Source Link: Memory McLeod, Leader-Post
REGINA — Despite more than 20,000 passengers using VIA Rail’s five stations in the province, most are from other provinces.

Now the company is hoping that a change in scheduling — allowing passengers in Saskatoon, Melville, Biggar, Unity and Watrous to board during daytime hours — will bring in more local fares.

“It’s likely that we will see more people opting to travel by train with the new changes. It’s too soon to tell what kind of impact it will have, but we are expecting to see in an uptake in passengers boarding at the stations,” said VIA Rail spokesperson Catherine Kalowtski.

As it stands now, The Canadian, a passenger train travelling from Toronto to Vancouver, runs through most of Saskatchewan in middle of the night. After the changeover takes effect Dec. 2 the reverse will happen with boarding times either in the morning or afternoon.

“We looked at how we could make trips more convenient for our passengers and looked at some of the other things we were hearing in feedback and so this new schedule will reflect that,” Kalowtski said.

Ronald Haskell believes the changes will be better for Canadians, particularily Reginans.

“Even for people who lived in places where VIA Rail stopped, (the previous schedule) was still an inconvenience, because with train times at 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. it made it difficult for (passengers) to start their journey in the middle of the night,” said Haskell, who is vice-president of Transport 2000 Prairie, a non-profit organization advocating for various transportation issues.

He pointed out that when the new boarding times take effect Reginans will be able to take a bus from the city and arrive in time to Melville to catch a train.

“The bottom line is that residents of Regina will have another option. Rather than just driving or flying to a destination in Canada, train travel will now be more accessible,” Haskell said.

One major request among travellers going west was for daylight viewing time through the Rockies, which the change will now offer.

“Travelling by train is the best way to see the landscape of our vast and beautiful country. Unfortunately the Rockies, being one of the greatest highlights of Canadian travel, is missed due to night travel,” Kalowtski explained.

Kalowtski also predicted that the new hours will also allow for more accurate scheduling times.

“Over time an increase in traffic on the main line caused delays and our advertised times were not accurate with actual arrival and departure times. So these changes address that and we are seeing this as a way to have more accuracy in our scheduling. It’s the same thing as Reginans are seeing when they compare the traffic today with what rush hour traffic was like five years ago,” Kalowtski said.

Same day connections will be offered in Toronto, where travellers currently have to wait overnight to board another train heading east the next day.

Another feature of the new plan is that tourists will have more time to visit centres such as Jasper, Alta. and Winnipeg.

“In places such as Winnipeg, the Forks, which is a tourist attraction there, is like a five-minute walk from the station. So there is a couple of hours there to explore and to have a look around at the city,” she said.

Kalowtski said that while there is interest in expanding the train line to a station in Regina, there are no immediate plans for such an expansion.

Via Rail has a second passenger train, The Hudson Bay, which dips into Saskatchewan through the towns of Canora and Hudson Bay before going continuing on to Churchhill, Man.