VIA Rail

[Aylmer]

Originally Posted by ghYHZ

It's was 20 years ago last month that VIA launched it's new 'Enterprise' to give overnight train service between Montreal and Toronto another try....10 years after the original 'Cavalier' had been discontinued. It seemed like the perfect market for an overnight train: 340 miles apart but it just didn't work.

The Enterprise was one train VIA did give a good try. It was extensively advertised but there just didn't seem to be a market for overnight train travel anymore in the corridor. With fast day trains each-way....people just wanted to be home in their own beds at night. Not in a hotel room....let alone a sleeper. It lasted about 5 years.

I received discount coupons while travelling in VIA-1 (daytime first class....now called Business Class) for a sleeper one-way and return by fast afternoon train but it just didn’t work for most. The only times the trains were full was on Fri and Sun evenings and that was mostly in the coaches. On days the Enterprise connected with the Canadian....you did have a few more in the sleepers, but not many. For awhile VIA ran a 'Park Car' on the end and the times I rode the Enterprise....I always met one or two other railfans there also enjoying the nostalgia of overnight train travel.

I wonder if the Enterprise targeted the wrong demographic. The Renaissance sleepers only have two options: coach seats, or large double-occupancy sleepers.

- The coach seats are only viable for a pretty small group of people who are willing to spend a night barely sleeping in highly mediocre seats.
- The large (i.e expensive) sleepers are only attainable for people who'd have no problem paying a short-haul flight or a night in a nice hotel. The night train doesn't offer them much appeal.

I have a hunch that there's a lot more in the middle: people who are price-sensitive, but still need the comfort of a bed. I fall into this category; I'm no longer willing (or able!) to sleep in a seat for a night and arrive with aches and pains. But at around $300 in 2001 dollars (almost $400 today) for the Enterprise cabins, it'd have been far too much for me to justify.

It seems to be common in Europe to have cabins of 3 or 6 berths. For those who are willing to pay for the privacy or travelling in a group, there's the option of reserving the whole compartment. The more price-sensitive can reserve a single bunk in a gender-specific or mixed compartment, much like a hostel.

I think that a similar approach could have a much wider appeal than the coach/sleeper offering on the Enterprise.