HIGHLIGHTS
December 18, 2018 to January 7, 2019:
Revenues
$21.1 million
VIA Rail cross-Canada routes
299,000 passengers
Québec City – Windsor Corridor
283,000 passengers
Long-haul – East (the Ocean)
7,100 passengers
Long-haul – West (the Canadian)
5,100 passengers
Regional services
4,400 passengers
MONTRÉAL, Jan. 10, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - December 18 to January 7 was a busy period for VIA Rail Canada (VIA Rail), as many thousands of Canadians chose an easy, safe, sustainable and enjoyable travel experience to see friends and family during the holiday season. During this time, 299,000 passengers from coast to coast boarded our trains, generating a 1.8% increase in revenue compared to 2017–2018. Friday, December 21 was the busiest day, as VIA Rail trains carried 19,000 people to their destinations.
"This is our best financial performance in the past 10 years," said Yves Desjardins‑Siciliano, President and Chief Executive Officer of VIA Rail. "It's a great way for us to close out VIA Rail's 40th anniversary and kick off 2019, with a growing number of Canadians choosing to avoid congestion and enjoy the comfort of the train. I want to thank all our loyal customers for the trust they place in us. Our employees across the country, both on board our trains and in our stations, maintenance centres and customer centres have once again stepped up to the plate and provided our customers with attentive and dedicated service. In addition, to ensure timely departures and worry-free travel, a multidisciplinary team was mandated with identifying any pitfalls we may have encountered as a result of difficult weather conditions. This team is currently working on finding and implementing solutions for each of these potential hinderances to our service. I would like to applaud and congratulate all our employees on the corporation's excellent performance."
In the Québec City – Windsor corridor, over 283,000 passengers travelled on VIA Rail trains serving communities in and between Montréal, Québec City, Ottawa, Toronto, Windsor, London, Sarnia and Niagara Falls. Toronto – Ottawa was the most popular route in the network: 37,400 travelled between these two cities over the holiday period. Toronto's Union Station, a transit point for 180,000 travellers, was especially busy during the last few weeks. Respectively, Montréal and Ottawa saw 88,800 and 78,000 passengers pass through their stations to be reunited with their loved ones.
On the long-distance trains, the most popular destinations were Halifax, Moncton and Vancouver. The Ocean service, which operates between Montréal and Halifax, accommodated almost 7,000 passengers. In addition, Régie intermunicipale de transport Gaspésie – Îles-de-la-Madeleine (RÉGÎM) offered a shuttle service connecting Gaspé and the VIA Rail station in Campbellton, allowing some 200 passengers on the Ocean train to make transfers toward the south coast of the peninsula, between Nouvelle (Quebec) and Gaspé. Meanwhile, the Canadian, which connects Toronto to Vancouver, saw over 5,100 passengers on board.
About VIA Rail
As Canada's national rail passenger service, VIA Rail (viarail.ca) and all its employees are mandated to provide safe, efficient and economical passenger transportation service, in both official languages of our country. VIA Rail operates intercity, regional and transcontinental trains linking over 400 communities across Canada, and about 180 more communities through intermodal partnerships, and safely transports nearly 4.8 million passengers annually. The Corporation has been awarded five Safety Awards and three Environment Awards by the Railway Association of Canada since 2007. Visit the "About VIA Rail" section at https://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail.
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SOURCE VIA Rail Canada Inc.
Kaven Delarosbil, Media Relations, VIA Rail Canada, 1 877 393-8787, [email protected]
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