Are Sleeper Trains Viable in Canada?

October 2, 2024 - When I talk to other young people about The Canadian, VIA Rail's cross country train between Toronto and Vancouver that takes just under five days, many have never even heard of it before. It is primarily a tourist service, offering varying degrees of luxury accomodation and dining service for a pretty penny. Alongside VIA's other long-distance and remote routes, it is one of only a few opportunities to sleep on a train in Canada. From the perspective of many Canadians and VIA Rail itself, the sleeping part on the train is seen as a novelty tourist draw - something akin to a cruise ship or the Orient Express and trains of a bygone era. But sleeping on trains did not go away in other parts of the world, and the utility of an overnight trip on a train presents itself as a viable tactic to conquer some of the longer distances between city-pairs in Canada.

The most common argument against trains in Canada is "this country is too big for trains," which in some ways is probably true and is half of my argument. No one is going to take the five-day sleeper train from Toronto to Vancouver because it is fast. Canada used to have an extensive network of sleeper trains crossing the country before air travel was economically accessible and before the popularity of cars reached a tipping point, but unfortunately many people simply will not choose the train when a flight between Toronto and Vancouver is only five hours. But the utility of going to sleep in one city and waking up the next morning in your destination is extremely compelling for a country like Canada where most major cities are hundreds of kilometres apart. People have always talked about the perfect distance for inter-city rail as being too far to comfortably drive but too short to make flying worth it, and in Canada that's where our trains are already successful - between Montréal, Ottawa, and Toronto (and the Calgary-Red Deer-Edmonton route if it ever gets built). But that's not the whole country. Think about our western provinces, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C.. While a high-speed rail network connecting those cities would be amazing - it could be cheaper and more politically viable to establish overnight train journeys between Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton and Calgary. The beauty of the overnight sleeper train is that it is almost like time travel. While the journey could be ten hours long, you could only be awake for two - rocking back and forth to the movement of the train and the sound of the horn in the distance for the other eight. When you arrive in the morning, you have the whole day available to you without spending additional money on accommodation. The ticket could also be cheaper than flying, which at a base level could always be above one hundred dollars. The accommodations on board also do not have to be at the luxurious level that VIA currently has on the Canadian and other named sleeper-trains already. I have surprisingly not talked about Europe's amazing sleeper train network yet but we could look to their trains as inspiration for bunk-bed sleeping arrangements onboard a hypothetical Canadian sleeper train network. VIA Rail is currently ordering new rolling stock for their Long-Distance and Regional train fleet so a new styled of accommodation is not out of the question yet.

Western Canada

The Prairies were once home to an extensive rail network connecting all its major cities. Following budget cuts and reductions in VIA Rail service in the late 80s, all service except for the Canadian between Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Edmonton was eliminated. This region of Canada is much less densely populated and city to city overnight routes make perfect sense for the long trip inbetween Winnipeg, Calgary, and Edmonton. I propose two routes, a northern route between Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Edmonton which follows the existing route of the Canadian. Currently there are only a couple flights and a bus in between the cities every day. The drive is around 13 hours long, but that journey overnight in a bed on a train could be very pleasant. Winnipeg-Regina-Calgary is the second overnight service I propose, which would reinstate the southerly transcontinental route between the most populated city in the Prairies to the eastern cities. There are nine daily flights between the cities of Winnipeg and Calgary. There is a market for passenger service in between the two cities. Once again, the journey is around a 13 hour drive. A similar length on an overnight train with a bed would be extremely successful. Between Calgary and Edmonton there has always been talk of a rail link of some sorts, be it high-speed or conventional. The journey is the perfect time and distance for intercity service and recently the Albertan government announced it's plans for a provincial rail network.

Eastern Canada

Ontario and Québec are already host to the busiest and most financially succesful operation in VIA's network; the Corridor. The federal government and VIA are in the early stages of a high-speed rail link between Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Québec City - something I hope gets shovels in the ground as soon as possible. In terms of an overnight train network, there are a handful of routes I would propose.

• Toronto - Sault Ste. Marie -  Thunder Bay   -   There are eight daily flights between the two cities with no rail link, although one used to exist as the southern transcontinental train in between Toronto and Vancouver. Thunder Bay is an important hub for Northern Ontario, and connecting the city to its capital via Sault Ste. Marie in an overnight train taking around fifteen hours could be a backbone of Ontario's transportation network.

• Toronto - Québec City  -  There are five daily flights in between these cities that are already connected through VIA's Corridor network, however a trip between them via day train right now takes ten hours - perfect for an overnight connection that bypasses Montréal.

• Montréal - Halifax  -  This route actually already exists as an overnight train! However, its reliability, speed and frequency needs to be improved so that the trip time is reduced. By improving this train, its success could mean more passenger rail in the Maritimes. There are seven daily flights between the two cities, the market for passenger connections is healthy.

Cross-Border Connections

Amtrak and VIA Rail currently joint-operate two services between the USA and Canada - the Maple Leaf between Toronto and New York City, and the Adirondack between Montréal and New York City. Both trains leave in the morning and take over ten hours to reach their destinations. The train is already there, but the experience could be greatly improved and become competitive with the large amount of flights between the cities if the journey was done overnight, cutting out the lost travel day. I also hope the border and customs process is streamlined and done more like the Eurostar in the origin cities.