The Canadian
The Canadian (French: Le Canadien ) is a transcontinental passenger train in Canada that runs between Toronto and Vancouver . It was introduced by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1955 . The company VIA Rail has been operating it since 1978 . The length of the route is 4,466 km.
Canadian Pacific
After the end of the Second World War , the CPR passenger trains consisted of a mixture of heavy pre-war cars and new, lightweight cars, even the flagship train The Dominion . After several US railroad companies began using streamlined cars made of stainless steel, the CPR decided to modernize their rolling stock. In 1953 she ordered 155 cars of the new, modern type from the Budd Company in Philadelphia (now part of Bombardier ), 18 of which were designed as panorama cars with particularly large windows and glass domed roofs and 71 as sleeping cars . Shortly thereafter, 20 cars were reordered. All cars were lavishly furnished and decorated with murals by well-known Canadian artists. The trains were pulled by newly acquired diesel locomotives from General Motors . Until 1959, steam locomotives were also occasionally used.
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The CPR named its new " flagship " The Canadian ("The Canadian"). Operations began on April 24, 1955. The Canadian National Railway (CN) introduced the Super Continental on the same day , but until 1964 only the CPR owned the coveted panorama cars with domed roofs. Coming from Vancouver, the train was split in half at Sudbury , Ontario . While one half drove to Toronto , the other half drove via Ottawa to Montréal . In the opposite direction, the trains in Sudbury were combined into a single train. The trains only needed 71 hours to travel across Canada instead of 87 hours for the Dominion .
Despite initial success, passenger numbers began to decline in the early 1960s. Because of increasing competition from aircraft and automobiles (especially after the opening of the Trans-Canada Highway ), the CPR discontinued the Dominion in 1966 and asked the government in 1970 to allow the Canadian to be discontinued as well. Although the request was denied, the CPR made efforts during the 1970s to withdraw entirely from passenger traffic. The timetable was reduced and the government subsidized 80 percent of the shortfall.
VIA Rail
On October 29, 1978, the new state company VIA Rail formally took over all passenger traffic of the CPR, but did not appear under that name until the following summer. The Canadian became the new company's main transcontinental train. It was supplemented by the former Super Continental of the CN, which drove on a route further north. The Canadian ran daily from Toronto or Montréal to Vancouver and vice versa, with trains in Sudbury still being separated.
After the Canadian government drastically cut subsidies to VIA Rail, the Super Continental drove for the last time on January 15, 1990. On the same day, the Canadian route was withdrawn from the CPR route via Regina and Calgary and moved to the CN route via Saskatoon and Edmonton . However, this is considered to be far less interesting, especially in the Rocky Mountains and north of Lake Superior . In addition, the branch to Montreal was abandoned and the number of trains was reduced to three per week (in summer) and two (in winter).
In 2015, a new Prestige Sleeper class was introduced above the Sleeper Plus class.
Others
The Canadian on the drive through Jasper National Park is depicted on the Canadian ten-dollar banknote (2011 series on polymer, issued in 2012 or 2013).
