VIA Rail offers 647 train routes connecting 108 cities serving 118 stations. Whether you are looking for a quick commute from Toronto to Ottawa or an incredible adventure across the country, VIA Rail has the train schedule that’s right for you.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, all VIA Rail tickets can be cancelled for a full refund at any time before departure. This is in addition to the standard VIA cancellation and change policy that allows for a refund up to 24 hours before departure. VIA is a fully government-owned passenger railway corporation that operates intercity train routes in Canada. VIA Rail trains use a variety of cars including coach, business class, and sleeper cars.
The company was formed in 1978 as a government-owned corporation to This website take over the passenger train operations from Canadian Pacific and Canadian National, which now only run freight trains. Initially, VIA Rail continued to operate the two daily trans-continental trains the CP’s Canadian and CN’s Super Continental. However, by the 1990s, the federal Conservative government of Brian Mulroney slashed VIA Rail’s budget so severely that the system was cut down to just one daily train, the current Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver via the former Super Continental route through Winnipeg, Edmonton and Jasper.
Today, most of the corridors operated by VIA Rail are in Ontario and Quebec. The busiest train is the Maple Leaf, which runs daily between Toronto Union Station and Niagara Falls on its way to & from New York City (and has its own Amtrak crews for the section between New York and Niagara). This train uses comfortable Amfleet coaches with coach, business class and a cafe car.
Another frequent service is the Thruway Motorcoach between Toronto and Windsor, which runs six trips on weekdays and five on weekends. This is a regional service that uses Amtrak’s coaches and Amtrak’s ticketing system, but has the added benefit of a private motorcoach for all passengers, making it the ideal option for groups.
VIA also operates five trains that have no counterpart on Amtrak’s network, primarily in remote areas of the country. These trains attract a mix of adventure-seekers, railfans, and people from remote communities that are not served by any other transportation. The best-known of these is the Hudson Bay, which travels between Winnipeg and Churchill, Manitoba, on Hudson Bay, a town 16 hours from the nearest highway.
Trains contacted a VIA Rail spokesperson who said the times for intermediate station stops have not been finalized and are still being negotiated between VIA and Canadian National officials. Trains will update this article with the final times when they become available. In the meantime, you can check the times for other Canadian train routes on Trains’ online booking engine.