I actually was not going to write this mini-trip report but events unfolded which changed my mind. I apologize in advance since all the photos in here are from my phone and not my DSLR.

Let me give some background information about this trip first. I currently live in Toronto and my family lives in Sarnia, which is a 3-3.5 drive west of Toronto (300km or so). Since I do not have a car, I cannot drive there and my family does not want to drive here to pick me and then immediately drive back. Therefore, the best bet is for me to take the train on Via Rail.

Now Via Rail only has 1 train per day between Toronto and Sarnia that either leaves really early or really late and takes 4.5 hrs. This train is also expensive for some reason. So the next best bet to is to take the train from Toronto to London, which has multiple trains per day, only takes two hours and is cheap. My family then would pick me up in London and drive back to Sarnia.

At the end of May, I got an email from Via Preference (Via Rail’s points program) with a promotion of 1000 bonus points when you travel in business by June 20. Since I haven’t visited my family in a while, I started looking at fares and dates. I was told by my family that only the June 14th weekend would work, I also got a request by my mother to take the earliest train instead of the one that leaves at 11am which I normally take. I originally wanted to take business class both way but for whatever reason, there is only one train on Saturday that has business class which leaves in the evening, so that didn’t work for my plan. I eventually decided on this itinerary:

Outbound:
Saturday June 14
Leaving at 7:35am
Arriving at 9:45am
Train #71
Car: 3
Seat: 2B

Return:
Monday June 16
Leaving at 11:00am
Arriving at 1:11pm
Train #72
Car: 1
Seat: 4B

My route approximately, and no we didn't go over the lake You can see where Sarnia is in relation to Toronto and London.


The outbound was in economy and I got an escape fare for $33 and the return was in business and I got a standard fare of $66 or so for a total including taxes of $106 and change. After booking this online, I phoned Via Rail to see if I could change my seat on the business leg to a single seat since I was hoping that the train had a refurbished business car with a 2-1 seating setup. Disappointingly, I was informed that this train would only have a business car with the old 2-2 seating arrangement. Oh well, I guess I can try the new business class product on a future trip.

Departure:
BUZZ BUZZZ BUUZZZ, huh, what’s that noise, oh, its my alarm and it’s 6am, I guess I should get up now unless I want to miss my train. Why does 6am exist, it’s way to early for anything, I’m not impressed about this but I begrudgingly get up and dressed and finish packing. On the way to the subway, I grab a coffee and some food to eat on the train since I won’t be buying anything. 6am seems slightly more bearable now but not by much.

I make it to the Union station subway stop by 7am and since I haven’t been to Union station in a while and there is lots of construction going on, I get somewhat confused in terms of where the path to departures is. I eventually find it by going to the arrivals area and walk underneath the great hall. I see that is there is about 20 people in line already for the train (I don’t understand why people get there so early, everyone has assigned seats, so there is no mad rush for that). I stand in line until about 10 minutes before boarding and the station agent is checking everyone ticket, he eventually gets to me and scans my ticket. He asks to see what seat I’m in and tell him 2B, he looks at his computer and tells me that my seat is now 10S and not 2B. Wait, S as in single seat as in the new business class car? The agent says there has been an equipment swap and yes, we will be on the new park cars. Wow, I so wasn’t expecting that. Good things come to people who get up at 6am? Boarding commences quickly and I am soon up the escalator and onto the train.

My first impressions of the new car is positive, there is way more space in the cabin. Each seat now has a small table beside it as well as the fold out one in the seat in front of it. The seats are clad in leather now while the old ones were cloth. It looks really sleek. I sit down in my assigned seat and notice how comfortable it is and there is plenty of legroom as well.

The seat.


Legroom.


Side table.


View of the double seats.


Fold down tray table.


So let’s make a list of what this new seat has:
- Leather, check
- More legroom, check
- Side table with two drink holders, check
- Lots of recline, check
- Two ac power ports, check
- Curtain, check
- Bigger fold down table, check
- Liftable arm rests, check
- And so much more

These new cars are superior to the old one in every way. Now as other people were boarding, I guess they didn’t get told that there was a car change and tried to sit in the single seats of their old rows without asking if they had the their seat changed. Some people were affronted that Via Rail “double booked” the same seat with comments like “Gosh, how could this happen, I would have thought better of Via Rail.” It’s as if Via Rail did it on purpose for their evil schemes. This greatly annoyed me since these people did not understand that they were getting a vastly superior product for free and should show some restraint about vocally spewing this nonsense. Eventually, the two or three people who had seat changes asked the main cabin attendant and he got everything sorted out for them. Now we are getting to the best part of the train trip, the main crewmember for my car, he was a younger guy who was very nice, very polite and best of extremely cheerful at 7:30 in the morning. He was the best crewmember I’ve ever had with Via Rail. He explained to everyone the equipment swap and answered questions from people about it. Many people were complimenting him on his cheerful demeanour. I was surprised since I’ve never been cheerful at any time around 7:30am, guess I am a night person.

The train took off from Union Station on time and I settled into my seat and ate some of the food I brought on board, shortly after another crewmember scanned everyone’s tickets. For the remainder of the ride, I sat watching the scenery go by, playing games on my handheld system and just relaxing in the super comfortable seat. We arrived into London 10 minutes late.

I’m not going to bore you with details of my family trip since that part of the trip is really boring anyways.

The Return:
Fast forward to Monday and I arrive at the London train station around 20 minutes before the scheduled departure. I go to the business lounge to sit, this lounge is a far cry from the business lounge in Toronto’s Union Station. The London lounge has all the standard amenities like newspapers, non-alcoholic drinks, coffee and tea and power outlets. I look at information screen and see that the train is coming from Windsor and will be 10 minutes late arriving in London, nothing new on that front.

Train finally arrives and go to the first car for boarding. Before boarding, two other people and I are told that there is no luggage space in the first car and we would have to put our luggage in an economy car further back. Ok, this is annoying. I luckily find space in the second car for my carryon. I go back to the business car and I am disappointed to see that I have the ancient old business class product; at least I can do a comparison of the hard product now though. I go to my seat and see that the window one next to me is empty.

Old seat.


A few minutes later the train starts moving, awesome, I have an empty seat beside me. The cabin crew (2 older females) start their service for the people who just got on. They start from the back of the car moving to the front, which means I’m one of the last few to get served, I don’t mind though. For my starter drink, I choose a Caesar.

The best drink in the world.


For those non-Canadians who are reading this and are wondering what a Caesar is, let me explain it. Take some tomato juice, add some clam broth, add vodka, add hot sauce, add Worcestershire sauce, add celery salt and finally add pepper to taste. Sounds complex, it is, but it is the tastiest drink ever invented, I could drink them all day if I could, you don’t taste the vodka in it at all and you get a nice spicy finish. A bag of snack mix gets handed out with the drink. This snack mix is a big improvement over the old ones, which was a bag of pretzels.

I finish my drink and snack and the empty glasses get collected followed a hot lemon scented towel being passed out. As this is happening, one crewmember goes on the PA system and notifies everyone what today’s lunch will be. The choices are some chicken pasta dish, coconut crusted tilapia with a mango salsa and the last choice was a summer salad. Normally they hand out menus but I guess they have changed that policy. It is good seeing Via Rail serve a salad as a main for lunch because some people don’t want to eat a full lunch. The tilapia sounded delightful, so that is the dish I was going to order.

This time, they served from the front of the car to the back so I definitely got my choice. The wines they had on board were a unoaked Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon/Baco Noir blend both from EastDell estate in Ontario. I started with the Chardonnay, which paired well with the tilapia. It was a medium-bodied wine with a refreshing finish that did not overpower.

The main.


As you can see from the picture, the fish came with green beans, carrots and boiled potatoes, there was a side salad with a premixed package of olive oil and balsamic vinegar as well. Also on the tray was a nut and berry cracker type thing that I took for later, a small square of fudge from Laura Secord and the flatware and napkin. Previously, the napkin was a linen one with a buttonhole in the corner but this time it was a heavy-duty paper one, a massive downgrade if you ask me.

I take a bite of the tilapia and wow, is it ever good; the coconut goes extremely well with mango and red onion salsa. It also does not overpower the taste of tilapia. The fish is cooked perfectly and flakes easily with my fork. Next up is the green beans and carrots. The beans are properly cooked and they have a bit of crunch, just the way I like them. The carrots were a bit of a miss since they were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, a weird texture. Lastly are the boiled potatoes, another perfectly cooked item. They are soft and not crunchy but not so overcooked that they fall apart. Overall, the main was a good choice. I had the salad after the fish and even though it was a simpler salad with many types of greens with tomato and carrot slices, it was refreshing and tasty to boot. Well done Via Rail on getting the main done right except for the carrots.

Fe Fi Fo Fudge.


After the salad, I moved on the Cab/Baco Noir blend. Upon the first sip, I noticed that it was a medium-bodied style with a strong character of blueberries from the Baco Noir. It is very quaffable and went with the fudge pretty well. On a side note, the fudge was very tasty and sweet but that is expected since it is fudge, the serving size was right since if I ate more of it, I would be in a sugar coma. After the trays were removed, small chocolates were handed which is 72% dark organic cocoa, I took it for later. For the rest of the train trip, I had 3 more glasses of the Cab/Baco Noir since it was that quaffable.

Chocolate.


Concerning the service on this trip, it was mechanical at best. The two women served promptly but didn’t really talk or say anything to you as it was served. I would say thank you to them after they gave me stuff and they didn’t even say you’re welcome in return. It’s small things like this that can make or break a good train ride and send it down to the mediocre or average level. Another service miss was being 5 minutes outside of Toronto and my empty glass was still not picked up even though I was done it 20 or so minutes before that and both crewmembers walked past me a few times.
We arrived into Toronto 20 minutes late due to having to wait for freight trains ahead of us. I don’t really understand why freight trains get priority over passenger trains, yes they make a lot of money but passenger comfort some come before profits. It was awkward walking back to the next car to get my luggage.

Overall, it was an average business class experience with some pluses and some minuses. Compared to previous business class trips I have taken, it is mostly a downgrade.

1) Previously, they had printed menus whereas this time they said it over the PA system.
2) 3 courses before and now only 1.5ish
3) Linen napkins before, now heavy duty paper ones.
4) Mechanical crew now.

Would I still go business class in the future, for sure, I just need to adjust my expectations beforehand to make sure I don’t think it will be a let down.
Some final thoughts about both train trips, the new business class product looks and feels awesome. Whereas the old product is dated but still comfortable. The removal of a row of seats in the new product is such a good idea. I received better service in my economy leg than on the return, which shows that service can be hit or miss based on what train, you take. The food and wine are better than ever though I miss having a starter from before and the lack of a menu being distributed is a disappointment. The napkin change is also another disappointment. Via Rail excels on certain points of the redesigned business offering but takes some steps back in other areas though it is still worth it for the value.


Yes, there was a dog on the train.


Thank you for reading my report that I wasn’t going to write, it turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would be. If you have any question or comments, feel free to ask.

On a side note, I promise to get done my Toronto-Cape Town trip report from my last travels there in December to January soon, I’ve got it about 1/3 done but have hit massive writers block for the past while.