Latest news with #VIARail
Cision Canada
6 days ago
- Business
- Cision Canada
VIA RAIL AND UNIFOR RATIFY NEW COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS, ENSURING STABILITY AND GROWTH THROUGH 2027 Français
Renewed contracts for 2,500 employees include annual wage increases and enhanced working conditions. MONTRÉAL, July 17, 2025 /CNW/ - VIA Rail Canada (VIA Rail) is proud to announce the ratification of new three-year collective agreements with Unifor's Council 4000 and Local 100, covering approximately 2,500 employees nationwide. The agreements were approved by a majority of unionized employees and cover the period from January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2027. They provide a framework for stability, collaboration, and continued excellence in service delivery for Canadians. "These agreements represent a significant step forward for VIA Rail and our teams," said Mathieu Paquette, Chief Communications and Human Resources Officer at VIA Rail. "They reaffirm our shared commitment to building a workplace where employees feel valued and supported, while positioning us to continue delivering the safe, reliable, and accessible service our passengers count on every day." Key highlights of the agreements include: A 3% annual wage increase for each of the next three years (2025, 2026, and 2027) Enhanced working conditions and improved benefits across all agreements Paquette added: "We are grateful to our Unifor partners for their collaboration throughout this process, and to our negotiating teams for their dedication and professionalism. Together, we are laying the groundwork for a stronger future that benefits our employees, our passengers, and the communities we serve from coast to coast." The ratification of these agreements provides crucial stability for VIA Rail as it continues to modernize its operations and adapt to the evolving needs of travellers across Canada. About VIA Rail VIA Rail Canada's mandate is to operate the national passenger rail service on behalf of the Government of Canada, and to provide a safe, accessible, efficient, reliable, sustainable, and environmentally responsible service that meets the needs of Canadian passengers. VIA Rail operates intercity trains connecting over 400 communities across Canada and ensuring rail transportation services to regional and remote communities. The Corporation safely transported over four million passengers in 2024 and has been awarded nine Safety Awards and three Environment Awards by the Railway Association of Canada. For more, visit our website:
Cision Canada
15-07-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
VIA RAIL CELEBRATES 120 YEARS OF THE OCEAN AND LOOKS TO THE FUTURE OF PASSENGER RAIL IN CANADA Français
HALIFAX, NS, July 15, 2025 /CNW/ - VIA Rail Canada (VIA Rail) marked a historic milestone today at its Halifax Station, celebrating 120 years of continuous service by The Ocean, Canada's oldest named passenger train. For more than a century, The Ocean has served as a vital link for communities across the Maritimes, carrying generations of Canadians and their stories across beautiful landscapes. "This isn't just a train, it's a thread that's woven together families, communities, and memories for 120 years," said Jonathan Goldbloom, Chairperson of VIA Rail's Board of Directors. "From soldiers leaving for war, to families reuniting at the holidays, to students heading off to start new chapters, The Ocean has carried them all. Today we honour that proud legacy and renew our commitment to keeping Canadians connected for generations to come." The celebration comes as VIA Rail undertakes the most significant modernization in its history, following the Government of Canada's historic investment in 2024 to renew VIA Rail's Pan-Canadian fleet. This transformative project will deliver modern, accessible, and sustainable trains to passengers across the country: from Halifax to Vancouver, and to the remote and northern communities that rely on passenger rail service. "This new fleet isn't just about replacing trains from the 1950s; it's about creating the kind of passenger experience Canadians deserve in the 21st century," said Mario Péloquin, President and CEO of VIA Rail. "Comfortable. Accessible. Energy-efficient. These investments will ensure that the next generation can create cherished memories on The Ocean and all our iconic routes." The restoration of Halifax Station, unveiled as part of the anniversary festivities, embodies this balance of honouring the past while preparing for the future. "This anniversary reminds us that while our tracks may be made of steel, what we're really building is connection: between people, communities, and this country we all share," added Goldbloom. As part of today's event, VIA Rail invited families, train enthusiasts, and Halifax residents to tour The Ocean and explore its historic and modern offerings. "Passenger rail has a bright future in this country," said Péloquin. "And we're proud to help shape it, with our partners, our employees, and most of all, our passengers." For 120 years, The Ocean has been a symbol of resilience, connection, and Canadian ingenuity. With the largest fleet renewal in its history now underway, VIA Rail is laying the tracks for an even more sustainable and inclusive future for passenger rail from coast to coast to coast. Quote " The Ocean is a vital link connecting communities, supporting local economies, and driving regional development. Investments in modern, accessible rail service are helping to strengthen economic opportunities and build a more connected, resilient Canada." The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Transport and Internal Trade To access the media kit follow this link. About VIA Rail VIA Rail Canada's mandate is to operate the national passenger rail service on behalf of the Government of Canada, and to provide a safe, accessible, efficient, reliable, sustainable, and environmentally responsible service that meets the needs of Canadian passengers. VIA Rail operates intercity trains connecting over 400 communities across Canada and ensuring rail transportation services to regional and remote communities. The Corporation safely transported over four million passengers in 2024 and has been awarded nine Safety Awards and three Environment Awards by the Railway Association of Canada. For more, visit our website:
Telegraph
04-07-2025
- Telegraph
This overlooked train journey is the finest way to explore Canada's natural beauty
Our train conductor was adept at multitasking: besides the duties of a British guard, Walter is baggage handler, buffet attendant and in-person announcer of passing points of interest. Further commentary on passing sights was provided by passenger Angela, who had flagged down the train at the tiny hamlet of Longworth and soon felt compelled to apologise for talking so much, because she hasn't spoken to anyone for days. That's the Canadian backcountry for you. The Skeena is a very Canadian kind of train: informal, friendly and typical in providing a lifeline for remote homesteads. Running over two days between Jasper in Alberta and the Pacific Coast at Prince Rupert, it takes its name from the 'river of clouds' that flows into Hecate Strait. But the first river the train follows is the Fraser, west from Jasper. Jasper has had a tough time. Last year a third of its buildings burned down in forest fires, but the idyllically sited resort is 80 per cent back on its feet and most hotels, fortunately, survived. Standing in a station built of rounded river stones were the three stainless-steel cars of the Skeena, still elegant though they date from the 1950s. A baggage car, chair car and dome car with observation windows at the back provided more than enough space for springtime travellers. Run three times a week by VIA, the government-owned passenger train operator, the Skeena is a flag-stop train that allows people to wave a ride from the lineside, so it seldom exceeds 50mph. As we pulled away from the scarred town, the dozen of us in the dome car began comparing itineraries and wondering whether we would see the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies, Mount Robson, without its veil of cloud (on only a dozen days a year is the 12,972ft peak completely clear). Both the Fraser River and the railway follow the Rocky Mountain Trench, so we were at times looking down on the water from a shelf along a sheer-sided gorge, and at others just feet above the water. For much of the way, the line scythes through mixed forests of spruce, pine, alder, aspen and fir, flanked by a seemingly endless succession of peaks that dwarf Snowdon or Ben Nevis. It isn't long before the first cry of 'bear!' and the sight of a large rump disappearing into the undergrowth. In places, the mountains retreated and the river widened to become a lake. As we skirted Fraser Lake, a bald eagle flew right alongside the train for a minute, allowing us to appreciate the graceful motion of its seven-foot wingspan. The valley periodically morphed into open pasture framing wooden farmsteads, often surrounded by generations of discarded farm machinery and abandoned pick-ups. Large clearings denoted the site of abandoned sawmills that once employed enough people to warrant a cinema. Every so often, we passed a two-mile-long double-stack container train, carrying more than 200 imported boxes from the port at Prince Rupert to cities in the east. The men who built the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway could only dream of such largesse. They believed its western end was ripe for agricultural development, optimistic that the extra cost of providing easy gradients and gentle curves would be fully justified by lower operating costs – and faster speeds, thus attracting more traffic to the railway. It opened in 1914, but low revenues in the years which followed compelled the federal government to nationalise it in 1919, and merge the line with others to create the Canadian National Railway four years later. The names of places along the way are redolent of Canadian history and its pioneering settlers, some in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company whose first governor was Prince Rupert of the Rhine. Dunster recalls the Somerset town; Tintagel has a lump of stone from Cornwall; McBride was named after the youngest BC premier; while Mount Rider takes its moniker from the novelist Rider Haggard, who travelled over the line in 1916. Soon enough, we reached Prince George, where the Skeena and its passengers spend the night. In the 'spruce capital of the world', I spent a pleasant few hours visiting the open-air Railway and Forestry Museum, created in celebration of the symbiosis that has sustained the economy for a century. The following morning, we climbed aboard again and continued onwards, the line following the bends of the Skeena river before it broadens towards the sea between towering peaks, taking on a look not unlike the Norwegian fjords. And yet, despite these majestic landscapes, this line nevertheless remains overshadowed by its rivals – VIA's Canadian, which runs between Toronto and Vancouver, and the Rocky Mountaineer's routes. I imagined how splendid these views must be at all other times of year – in the autumn, when the aspens turn orange and gold, and in winter, when the air takes on a razor-sharp clarity and the sky an intense blue. The long final approach to Prince Rupert – known both as the 'halibut capital of the world' and 'city of rainbows' – was spectacular. Running right beside the Skeena estuary, I gawped at the tree-crowned islands in Chatham Sound set against the mountains in the south. Stripped tree trunks tossed on to gravel bars testified to the power of spring melt water. This town might have looked very different had it not lost its main promoter and president of the railway in 1912. Travelling on the Titanic, Charles Melville Hays put his wife and daughter into a lifeboat but went down with the ship, ending his plans for a grand station and 450-room hotel. Hays intended Prince Rupert to become 'the most perfectly laid out and most beautiful city in the Dominion…the Washington of Canada'. But alas, it was not to be. Nevertheless, a century later, his faith in the attraction of a deep ice-free port 250 miles closer to Far East markets has been vindicated: Prince Rupert may not be the country's Washington DC, but it is Canada's third busiest port. For travellers on the Skeena, however, its appeal lies in its coastal beauty – and that of nearby Khutzeymateen Inlet, which sits beside the Alaskan border and offers one of Canada's best opportunities to watch grizzly bears feed at the water's edge. There's history to be had there too: pre-dating the railway is the atmospheric 1889 salmon cannery on Inverness Passage, now the North Pacific Cannery National Historic Site, which tells the story of its 1,000 Chinese, Japanese and indigenous workers. Indigenous culture and crafts are to the fore in the Museum of Northern BC, imposingly constructed of bark-stripped cedar posts and beams in the manner of a First Nations longhouse. It is a fine place to spend a few days at the end of your trip, surrounded by picture-postcard views on what feels like the edge of the world – and which, in a sense, once was: until the train came roaring into town, and put Jasper, Prince George and Prince Rupert – three of the prettiest places in Western Canada – firmly on the map. Essentials Jasper Inn & Suites has doubles from CAD$159 (£86); Coast Prince George Hotel has doubles from CAD$129 (£70); Crest Hotel Prince Rupert has doubles from CAD$239 (£129); Fairmont Hotel Vancouver has doubles from CAD$329 (£178). VIA Rail Canada has one-way tickets between Jasper and Prince Rupert from £85. Anthony Lambert was a guest of Destination Canada.
Cision Canada
03-07-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
VIA RAIL TO HOLD ITS ANNUAL PUBLIC MEETING ON AUGUST 21, 2025 Français
MONTREAL, July 3, 2025 /CNW/ - VIA Rail Canada (VIA Rail) invites the public to listen to its 2025 Annual Public Meeting (APM) to be aired on August 21, 2025, at 4 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on its YouTube channel. This pre-recorded session will offer a look back at the financial results, key performances and landmark projects of 2024, a year of transformation for VIA Rail, marked in particular by the announcement of historic funding for the replacement of its pan-Canadian fleet. The meeting will also be an opportunity to look to the future, with an overview of the next steps in the VIAction 2030 strategic plan, unveiled in 2024, and the priorities that will guide the Corporation's actions in the months ahead. Messages will be delivered by: Jonathan Goldbloom, VIA Rail's Chairperson of the Board of Directors Mario Péloquin, President and Chief Executive Officer Carl Delisle, Chief Financial and Technology Officer We want to hear from Canadians Once again this year, the public is invited to submit their questions to VIA Rail online through the Annual Public Meeting webpage. When: From July 4, 12:01 a.m. to July 7, 11:59 p.m. Answers to the most frequently asked questions will be shared on August 21 on the Annual Public Meeting webpage. Some of these questions will also be addressed during the broadcast. Event Details What: VIA Rail's 2025 Annual Public Meeting When: Thursday, August 21, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. (ET) Where: VIA Rail's YouTube channel VIA Rail's 2024 annual report is available in the Media Centre. About VIA Rail VIA Rail Canada's mandate is to operate the national passenger rail service on behalf of the Government of Canada, and to provide a safe, accessible, efficient, reliable, sustainable, and environmentally responsible service that meets the needs of Canadian passengers. VIA Rail operates intercity trains connecting over 400 communities across Canada and ensuring rail transportation services to regional and remote communities. The Corporation safely transported over four million passengers in 2024 and has been awarded nine Safety Awards and three Environment Awards by the Railway Association of Canada. For more, visit our website:
CTV News
30-06-2025
- CTV News
‘Very happy to use it': Canadians explore Elk Island with free pass
Families gathered at Elk Island National Park over the Canada Day weekend. (CTV News Edmonton) Elk Island National Park was bustling Canada Day weekend as families enjoyed the summer weather and the great outdoors. Sagar Mehta said he was encouraged to bring his family out with the new Canada Strong Pass. 'Because we have the Canada Strong Pass, it actually helps us bring the family here, explore the nature, and it's amazing,' said Mehta at Elk Island National Park Sunday. 'We are planning to visit as many parks as possible this summer,' said Mehta's brother. 'It's a really great program. I'm very happy to use it.' Until Sept. 2, 2025, Canadians can visit national parks, historical sites and marine conservation areas for free. The initiative, spearheaded by Ottawa in light of the tariff war between the U.S., also gives campers a 25 per cent discount on camping fees and allows children under the age of 17 to ride for free on VIA Rail. Elk Island The entrance to Elk Island National Park is seen on June 29, 2025. (CTV News Edmonton) Dozens of vehicles were lined up to get into Elk Island National Park on Sunday, filled with tents, barbecues and games. 'I expected it to kind of have a busy lineup,' said one visitor. 'But it's actually not too bad, I wouldn't say it's crowded.' Elk Island Families gathered at Elk Island National Park over the Canada Day weekend. (CTV News Edmonton) Many visitors to the park had their hearts set on visiting Banff and Jasper this summer as well. 'It's a great way for Canada, as a whole, to promote parks and enjoy wildlife and bonding with families,' said another visitor. While many are looking to explore the Rockies this summer, there has been some concern about overcrowding, which can cause harm to ecosystems. Last year, more than 540,000 visitors went to Waterton Lakes National Park in southern Alberta – marking it the second busiest year on record, according to Parks Canada. The busiest year was when admission was free in celebration of Canada's 150th birthday in 2017. CTV News Edmonton reached out to Parks Canada for a comment but have yet to hear back. With files from CTV News Edmonton's Miriam Valdes-Carletti and CTV News Lethbridge's Karsen Marczuk.
