🇨🇦Riding the Canada's Most Modern Overnight Sleeper Train || The Ocean (Halifax→Montreal) 

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28:59

the shower is perfect for when you shit ya pants from the putrid food

The fare is quite expensive, are meals included? But the food look very sad though...

Is air travel much cheaper?

What VIA needs is a legislative mandate and some serious investment to let them purchase new rolling stock and operate on a daily basis.

Actually VIA's most modern rolling stock is brand new and just entering service this year and next year - the new Siemens built trains for the Corridor service (Windsor - Toronto - Ottawa -Montreal - Quebec City) It is true the sleeper trains are old (Ocean is about 25 years, the equipment on the Canadian is from 1954) but they have been refurbished over the years. But it is up to the Canadian Government to provide the money to VIA to buy newer equipment, and so far the Government hasn't done so. As for the idea of competition - not going to happen because there is no potential profit (the only profitable service is already being done by Rocky Mountaineer, and if you don't like VIA's prices then you really won't like theirs). In 2022 the Ocean lost C$40 million, no private operator is going to try and compete against a service that loses that much money - and it is doubtful CN would allow anyone else on their tracks as they don't like passenger stuff getting in the way of their freight trains. (for anyone interested VIA Rail has their annual reports on their website that lists the financials for the various routes)

@@jamescollins3647 quick check reveals current prices mid-December of about $200

Given VIA's gimmicky legal status, essentially created by an equivalent to an executive order, it could in theory be revoked, which would return to CN and CP their passenger service obligations. Yes, the government of Canada must provide funds for a new LD fleet, ideally also for daily service and restoration of some sort of service along the former CP route. I had forgotten about the Ventures, though they are stunning and hopefully will serve well.@@mattjones366

I once explained it to someone as "It's like a USB-A to USB-C cable for train cars"

FYI, the "domes" are gone from this route. For a few years now.

MVP! Thanks!

If they put a few lounge chairs in it at least it would have some utility for passengers

@@CB-sx8xh They were converted from luggage cars, so their windows, as you can see in the video are underwhelming.

I went on the same train a month ago. The room was absolutely fine.

They have finally started to process to get new sleeper trains.

@@chrisjohnson7929, drama queens like @Kenadian2006 are _still_ going to complain about this, only it'll be why isn't this line from Halifax to Montreal an HSR one.

Thanks for watching from the Netherlands!🤝

I have a lot more hope than I did a couple of years ago, with new, rather impressive rolling stock now in use in the Québec-Windsor corridor, and rumours of more goodies to come.

@@juliansmith4295 Sadly the Quebec-Windsor corridor gets most of the attention because it's got the population density to warrant it (and political pull). It's not just the rolling stock that's ancient, the lines through NB are decrepit, but they're owned by CN and they're still good enough for freight. It means Via trains have to slow down dramatically, and freight priority along the whole line mean multi-hour delays (the 3 hour late arrival in this video is actually on the light side... 8+ is not uncommon). When the Halifax turntable was destroyed in a fire a few years back, Via considered just cancelling the service altogether rather than replacing it, but ultimately just decided to shuffle the car layout instead as a workaround. Passenger rail isn't going to improve in this part of the country (or out west) without significant federal investment and an alternative CN ownership of all the lines (or higher standards being regulated for passenger service, and deprioritization/rescheduling of freight service to off-peak hours) ...Sorry, ranting at this point, but it's a sore spot for me.

@ArmouredPhalanx, there's _nothing_ wrong with the _Canadian_ ,and Kuga didn't have a problem with it and enjoyed it; why are you sorry on his behalf for?

@@Neville60001 I'm afraid I strongly disagree. If you compare the rail service available in Canada to just about any other developed country in Europe or Asia, it's generally inferior. Outside of the central Ontario/Quebec corridor, it's treated pretty much purely as a sightseeing attraction for tourists, and not a serious means of moving people around. The rolling stock is antiquated and overdue for replacement. The infrastructure in most places is 'shared' with freight, but in reality Via owns almost nothing and freight has priority. This has a couple of knock-on effects: in many places the rails are maintained to freight standards. Freight trains generally travel at slower speeds. There are places (New Brunswick, for example) where the train has to travel at ~40-50kph because the rails are poorly maintained, but it's good enough for freight, so CN has no incentive to fix/upgrade them. The other impact of freight priority is that passenger trains frequently have to weight for passing freight trains to clear the line. This means that both the Ocean and Canadian are frequently HOURS late. Anywhere from 2-24h (depending on which side of the country you're on, which direction you're travelling in, and how far you're travelling). This is not good, this should not be the norm. This also means that the service is unreliable. Another effect of freight priority is that Via doesn't get to choose the communities it serves. The line it runs on is meant to serve freight, which means that several large towns/small cities that may be viable passenger rail destinations are bypassed (again, thinking of New Brunswick, but it applies elsewhere in Canada, too). We need to flip the priority if we actually want a serious national passenger rail service (and I certainly do). Passenger rail should be the priority, with infrastructure built and maintained with those standards in mind. Freight is vital for the economy, but there's no reason it can't run at higher frequency during off peak passenger hours or scheduled around passenger services. Building all new, dedicated coast-to-coast passenger infrastructure would be great, but the price and time involved make it a non-starter, so making the existing infrastructure passenger priority means a net-benefit for all - more practical service for passengers, higher standard of infrastructure for for freight.

@@ArmouredPhalanx, I coadd (and _do_ ) care less about all of that; the attraction for many people who take both (and their American counterparts) is the looking at the scenery of Canada on this train's particular route, not speeding through it to get someplace quickly. That's why both routes are the way they are, and why people from across the nation and from all over the globe like Kuga (and Thiebaut[?] the guy who runs the Simply Railway channel on RU-vid), come here to take it. They _don't_ need you to be sorry on their behalf for Canada not having HSR between Toronto and Vancouver/Montreal and Halifax, and neither do I or anybody else in Canada who watches this channel. Why not just be happy that Kuga came to Canada and rode the Canadian, warts and all, rather than be a 'nattering nabob of negativity' as Richard Nixon once said about people he detested? If you or anybody else 'sorry' for Kuga want to see any improvements, you and they need to get together and _work_ to make them happen (and that means forming PAC's [Political Action Committees] Super PAC's, or any other kind of lobby group, getting off of your [metaphorical] asses, doing door-to-door knocking, phone canvassing/robo-calling, issuing out press notices, setting up websites and social media pages, and putting support behind the _two_ parties that really and truly are the _only_ ones who want to and can make it happen [Liberal and NDP], _not_ behind the Green Party or any other fringe party that's the darling of the emoprogressive left in Canada who don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting power to do it and who have to work their way up the ladder to major party status with local and then regional gains by actually winning elections.) Until then, I still stand by what I said before-aside from VIA getting all new rolling stock for the _Canadian_ , there's _nothing_ wrong with it or the _Ocean_ .

Still an absurd amount 😬

@@paulthiel5145, not really, and there's a lot of people who do it.

@@Neville60001 Yeah I did it and booking a long way ahead I got the same room as Kuga san for CAD500 on an advance discount fare. It's not that bad when you consider it's not just transport, but also a night's accommodation, and meals. I guarantee Paul is only comparing against say a flight tkt, and not including a night's hotel accommodation (which from my experience of Toronto and Montreal city centres especially, was very steep - like average CAD500-700 a night even booking months ahead and was probs the most shocking thing about my US and Canada trip).

that explains why its expensive, not why its overpriced, to answer that question you have to accept the fact that both Canadian and American economies are designed to leech out as much money from its citizens while providing the least amount of services, the cheapest quality of goods possible. most North Americans dont realize this till they move to Europe and Asia.

@@yt_hatesfreespeech amen

UK has a much smaller loading gauge also. That's why coaches are so small.

I'm actually really sad we never got sleeper trains to Europe, that would have been so cool! I was but a wee lass when it happened, but still!

The coaches worked fine for quite a while.

Yeah I took it last month. I was immediately reminded of the Cornish Night Riviera by the narrowness of the corridor indicating the UK gauge limitations 😄

Based on the BR mk 3 coaches that are used on our HST 125 trains

That was exactly my attitude when mine was 3hrs late. I never want good train rides to end!

Thank you From the Window Seat! I will be visiting Australia again soon!

@@kugastravel5180 Great to hear! I just got back from Japan, which I loved! 😍

Why don't you just install reversible seats in the dome car? Situation solved 🤷‍♂️

Thank you!🤝

Thank you!🤝

He actually did the Winnipeg to Churchill trip recently.