- Advantages
- Fares
Whether you’re travelling for business or pleasure, taking the train has it all: warm professional service, spacious comfortable seats, and a stress-free trip, even during a snowstorm. There are a lot of advantages to travelling by train. Here are just a few:
Cell phone
You can use your cell phone any time you like.
Compare the train with the car and plane, and see how much you can save.
Toronto – Montréal
Productivity time between Toronto and Montréal
Productive time on board = 0 h 00 min
Total travel
time:
6 h 47 min
Productive time on board = 1 h 15 min
Total travel
time:
4 h 15 min
Productive time on board = 5 h 50 min
Total travel
time:
5 h 50 min
A train travels at roughly the same speed as your car over the length of a journey. Assuming you don’t hit any traffic jams or bad weather en route. However, 30 minutes have been added to the length of the car journey so as to take downtown traffic into account.
Advantage of the train vs. the car: going by train allows you to use your entire travelling time productively!
Advantage of the train vs. the plane: flying time is perhaps shorter, but waiting in airport line-ups, boarding, and travel between the airport and downtown take so much time that, all things considered, going by train is often faster.
Savings by taking the train (Toronto - Montréal)
| Mode of travel | Cost of travel* | Cost of 100 trips per year | Value of productivity for 100 trips** | Total value of productivity and savings† |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Car | $307 | $30,700 | $0 | $0 |
| Plane | $169 | $16,900 | $4,614 | $18,414 vs. car |
| Train | $79 | $7,900 | $21,531 | $44,331 vs. car $25,917 vs. plane |
*The cost of car travel was calculated based on $0.56 per kilometre.
**The hourly rate of $36.91 for work conducted on board during travel (based on annual salary of $77,038) multiplied by the number of hours worked on board multiplied by 100 trips.
†Savings by taking the train added to the value of work conducted on board for 100 trips.
Distances based on one-way trips. Cost of train travel based on the adult special fare in Economy class as of January 1st, 2012. Taxes included in calculation. Certain conditions apply. Fares, conditions and schedules may change without prior notice.
Toronto – Ottawa
Productive time between Toronto and Ottawa
Productive time on board = 0 h 00 min
Total travel
time:
5 h 37 min
Productive time on board = 1 h 00 min
Total travel
time:
4 h 00 min
Productive time on board = 4 h 37 min
Total travel
time:
4 h 37 min
A train travels at roughly the same speed as your car over the length of a journey. Assuming you don’t hit any traffic jams or bad weather en route. However, 30 minutes have been added to the length of the car journey so as to take downtown traffic into account.
Advantage of the train vs. the car: going by train allows you to use your entire travelling time productively!
Advantage of the train vs. the plane: flying time is perhaps shorter, but waiting in airport line-ups, boarding, and travel between the airport and downtown take so much time that, all things considered, going by train is often faster.
Savings by taking the train (Toronto – Ottawa)
| Mode of travel | Cost of travel* | Cost of 100 trips per year | Value of productivity for 100 trips** | Total value of productivity and savings† |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Car | $251 | $25,100 | $0 | $0 |
| Plane | $150 | $15,000 | $3,691 | $13,791 vs. car |
| Train | $78 | $7,800 | $17,040 | $34,340 vs. car $20,549 vs. plane |
*The cost of car travel was calculated based on $0.56 per kilometre.
**The hourly rate of $36.91 for work conducted on board during travel (based on annual salary of $77,038) multiplied by the number of hours worked on board multiplied by 100 trips.
†Savings by taking the train added to the value of work conducted on board for 100 trips.
Distances are calculated based on one-way trips. Cost of train travel based on the adult special fare in Economy class as of January 1st, 2012. Taxes included in calculation. Certain conditions apply. Fares, conditions and schedules may change without prior notice.
| Route | Business class | Economy class |
| Toronto – Montréal | $139* | $69** |
| Toronto – Ottawa | $139* | $69** |
| Ottawa – Montréal | $65* | $31** |
| Montréal – Québec City | $86* | $48** |
| Toronto – London | $65* | $45*** |
| Toronto – Windsor | $106* | $54** |
*One-way supersaver fare in Business class. Sales taxes not included. Tickets must be purchased at least three (3) days prior to departure. The number of seats is limited.
**One-way special fare in Economy class. Sales taxes not included. Tickets must be purchased at least four (4) days prior to departure. The number of seats is limited.
***One-way supersaver fare in Economy class. Sales taxes not included. Tickets must be purchased at least three (3) days prior to departure. The number of seats is limited.
Prices and conditions may change without prior notice.
How to buy
- To benefit from Economy and Business class fares, you must book in “Business – supersaver fare”, “Economy – special fare” or “Economy – supersaver fare”.
- The fare will be quoted automatically if the trip meets all fare conditions. Tickets may be picked up at a self-service ticketing kiosk or at a VIA Rail ticket counter.
Conditions
- Quoted fares apply to a one-way ticket for one adult, before taxes, in Business or Economy class, to the stations of specified cities, including Sainte-Foy and Charny (Québec City), Dorval and Saint-Lambert (Montréal), Oshawa and Guildwood (Toronto) and Fallowfield (Ottawa).
- To benefit from supersaver fares in Economy and Business class, tickets must be purchased at least three (3) days prior to departure.
- To benefit from the special fare in Economy class, tickets must be purchased at least three (4) days prior to departure.
- The number of seats is limited.
- These fares apply to tickets purchased on our web site, by telephone at
1 888 VIA-RAIL (1 888 842-7245) or 1 800 268-9503 (hearing impaired), or at one of our ticket counters.
Refunds and exchanges
- Supersaver and special fare tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable.
- If you already have tickets and wish to exchange them for new tickets to benefit from these fares, any service charges applicable to your original purchase will be collected before your new tickets are issued.
Other conditions
- These fares do not apply to tickets issued on rail passes or pass products such as BizPak, System or Corridor Canrailpass, VIA 6 Pak, GO VIA Pak or commuter passes.
- Fares, conditions and schedules may change without prior notice.
- Other conditions may apply.
Reduce your carbon footprint with VIA Rail.
"Everyone at VIA Rail is encouraged to develop “reduce, re-use, recycle” strategies in the workplace and on board VIA’s trains. Furthermore, whereas the transportation industry is responsible for 26.98% of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, only 0.02% of these are produced by VIA! Each passenger on board a VIA Rail train only produces 0.08 kg* of CO2 emissions per trip."
Source: 2008 Greenhouse Gas Inventory. For more information, visit Environment Canada at www.ec.gc.ca
*Calculation based on total diesel fuel used for train operation in the Québec City – Windsor corridor and the total number of mile-seats available for the same year.
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