VIA Rail Canada is proud to show its support for athletes preparing to represent the country in Vancouver this February and March. From January 25th to March 28th up to two family members of Canadian athletes can travel in economy class to/from Vancouver for free. Those wishing to travel in sleeper touring class will receive a 75% discount off the adult regular fare. Included in the offer are parents, siblings, children, grandparents, spouse and/or partner. VIA is also offering a special fare for confirmed 2010 volunteers heading to Vancouver to welcome visitors from around the world. Read the full story

EVERETT, Wash. — Anyone who’s thinking of taking the train to Vancouver, B.C., for the 2010 Winter Olympics might want to make a reservation now.

The two Amtrak Cascades trains that make a daily trip into Vancouver are already about 50 percent booked for the Olympics, which begin Feb. 12. Usually, trains don’t start filling up until two weeks in advance, said Vickie Sheehan, a spokeswoman for the state Rail and Marine Office. Read the full story

VIA Rail Canada is happy to be contributing to the repatriation to Montreal of Fred the dog. Found November 30 in British Columbia, at the side of his deceased owner, Fred was much featured in the press during the month of December. VIA will provide the train ticket from Vancouver for Fred and two accompanying adults, residents of the Montréal region who have volunteered to take care of the dog during the four day journey starting January 1st. The dog will be united with the family of his deceased owner upon arrival in Montreal. Read the full story

This year, skip the Christmas sweater and give them a unique gift they’ll really remember – a stunning rail journey between Vancouver and Whistler.

Until January 5, 2010, BC and Washington Residents pay only $109 per adult round trip when booking four or more guests. Read the full story

Look out to the left, the captain said, and you can see killer whales. Now that’s not the kind of invitation you expect when you’re on a car ferry, especially if you are more used to the hop between Dover and Calais, when there is normally nothing to see… except other ferries.

But this was Canada and I was on a 90-minute crossing from Swartz Bay near Victoria on Vancouver Island to Tsawwassen, about 15 miles south of the city of Vancouver on the Canadian mainland.

For me, the sight of whales is one of those things that always thrill me to my boots (like the sudden and occasional views of Concorde we used to get). But, clearly, they are no big deal to Canadians, since few of my fellow passengers bothered to stir themselves from their breakfasts to catch a glimpse of the passing pod.

People are just used to things being on an epic scale here, and not just the wildlife. Vancouver Island, for example, may look like a dot on the map – inviting comparisons with the Isle of Wight – yet it is nearly 300 miles long and some 50 miles broad at its widest point.

Standing out on deck, gazing east, I strained for my first sight of the Rockies. On the horizon is what looks like a sweep of steepling peaks but as you approach, these turn out to be modest foothills. Beyond lurk the real mountains. So, even on these first tentative steps towards the country’s heart, you begin to grasp that this is a place created on a vast scale. It’s the world’s second biggest country, roughly 36 times the size of Britain, but is home to 33million people – half the UK’s population.

I had arrived in Canada via the ‘back door’ after taking another ferry, the high-speed service from Seattle to Victoria. One minute I was in fast-paced America – Seattle is home to Starbucks, Boeing and Microsoft – the next, I was in Victoria, taking the five-minute walk from the sedate ferry terminal to the even more sedate Empress Hotel.

It’s a journey of just a couple of hours up from the US, but Canada is light years apart from the States in most respects. Victoria, the state capital of British Columbia, feels more like Torquay. Actually, given the ever-present Scottish heritage that surrounds you in Canada, you are reminded more of, say, Rothesay on the Isle of Bute.

In America, you never feel able to drop your guard but in Canada I felt instantly as if I had never left home.

At the excellent Empress Hotel, for example, they serve a regular lunchtime curry buffet as fine as anything you can find on a British high street. And at any time of day you can always be sure of a real cup of tea.

The Empress Hotel, by the way, provides a worthy introduction to the chain of magnificent ‘railway hotels’ – now under the Fairmont banner – that stretches right across Canada. Like the country itself, these hotels are built on a grand scale in a style described as ‘chateau-esque’.
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By Frank Barrett, Mail Online, >>> continue reading

Railway Map Guide:British Columbia & Canadian Rockies

Amtrak is now offering its first direct, round-trip train service between Portland and Vancouver, B.C., in preparation for the 2010 winter Olympics. The new route stops in Vancouver as part of the Cascades service line. It also means a second daily train runs between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.

The train service, which started Wednesday, is a pilot project that will run until after the 2010 Olympic and Paralympics winter games take place Feb. 12 to 28 and March 12 to 21 in Canada. After the games, the Washington State Department of Transportation will decide if the route is popular enough to continue the service.

The Vancouver games are expected to temporarily boost tourism and travel throughout the Pacific Northwest, including passenger rail traffic. But transportation officials also hope the new service will encourage more leisure and business travel in general on the state’s passenger rail system over the long term.

“If there’s sufficient interest in the train, it may well continue,” said Andrew Wood, deputy director for the department’s rail and marine division. “It’s important that as we start offering people more travel options that the rail mode of transport becomes more popular.”

Wood said the Canadian government has agreed to waive the $1,500 per day fee the new train would incur to cross the border until after the 2010 games. Without the additional fee, the new train costs the department roughly $3,000 per round trip to operate, or up to $100,000 per month. The Oregon Department of Transportation covers the cost of train operations in Oregon.

The agency will need to fill at least 100 seats each one-way trip to keep operating costs in the black, Wood said.

BY LIBBY TUCKER, Columbian.com >>> Read full story

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USA West By Train: The Complete Amtrak Travel Guide

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