VIA Rail

[esquire]

As a prairie resident, I can tell you VIA is pretty much irrelevant here.

When I was a student 15 years ago, I used to occasionally take VIA to go between Winnipeg and Edmonton. In those days, I would board at night, sleep on the train, and arrive the next morning. It was very leisurely and comfortable. I can't remember the exact travel time but it was about 13 or 14 hours or so... roughly on par with driving in terms of speed.

Today the same trip takes 24 hours, 20 minutes. And it is not uncommon for the train to be a couple of hours late on top of that.

Someone could literally drive an entire round trip between Winnipeg and Edmonton in the time it takes for the train to make it just one way.

Who in their right mind would put up with that when they could fly for one or two hundred bucks and be there in under three hours?

At that point you have to ask why even bother with it.