VIA Announces Changes to Select Services

    New Mid-day departure between Ottawa and Montréal

    New stops and departure times in Ontario

    MONTREAL, Jan. 7 /CNW/ - VIA Rail Canada has announced changes to select
services in Ontario and Quebec that will go into effect Monday, January 14,
2008. Highlights include additional stops, new departure times for a number of
trains in Ontario and a new mid-day service between Ottawa and Montréal.

    Ottawa - Montréal schedules
    -   A new additional daily (sixth) departure between Montréal and Ottawa
        (Train 634/635)
        -  Train 634 departs Ottawa at 1:00 p.m. and arrives in Montréal at
           2:49 p.m.
        -  Train 635 departs Montréal at 1:05 p.m. and arrives in Ottawa at
           2:57 p.m.
        -  Casselman station has been added as a stop on request to this
           train's operation.

    Kingston - Toronto schedule
    -   Train 651 - a popular early morning train for those commuting between
        Kingston and Toronto - will depart Kingston at 05:30 a.m. (5 minutes
        later). The 08:20 a.m. arrival time in Toronto remains unchanged.
        Customers entraining enroute may contact viarail.ca or 1 888-842-7245
        (VIA Rail) to verify the departure time for stations enroute.

    Toronto-Ottawa schedules
    -   Port Hope has been added as a stop to the operation of train 648.

    Toronto- Montréal schedules
    -   Port Hope has been added as a stop to the operation of trains 68 and
        648. Train 648 departs Toronto Saturday and Sunday at 6:34 p.m. and
        arrives at Port Hope at 7:42 p.m.

    Toronto-Windsor
    -   Train 75 will depart Toronto at 4:25 p.m. (25 minutes later). The
        later departure time will provide improved on time reliability to
        southwestern Ontario.
    -   Train 78 will depart Windsor at 6:00 p.m. (35 minutes later).

    Montreal - Gaspé
    -   New departure time for Train 16 at Port Daniel - 09:14 a.m.
        (14 minutes later). The arrival time in Gaspé remains unchanged.
        Customers entraining enroute east of Port Daniel may contact
        viarail.ca or 1 888-842-7245 (VIA Rail) to verify the departure time
        for stations enroute.

    For more information on train schedules or to book a trip anywhere in the
VIA system, customers can visit VIA's secure Web site at viarail.ca.
Passengers also can book their tickets by calling 1 888 VIA-RAIL (1 888
842-7245), TTY 1 800 268-9503 (hearing impaired), or through their travel
agent.

    As Canada's national passenger rail service, VIA Rail Canada's mandate is
to provide efficient and cost effective passenger transportation services,
both in Canada's busiest corridor and in remote and rural regions of the
country. Serving more than 450 communities across Canada, demand for rail
services continues to grow as more Canadians turn to train travel as a safe
and convenient travel choice.

For further information: VIA contacts: Catherine Kaloutsky, Corporate
Communications, (416) 956-7683; Martin Roy, Corporate Communications, (514)
871-6119