Experience Counts Aboard the Ocean: In Eastern Canada, VIA Rail is Transforming What a Passenger Train Can Be

This article describes how eastern Canada’s premier passenger train, VIA Rail, is reinventing itself and transforming passenger rail service. The article explains how belt-tightening led the rail service to purchase a conglomeration of hand-me-down railroad car stock that required repurposing. To enhance tourist business, the rail service put volunteers to work as “learning coordinators,” who provide informative talks and stories to passengers up in the dome cars in between serving drinks and taking meal reservations. The rail service also established different classes of fares, and the dining service was changed. Attention to details of service has made substantial differences in the rail service’s bottom line.