Why Passenger Trains Suck in Canada - VIA Rail

TRAINS PART 2!! https://youtu.be/aM9Q5x6dM7w ... will be released later this summer.

Me: "How bad could it really be?" Not Just Bikes: "They weigh your bags 30 minutes before departure" Me: ...

"I watch videos about trains" Me: haha, such a nerd Also me: watching this video about trains

I remember when my cousin from the Netherlands was preparing to visit Canada and he asked how long the cab ride from Calgary to Lethbridge would be. When I explained it would be two-and-a-half hours he said "Ah, OK, I'll just take the train." Oh how we laughed and laughed about that one. :)

"High Frequency Rail" by Via Rail is the "Train" everywhere else in the world. Meanwhile in France you can travel 800km in 3 hours for 18€.

Btw...I'm a student who commutes often between Ottawa & Montreal. Besides the 7 trains/day limitation, I found VIA rail's fares to be ridiculously expensive. The student fare is about $100 roundtrip for the train, whereas the greyhound bus costs $40-50 rountrip. Travel time is similar & the bus has departures every 1-2 hours.

"How old do you think this car is?" "Hm.. from the 40s?" "WRONG. It's from 1947" ..but.

I'm from Sweden and I did take it for granted until my friend from the US came over for 3 months. He was stunned on how good the public transport is here. He was really worried that I don't have a car but I'm a student and have never felt the need for a car so I was fine with doing all of the trips with public transport. Every time we went out he got amazed at how easy everything is. I have a store like 500m away so we just walked to get the shopping and when we did a trip to my family in a different part of the country we just took the train. His constant amazement was an eye-opener for me.

I've always wanted to take the train somewhere, thinking oh we can just take a train across the country. Then I look at the insane cost, the stupid amount of time it takes, and realize I'll just raise a pony from young, and then ride it to where I want to go for less and quicker.

An efficient inter-city passenger rail service is far more efficient than a 16 lane 401

You could replace every mention of “Via Rail” with “Amtrak” and you’d have almost the same story!

Gotta say it, the train trip from Toronto to Montreal we took 10 years ago was a really nice way to make our way across the country for two tourists who weren’t in a hurry!

5:20 It is quite telling that the article in blogTO about "High speed train between Toronto and Windsor" is illustrated with a photo of a Polish short distance commuter train, (you know, the type that connects suburbia and small villages). I guess this is how Canadians imagine high speed train tech from the future that will never happen :D

"Hold old is this train?" Me: "uhhhhh, I'm going wild - 1950s." "Wrong! It was built in 1947." WTF?!

After moving to the U.S., I wondered why public transportation, and moving around in general (including with cars) felt like it was painful on purpose. It's much more clear now that it was, in fact, designed that way.

I'm Dutch, been to Canada many times, my fiancé is Canadian and I was pretty shocked to see how difficult it is to get around there without a car. I'm used to taking the train everywhere which was definitely not an option in Canada.

A country that discontinues electric trains... I can't even

As an American living in Germany, the parallels were... painful

Love my job as a train driver for the NS. Things we do: - Complain about our company - brag about how good our company is - complain about Passenger’s - and blame ProRail 🤣

Travelled on The Canadian 3 years ago with my husband. It was our Christmas treat and we were looking forward to it. I can’t even begin to express the excruciating experience we had. It was so awful that you’d think the entire trip was a Monty Python sketch. Hours late? Try DAYS late. DAYS!