VIA Rail wins AirRail Concept of the Year award at the Global AirRail Awards 2013 ceremony for its intermodal strategy

MONTREAL, May 22, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - With its strategy of creating partnerships with airlines and other transport providers allowing passengers to plan, book and pay for intermodal trips in a seamless fashion, VIA Rail Canada (viarail.ca) received the "AirRail Concept of the Year" award at the Global AirRail Awards 2013 ceremony, in Frankfurt on May 16^th. The Global AirRail Awards ceremony is one of the most prestigious awards ceremony dedicated to the international air-rail market, recognizing best practices in intermodal travel around the world.

Steve Del Bosco, Chief Marketing and Sales at VIA Rail, said: "This award recognizes VIA Rail's leadership in developing intermodal partnerships. We are extremely proud of this world-class distinction. At VIA Rail, we are working to develop innovative solutions that will facilitate travel for Canadians while providing greater choice and optimizing use of the transportation system. "

The "AirRail Concept of the Year" award was created to recognize a vision, a design, a strategic plan or an idea that will significantly improve the experience of passengers traveling by air or rail. The Global AirRail Awards also recognized another Canadian intermodal project. Union Pearson Express, a division of Metrolinx in Toronto, received the Project of the Year award for the air rail link that will connect Union Station in downtown Toronto to Pearson International Airport. This practical, reliable and fast service will serve 5,000 people per day, including many VIA Rail passengers.  For more information about the awards presented at the Global AirRail Awards 2013 ceremony, please visit www.airrailawards.com.

About VIA Rail's intermodal partnerships
More than 15 intermodal partnerships were concluded since 2010 aimed at improving the interconnectivity with other passenger carriers across the country. To date, this strategy has led to partnerships with:

• major urban transportation companies - Agence métropolitaine de transport in Montréal and GO Transit in Toronto;
• motor coach transportation companies - notably AirConnect shuttle bus to Montréal Trudeau airport, Pacific Western Transportation, operating the Express shuttle bus to Toronto Pearson airport, Robert Q in South-West Ontario, Maritime Bus in Eastern-Canada, Red Arrow in Alberta and Pacific Coach Lines between Vancouver and Victoria;
• and airline companies - Air Transat, Royal Jordanian, Air North.

About VIA Rail Canada
As Canada's national rail passenger service, VIA Rail Canada's (viarail.ca) mandate is to provide safe, efficient and economical passenger transportation service, in both official languages of our country. VIA operates intercity, regional and transcontinental trains linking 450 communities across its 12,500-kilometre route network, and safely transports nearly four million passengers annually. The Corporation was awarded seven Safety Awards by the Railway Association of Canada over the last eight years, and is recipient of the 2012 Agent's Choice Award voted by Canadian travel agents and presented by Baxter Travel Media. Since 2007, the Government of Canada has invested almost a billion dollars in VIA Rail. Follow the progress of our transformation at www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail/capital-investment.

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SOURCE: VIA Rail Canada Inc.

Mylène Bélanger
Senior Advisor, Media Relations
VIA Rail Canada
514 871-6137 | 1 877 393-8787
[email protected] | [email protected]