, including members of the Group of Seven, were commissioned to paint suitable murals for these cars. When the decision was made to add budget sleeping cars, the Budd order was supplemented by 22 existing heavyweight sleepers that CP refurbished in its own Angus Shops, each fitted-out with Budd-style stainless steel cladding. To complement the new rolling stock, CP ordered General Motors Diesel FP9 locomotives to supplement an existing fleet of FP7s. Although these F-units remained the preferred power for the train, it would occasionally pulled by a variety of motive power, including Montreal Locomotive Works FPA-2s.
Service under CP
CP christened its new flagship train The Canadian and service began on April 24, 1955. Running time between Montreal and Vancouver was reduced from about 85 to 71 hours, so that passengers spent only three, rather than four, nights en route. Although CP competitor Canadian National Railways began its own new transcontinental service, the Super Continental, on the same day, CP was able to boast honestly that The Canadian was "The first and only all-stainless steel 'dome' stream-liner in Canada" – it was not until 1964 that the CN acquired dome cars from the Milwaukee Road.The train operated with Montreal and Toronto sections, which ran combined west of Sudbury, Ontario. The Montreal section was known as train 1 westbound and train 2 eastbound, while the Toronto section was known as train 11 westbound and train 12 eastbound. Matching its streamlined appearance, The Canadians 71-hour westbound schedule was 16 hours faster than that of The Dominion.
Although initially successful, passenger train ridership began to decline in Canada during the 1960s. Facing competition from new jet aircraft and increased automobile usage following construction of the Trans-Canada Highway, the CP cancelled The Dominion in 1966, and petitioned the government to discontinue The Canadian in 1970. Although this petition was denied, CP during the 1970s attempted to remove itself from the passenger service market. The Canadian was operated at reduced levels, with the government funding 80 percent of its losses.
Service under Via Rail
Via Rail, a federal crown corporation, formally assumed responsibility for CP's passenger services on October 29, 1978, although the Via identity was not assumed by the trains themselves until the following summer. Following the takeover by Via, the Canadian became the company's premier transcontinental train, and initially operated over its old CP route. It was supplemented by the former CN Super Continental, which operated over the parallel, but more northerly, CN route. The Canadian continued to be operated in two sections east of Sudbury and provided daily service west to Vancouver and east to Toronto and Montreal.The Super Continental was discontinued in 1981 due to sharp budget cuts. Since then, the Canadian has Via Rail's only true transcontinental train. While the Super Continental was brought back in 1985 amid popular demand, it only ran as far east as Winnipeg.
In the aftermath of another round of deep budget cuts made to Via Rail on January 15, 1990, Via again discontinued the Super Continental, this time permanently. The Canadian was moved from CP trackage to the CN route plied by the Super Continental for its first quarter-century, dropping the Montreal section. The new longer route bypassed Thunder Bay, Regina and Calgary in favour of Saskatoon and Edmonton. This maintained transcontinental service and allowed Via to operate its government-mandated service to small communities along the line. At the same time, the absence of transportation alternatives along the CP route allowed entrepreneur Peter Armstrong to develop the Rocky Mountaineer excursion service. Moreover, while pre-1990 schedules had daily service on both the CP and CN routes, service following the 1990 cuts was a mere three days per week, reduced further to two times a week in the off-season.
In 2007, the schedule was lengthened so that the train now takes four nights, rather than three, to travel between Toronto and Vancouver. The four-night schedule is almost identical with that of the 1940s, despite substantial technological change since then.
In 2013, the train was honoured by being featured on the back of the new polymer Canadian ten-dollar note.
, Via Rail continues to operate the Canadian using the rebuilt ex-CP Budd passenger equipment.
Due to CN's shortage of capacity on the cross-country line, 12-hour delays had become almost standard. On-time performance had fallen from 84% in 2009 to just 8% in 2017. Continuing delays reached nearly 2 days in length by mid-May, 2018. To address this issue, the schedule was lengthened again, effective July 26, 2018, to four days and four nights in each direction due to continuing schedule-reliability problems on the host railway: CN. This change has almost entirely resolved the issue.
The Canadian currently takes 94 hours 15 minutes westbound vs. 95 hours 29 minutes eastbound. This is 13h50m vs. 12h19m slower than the SSContinental
Current operations
When operating on the normal schedule, the Canadian operates twice per week, departing Toronto on Wednesdays and Sundays and Vancouver on Mondays and Fridays. The total journey takes about four days.The great majority of stations operate as flag stops; passengers boarding or detraining at these stops must give advance notice.
On March 21, 2020, the Canadian and most other Via Rail services were suspended due to the pandemic. This suspension continued until December 11, to accommodate inspection and repair work as part of its Heritage Modernization Program. Beginning December 11, the Canadian was reinstated between Winnipeg and Vancouver only and ran once a week. Service to Toronto resumed on May 17, 2021, still operating once a week.
Service disruptions
In January 2020, service on the Canadian was suspended due to the 2020 Canadian pipeline and railway protests and blockades at several points along CN and Metrolinx lines. Partial service was restored in early March.However, less than a month after the blockades were lifted, the COVID-19 pandemic and the closing of the Canada-US border temporarily impacted nearly all Via Rail services. While reduced service continued on the Corridor, all overnight trains except the Winnipeg-Churchill run were initially cancelled. Around 1000 employees across the system were temporarily laid off. Service was gradually restored in stages, with the Toronto-Winnipeg portion of the route being restored first. Service along the full Toronto-Vancouver route was finally restored in December 2020, with a single train running once a week in each direction.
In response to these two major disruptions, Via amended its cancellation policies to allow changes without penalty and full refunds.
In November 2021, service west of Winnipeg was impacted by the November 2021 Pacific Northwest floods. The November 13 westbound train out of Toronto, which was already underway when the floods hit, was halted at Winnipeg. Passengers with final destinations west of Winnipeg were bussed or flown to their final destinations. Service was not restored until December 12. Subsequent trains were significantly delayed between Edmonton and Vancouver by the supply chain backlog of previously stalled freight trains.