VIA rail's overnight trip between Halifax and Montreal leaves Nova Scotia's port city and crosses northern New Brunswick. In Quebec, the train passes the southern shore of the Lower Saint Lawrence, Canada's longest river, where rural communities thrive in the Matapedia Valley. The terminus in cosmopolitan Montreal brings passengers to North America's largest French-speaking city, home of the performing arts including the world's largest jazz festival.
This short two-hour train ride brings passengers from Montreal, Canada's second largest city, to Ottawa, the nation's capital. The 116-mile journey is especially convenient as a weekend getaway to Ontario, Canada's most populated province. The National Capital Region that straddles the Ottawa River is home to the Parliament Buildings, National Arts Centre and National Gallery. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated the Rideau Canal a World Heritage Site.
Traveling by rail from downtown Montreal to downtown Toronto offers the convenience of avoiding the traffic congestion that surrounds Canada's two largest cities. The 330-mile ride has a stop at Kingston, Ontario, with its classic limestone buildings that grace "Limestone City." The terminus in Toronto's historic Union Station is the gateway to Canada's financial and commercial center of 2.5 million people.
Toronto is the "place of meetings" in the Assiniboine language. Passengers boarding at Union Station begin a 2,700-mile route to reach the Pacific port city of Vancouver. For four days the journey offers a window seat panorama of the rugged Canadian Shield of northern Ontario, the level prairie land and the soaring Rocky Mountains.
Major cities en route include Winnipeg, Manitoba's largest city and former fur trade capital at the junction of the Assiniboine, Red and Seine rivers. The fertile lands of Saskatchewan provide the world's wheat and potash. In Alberta, Jasper offers a wildlife sanctuary and outdoors activities in the Rocky Mountains. The journey to West Coast brings passengers through the canyons where the Canadian Pacific Railway built by Chinese laborers helped unite a nation. Vancouver, host of the 2010 Winter Olympics, promotes a culturally diverse city with a scenic mountain setting by the water's edge.
The Rocky Mountaineer company offers a two-day historic train route that allows passengers to view the landscape during the daylight hours. The Calgary to Vancouver route takes in Banff National Park, Kicking Horse Pass and the Fraser and Thompson Canyons. This journey passes through Craigellachie, site of the "Last Spike" that completed the western section of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
