Travelling on jets nowadays is so easy, so convenient and so cheap. But it makes the rail travel less and less popular. Passenger railway service in Canada is dying, VIA Rail Canada, the crown corporation of Canadian passenger railway service, has no other choice but cutting and cutting the service years after years.
And that's why I want to compare the rail travelling and air travelling to see which is actually better.
Here is a comparison of a medium haul (short haul for air...) travel of VIA Rail and Air Canada between Montreal, QC and Halifax, NS
Because this post is so long so I decided to only present it to you in English, the Google Translate tool on top of the page can help you to translate the page in the language you desire.
I'm a fan of both trains and planes, so please notice that some of the comments I give might not match to what you're thinking :)
Let's start with the train!
VIA Rail train ticket
VIA Train 14, Montreal - Halifax, total travel time around 23 hours
Our Sleeper ticket costs around 400$ (CAD)
Gare Centrale (Montreal Central Station)
Very busy during the afternoon rush hours
Most of them waiting for the local commuter trains to Deux-Montagnes, Mascouche (Repentigny) or Mont-Saint-Hilaire (South Shore)
VIA Rail business lounge is open for VIA Préférence tier of privilège and premier guests, Business class ticket holder of the Corridor service and Sleeper class ticket holder
But it's so full that I just want to...
But it's so full that I just want to...
walk around in this vintage train station
Train 14, also known as the Océan departs from Montreal QC, stops at Saint-Lambert (South shore of Montreal), Drummondville, Sainte-Foy (Near Quebec city), Chambly (Near Lévis, south shore of Quebec city), Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski, Matapédia, Campbellton NB , Bathurst, Maramichi, Moncton (largest city of the province of New Brunswick), Sackville NS, Truro and finally arrives at Halifax
The train stops longer ar Sainte-Foy, Campbellton, Bathurst and Moncton to refuel, add water supply or change driver
3 departs weekly, 4 during high-demand season
Gate
About the equipment they use on this train:
This train is composed by a total of 21 cars and 3 lovomotives
This extremely heavy train is pulled by 3 3000-horse-power GMD F40PH-2 locomotives (6401 6431 and 6452) manufactured by General Motor in the 1970s
Noted that in China, where trains transport more people then anywhere else, passenger trains cannot be longer then 19 cars
This photo is taken in Halifax
In the 21 cars set, 20 of them is the Renaissance type car manufactured by Metro-Cammell in England in the late 1990s. Including 1 baggage car, 4 coach cars, 2 service cars, 1 dinning car, 12 sleeper cars and 1 transition car
Metro-Cammell is well known by manufacture the first generation of Hongkong KCR electrified multiple units and the MTR M-train
Highlight of this train, the Park Car
Manufactured by Budd Company for the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1950s
Observation deck on top of this 60 years old car
Seats on the observation deck
60 years old but still hale, thanks to the great maintenance team of Canadian Pacific, Canadian National and VIA Rail
A lounge at the end of the train, coffee and biscuits are unlimited provided
Behind the lounge, there is a working desk
None of the clock is still working...
Under the observation deck, there is a bar, where you could get free champagnes and wines. All alcoholic drinks provided on the train are Canadian, mostly from the maritime regions
Transition car
Because the connection doors of the Renaissance car and the Park car is not the same so it requires a transition car that also carry some electrical units, a fridge and some baggage. To make it a little more interesting, VIA rail put a flag for each of the maritime provinces including Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island. It also has a Quebec flag and a Acadian flag
You could also do exercise here
Corridor of the sleeper cars
Sleeper (for 2 pers.) room in day setting
The room in night setting
It is so comfortable to sleep on the train. In Canada, most of the tracks are in bad conditions because most of the trains running on it are heave freights (the bad rail conditions even caused the Lac-Mégantic tragedy that killed 47 in 2013), so the trains moves a lot! I totally recommand it for people suffering insomania it will defineately help a lot!
each room has its own washroom
Coach class
Mostly for those travelling for shorter distance such as Moncton - Halifax but could also help saving money for budget travelers!
Lounge car
Where free Wi-Fi is available so everybody come...
Take out window
If you wish to eat in your room or on your seat, you could order a take out here!
Dinning car
Better to reserve in advance to ensure your table
Eating the great food and great views!
Drink menu for lunch and souper
Souper
The soup is seafood chowder and the desert is chocolate chesse cake
I ordered the beef
Service and food is at restaurant level!
Breakfast menu
French toast for breakfast!
Lunch menu
My Grandma loves the Chinese noodle! LOL
Great views from the observation car
The forest across New Brunswick
If you take this train, you have to wake up early to see the sunrise in Matapedia Valley, it is absolutely amazing!!! Unfortunately I don't have a picture here...
Near Miramichi
"If some countries have too much history, we have too much geography"
William Lyon Mackenzie King, former Prime Minister of Canada
We were able to get off the train and breathe some fresh air in Moncton, so I took some pictures
Locomotives
Some guy is playing guitar
One of the benefit to take the train is that you can meet people from all around the world!
On this train I have seen a group of old women from England travelling in eastern Canada, an old Australian couple doing a transcontinental train trip, a couple from Colorado flew to New York then took the Adirondack to Montreal, a newly married couple from Toronto, a speaky Quebecois couple from Valleyfield going to see his daughter in Halifax...
Maritime wine tasting, we tasted a total of 4 different wines and 2 kinds of cheese, all from New Brunswick or Nova Scotaia
This guy, his name is Steve and he is very funny
We arrived in Halifax after a 23 hours!
Interior of the station
I din't believe how close is our hotel to the station!
btw this historical Westin is so Fairmount and it's so inexpensive... Basically you're paying the price of Sheraton resting in Fairmount but actually it's a Westin
From our hotel room you can still see the train... and of course the harbor!
And now, we're flying back to Montreal
Air Canada is the only carrier that flies between Montreal and Halifax with 4 or 5 daily flights
Boarding Pass
AC671 is a daily flight from Halifax Stanfield International Airport to Montreal Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport, total flight time is around 1 hour and 30 minutes
I have flown KL671 before and it was the best flight I've ever flown (Read my flight report here, descriptions in Chinese only) ! What is attending this time?
Driving on the Nova Scotia highway 102, view is very beautiful
If you're landing in Halifax, this is the first impression to the Maritime!
(Not to mention if you land in Montreal and take the Autoroute 20 what your first impression is going to be...)
Highway is busy during afternoon peak hour
The Air Canada hangar and the Tims
The entire terminal
Departing zone
it's so well organized that ADMTL should come here and learn!
it's so well organized that ADMTL should come here and learn!
Domestic departure hall
Fully automated...
Central Lobby
Want some souvenir from Nova Scotia?
Gate hall
What is this Austrian Air Force C-130 Hercules doing here?
WESTJET TARTAN!!!
It looks better then on photo
Departure gate
First flight: AUG/2007 Age: 8.1 years
Cabin
Seat has a nice pitch, one of the most generous in North America I suppose
Probably the smallest aircraft featured IFE in the world
Also as IFE: GOGO in air wifi
I really don't see a point to paying 11 bucks for using 1 hour of wifi. Actually, I don't think we need wifi for short haul flight but bizarrely Air Canada installed the wifi on all its mainline short haul aircrafts included A319 A320 A321 and E190. What they need is satellite wifi on A330 B767 B777 and B787 for flights longer then 5 hours!
So I just starred on the weather...
My favorite thing of the Brazilian planes: The window
It's beautiful!
It's beautiful!
It's not giant like 787's but it gives you a feeling of flying...
It's an iPhone 5 in front of the window just to give you an idea how large it is
All the service you get from the flight: A cup of drink
Well, Second Cup's coffee isn't bad...
Sunset!
Overhead control panel
Captain is a nice Quebecois!
Eventually, I arrived in Montreal
Conclusions:
Choose Air Canada or VIA Rail, both are good, both are bad. If you choose air, it's cheap, it's fast, it's convenient and most importantly, you can fly. If you take the train, you pay a two times more it takes 20 more hours, but you get a night of accommodation, 3 fancy meals, new friends and most importantly, the landscape of Eastern Canada.
Personally, I would travel on train as much as possible because I want to support since it's a part of the history of this country...
I'm working on the next comparison now: Montreal and Toronto between train, Pearson and City Center Airport. Stay tuned!
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