Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

Part of an effort to enhance security after an alleged terrorist plot to derail one of its trains. VIA Rail does not typically check IDs.

Two men who were arrested in Montreal and Toronto were targeting an Amtrak passenger train heading north to Canada out of New York's Penn Station. Once the train had passed into Canada, the attack was to commence

Partnered with CBC/Radio-Canada, the National Film Board of Canada, and The Historica-Dominion Institute to provide passengers on its trains free access to TV shows and documentaries.

VIA Rail is providing 10 coach cars and two dome cars on the New York state-supported Adirondack service operating between Albany-Rensselaer and Montreal. This will allow some Amtrak equipment used on that route to be reassigned, adding about 300 seats to trains operating on the Northeast Corridor.

Agency and global travel search site Skyscanner integrated major intercity rail search into its existing flight search capability. Travelers searching for flights on the Skyscanner site between Toronto and Montreal, for example, will see the air and rail travel alternatives in the search results.

Deal will give the agency’s customers access to Expedia’s Chameleon platform, a customizable retail tool that provides customers with the most relevant hotels through an intuitive user interface and fast search process.

By Oct. 24, the agency plans to lay off Kitchener train station ticket agents, who often control portable lifts used to help wheelchair-bound passengers board trains.

Adjusting frequencies on some routes to better reflect customer demand, while maintaining service on all current routes. The agency will focus resources on improving service and attracting more customers to routes where demand is strong and growing. The agency’s unionized workforce is expected to be reduced by about 9%.

The same law firm led a class-action lawsuit against Via Rail and CN after a derailment in 1999 that killed two crew members and sent 77 passengers and crew to the hospital.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada sent a team of investigators to the site of the incident. The cause of the derailment is not yet known.