VIA Rail Canada, the national passenger railway, serves over 450 communities across 14,000 kilometres of rail network. In 2011, intercity passenger service carried 4.5 million passengers. VIA Rail is in the final stages of investing the $923 million in federal government funding allocated for infrastructure improvements, equipment refurbishments, stations, facilities, and information technology projects. This much-needed investment is welcomed; however, the operating and capital budgets of VIA Rail are dwarfed by the support accorded to intercity passenger rail in other G-8 countries.
There are opportunities to increase ridership on VIA in certain corridors, such as the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor, particularly the Montreal/Ottawa/ Toronto triangle, and further investments will be required to reduce transit times to make key routes more attractive and commercially viable.
Media Contact:
Mr. Paul Goyette
Director, Communications and Public Affairs
Telephone: (613) 564-8097
PaulG@railcan.ca
To see the difference that you can make by shipping your freight with rail, we invite you to use the RAC's Rail Freight Greenhouse Gas Calculator, click here.
Locomotive Emissions Monitoring Program 2008
To learn more about LEM Program, click here.
There is growing interest to develop a document that positions the freight and passenger rail industry 20 years into the future. The project is entitled Rail 2030. The intent of this initiative is to investigate possible future scenario frameworks and develop recommendations, in partnership with government and other stakeholders, on issues common to all, which will benefit the Canadian economy... MORE >
