Montreal – VIA Rail Canada is pleased to announce an exciting new opportunity for VIA Preference members who may now redeem their points for free trips on SNCF, the French railway system. From Paris to Perpignan, from Brest to Nice, the extensive SNCF network – including travel on board the highly-popular TGV – will be available for free travel by VIA Preference members.

“This new reward opportunity is an exclusive bonus for VIA Preference members,” says Steve Del Bosco, VIA’s Chief Customer Officer. “We are pleased to be able to share the benefits of this partnership between VIA and SNCF by providing a unique reward opportunity to experience rail travel in France.

A one-way first class ticket on the SNCF network is redeemable for 4,000 points and a second-class is redeemable for 2,500 points. Each ticket is one-way and will allow one en route transfer. Reciprocally, members of SNCF’s Grand Voyageur reward program will enjoy a similar opportunity to cash in their S’Miles points for travel on VIA Rail Canada. For more information on VIA Prйfйrence and rail travel in France, visit: www.viapreference.com

The VIA e-boutique
With the addition of the VIA e-boutique, VIA Preference now offers a new way for members to earn Prйfйrence points online when shopping at more than 75 retailers including Apple, Avon, Canadian Tire, Indigo, Reitmans, Sephora and Sears. Visit the VIA e-boutique at eboutique.viapreference.com

VIA Rail – SNCF International agreement
The VIA Preference reward opportunity is the result of a partnership agreement signed in July, 2008, between VIA Rail Canada and SNCF International. The cooperation agreement was forged between the two national rail networks to facilitate the sharing of know-how in the field of passenger train services, for the ultimate benefit of their passengers.

About VIA Rail Canada
As Canada’s national passenger rail service, VIA Rail Canada’s mandate is to provide efficient, environmentally sustainable and cost effective passenger transportation services, both in Canada’s busiest corridor and in remote and rural regions of the country. VIA serves more than 450 communities with a network of inter-city, transcontinental and regional trains.

Source: PR-USA.net

Thought to be the only train in the world with a lift, the Rocky Mountaineer is best known for its two-day all-daylight journeys through the Canadian Rockies.

For the first time, beginning this month, the Rocky Mountaineer is offering five escorted rail tours of six to 11 days. Aimed at those who want to travel in a group with a tour guide, guests will have exclusive access on board to two coaches.

And while the escorted tours are all-daylight affairs to best take in the surrounding scenery, guests decamp to hotels at destinations including Banff, Lake Louise, Calgary and Whistler overnight. Travel is in the top-flight Gold Leaf carriages and includes food, welcome dinners, tour guide, excursions and the opportunity to participate in on-board programs.

The Rocky Mountaineer runs for six months on four different scenic routes from mid-April to mid-October.

Prices for the shortest tour, the Escorted Rockies Highlights, a six-day package departing April 25 until October 5, one from $C2539 ($2948), twin share.

The 11-day Escorted Rockies Circle program costs $C5249, twin share.

See rockymountaineer.com.

by Kay O’Sullivan, WAToday.com.au

By Michael Levenson, Boston Globe

(NECN: Boston, Mass.) – Riding the rails from Boston to Chicago is getting a lot more comfortable. The Boston Globe reports Amtrak is bringing back sleeper cars on the Boston to Chicago line, starting tomorrow. Amtrak got rid of the cars five years ago because of maintenance issues. But now, it is hoping to raise about $2 million a year from the sleeper car option.

Just the words sleeper car are enough to conjure images of train travel at its most romantic, when a trip on the rails meant rubbing elbows with men in fedoras, young adventurers with valises, and perfectly tailored women in the club car, sipping Manhattans.

For decades, riders on the Boston-to-Chicago line, known as the Lake Shore Limited, could at least look forward to the sleeper car, if not the cast of characters straight out of old Hollywood.

And then, in 2004, Amtrak quietly scrapped the sleeper car from Boston, blaming maintenance problems. Now, after an outcry from riders tired of enduring the 23-hour trip in a seat, the sleeper car is making a comeback. Amtrak hopes the cars, which return tomorrow, will raise $2 million annually for the financially struggling rail network by appealing to customers who see an overnight train as a respite from the hassles of air travel.

“We’re going after a different market than those people who might fly,” said Brian Rosenwald, Amtrak’s chief of product management. “We are catering to a leisure market where people might be interested in the advantages of train travel, which would include a day away from day-to-day aggravation, a chance to see the countryside, and enjoy freshly prepared meals – kind of a minicruise concept on land, rather than on sea.”

The simple luxury will sharply increase the cost of a trip to Chicago. A two-bed “roomette” (with three meals, turn-down service, coffee, newspaper and bottled water) can be booked for $184 to $431, while both occupants would also need their own coach-class tickets, which range from $83 to $163. Tickets, like those for an airline, will cost more on peak travel days and when they are booked late.

Ultimately, Amtrak is betting it will find enough passengers like Mary and Daniel Day, retirees from Newburgh, Maine, who have taken many cross-country trains and said the cost of a sleeper car is well worth the comfort of a good night’s rest.

“On a long trip like that, especially at our age, you want to stretch out,” said Mary Day, a 71-year-old retired hospital worker who was boarding the Boston-to-Chicago train at South Station on Tuesday, en route to her husband’s bowling tournament in Las Vegas.

In any case, they prefer train travel to flying. ”You can see more,” Mary Day said. “It’s like being on a water cruise without all that water.”Plus, said Daniel Day, a retired forest ranger, “The airlines have become such a hassle now. It’s really frustrating.”

Amtrak officials said the sleeper cars were long a popular option on the Lake Shore Limited until the pipes started freezing and the toilets stopped working in the harsh winters, a persistent problem that finally led them to cancel the service in November 2004. Boston became the only major city on Amtrak’s route without sleeper-car service.

Click here to read more from the Globe.

__________________________________________