VIA Rail wins the Agents' Choice Award

MONTREAL, July 2, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - For the seventh year in a row, VIA Rail has won Baxter Travel Media's Agents' Choice Award (ACA). The prize, presented by Baxter Travel Media, is awarded yearly to the best passenger train service world-wide, as voted by Canadian travel agents.

This marks the Corporation's twelfth ACA in thirteen years. VIA Rail won a majority of votes from Canadian travel agents, polling ahead of Rail Europe, British Rail and Amtrak.

Sylvie Bourget, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer at VIA Rail Canada, declared: "VIA Rail is honoured to receive this internationally acclaimed award for a twelfth year. We really prioritize customer and agency relations, so it's truly gratifying to continuously be recognized for the quality of our services in that respect. We will continue to provide ACA worthy service. This prize motivates us to continue in the same direction for the years to come. We'd also like to thank our employees, to whom we owe this great award."

The ACA publication cites, in particular, programs such as a separate support desk, a portal (with live inventory of seats and net rates), and training "webinars" developed specifically for travel agents, as reasons that travel agents Canada-wide made VIA Rail their Agents' Choice.

About VIA Rail Canada
As Canada's national rail passenger service, VIA Rail Canada's 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. Recipient of the Railway Association of Canada's Safety Award in 2011 for the 11^th time in 12 years, and of the 2013 Agent's Choice Award voted by Canadian travel agents and presented by Baxter Travel Media, VIA safely transports nearly four million passengers annually. Since 2007, the Government of Canada has invested almost a billion dollars in VIA Rail. Follow the progress of our transformation at http://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail/capital-investment.

Follow us on our Evolution Blog at viaevolution.ca.

SOURCE: VIA Rail Canada Inc.

For further information:

Mylène Bélanger
Senior Media Relations Advisor
514 871-6137 | 1 877 393-8787
[e-mail] | [e-mail]