roger1818
Senior Member
While I agree that transit isn't quite the right word, no other word is quite right either. Intercity travel doesn't quite convey the right meaning, since even the tourists are traveling between cities on The Canadian.
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VIA Rail
- Thread starter ehlow
- Start date
While I agree that transit isn't quite the right word, no other word is quite right either. Intercity travel doesn't quite convey the right meaning, since even the tourists are traveling between cities on The Canadian.
lenaitch
Senior Member
Excursion service?
crs1026
Superstar
"Rail Experience" ?
"Cruise Line" may sound a bit sarcastic, but it's not an incorrect metaphor.
The most interesting thing for me in the pdf document that VIA put out (having trouble attaching it....is the absence of any mention of coach class.
- Paul
lenaitch
Senior Member
They would need something or at least something equivalent. It is still a flag service for remote communities.
Urban Sky
Senior Member
There is a near-universal phenomenon to differentiate between short-distance modes like buses, streetcars, subways and urban/suburban/regional trains (which have generally a flat fare and don’t require advance booking, reflecting that most trips made are spontaneous and recurring) and long-distance modes like intercity coach or ferry services (which usually need to be booked in advance and often vary their fares according to demand, reflecting that most all trips are pre-planned and occasional).
The former are usually called “transit” and run and funded by the government (either directly - like TTC or STM - or indirectly - like ONxpress or the REM), whereas long-distance modes are usually run by private or nominally profit-oriented state companies. Using “transit” for VIA or Amtrak services including their long-distance routes renders this term useless. If everything is transit, also nothing is transit…
1. Baggage car
2. Coach
3. Dining car (with panoramic windows)
4. Room sleeper (all 2-person accommodations - no more roomettes)
5. Accessible sleeper (all accessible bedrooms)
6. Berth sleeper (all berths - and based on comments on other car types, presumably with upper berth windows)
7. Prestige sleeper
8. Panorama lounge (wrap around windows, lounge space, cafe)
9. Dome lounge (apparently only for the Canadian)
micheal_can
Senior Member
The RFQ has apparently started for the new non-Corridor fleet:
NEW TRAINS FROM COAST TO COAST | VIA Rail
media.viarail.ca
It is unfortunate that they are sole sourcing it. If they had each type done by a different manufacturer it might speed up the process.
Willybru21
Senior Member
Here’s something neat I noticed, one of the concept art images is just the new cars overlaid on an existing image, you can really see how large the windows and domes on the new cars will be:
roger1818
Senior Member
That sounds like an antonym to what I would consider intercity Rail to be, like one would see in the corridor.
roger1818
Senior Member
Well, I don’t disagree with what you’re saying you haven’t come up with a better term that would describe conventional Intercity Rail that doesn’t also describe a long distance tourist to train like the Canadian.
micheal_can
Senior Member
The Canadian is an intercity train. They both can be used for regular intercity service. The difference seems to be how they are marketed.
Urban Sky
Senior Member
In the context of VIA Rail, I believe that the differentiation between Intercity, Remote and Transcontinental services is rather clear and unambiguous, just like it is for Amtrak with NEC, State-Supported and Long Distance services. In a European context, it might be regional, intercity and sleeper services, though the latter have disappeared from many countries and "international" would be a more useful category...
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PL1
Active Member
Bigger windows in general would be great. As would windows in the upper berths, my only complaint about them currently. (I've taken the Canadian twice Toronto to Vancouver, and we had berths both times).
My wife and I were joking that we'll need to wait until they have the new cars before we do this a third time. We'll probably be retired by then as this will take 12+ years
roger1818
Senior Member
Certainly an interesting comparison, but I wouldn't put too much faith in the new rendering. It will be an artists concept with no engineering analysis for structural integrity. Reality will almost certainly be significantly different.
roger1818
Senior Member
In terms of categorizing the service offered, yes. The OP was saying that no one uses the Canadian as Intercity transport (strictly as a form of transportation, not as a scenic tour). I am not sure that "Intercity Rail" properly describes this the type of theoretical user that would be doing that.
