Getting There By Rail
VIA Rail (tel: (514) 989 2626 or (888) 842 7245; website: www.viarail.ca) is Canada’s national rail service provider. Services from the USA are operated by Amtrak (tel: (800) 872 7245 or (215) 856 7954 for international sales; website: www.amtrak.com). Montreal’s Gare Centrale (Central Station) is located at 895 rue de la Gauchetire West. It has several restaurants and is directly linked to the Underground City’s network of shops and hotels. Trains arriving from the west also stop at the basic Dorval Station, near the airport.
Rail services: Montreal is located along the Quebec City-Windsor corridor, which accounts for 85% of Canada’s passenger rail traffic. Both economy and first class (VIA 1) cars are available on corridor trains, which link Montreal with Quebec City to the east, and Ottawa and Toronto to the west. The carriages are clean and quiet, with large windows that confer a sense of the country’s vastness as the train passes acres of farmland and mixed conifer and deciduous forests; VIA 1 fares include a surprisingly good meal and complimentary Canadian wines. Eastern transcontinental services are the daily Ocean from Halifax and the thrice-weekly Chaleur from Gasp, both with economy and sleeper classes. Amtrak runs daily trains from New York and Washington, DC.
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Getting There By Rail