Traveling by Train

The train trip to Churchill takes two days from Winnipeg. The distance from Winnipeg to Churchill they say is 1000 kms. The reason it takes so long is two-fold:

1. Stops along the way
There are a few stops along the journey. The main ones in the southern part of Manitoba are Dauphin, The Pas and Thompson (the latter of which a boatload of people get on). From there, there are a some stops in the northern part of Manitoba - mainly small reserves that are mainly accessible by train. Even cargo is carried to these reserves by train. And wow are they remote.

2. Speed of travel
While there are times a decent speed is achieved from the train, a good part of the northern trip you're going somewhere near 50 kms/hr (from my judgment). My suspicion is that the train tracks can't handle the fast speed, as I remember hearing reports of the track needing upgrading. Even grain shipped to Churchill's port gets carried in smaller cars, since it is what the tracks can handle.

American delays train
I found out the reason for our near 45 minute delay - a (not-so-bright) American. From what I can tell she flew into somewhere in the US and drove to Winnipeg. "Normally", she explained, "the boarder crossing is only 5 minutes. I didn't think it'd take an hour!" She lives in Hawaii.

Now maybe I'm too type A, but I would think that the average traveller would know to give themselves more than 5 minutes of slack when crossing an international boarder. I still can't believe that Via held the train for her!

Via Rail customer service
The transition from train to bus went pretty smoothly, as there were only a handful of staff to take care of our train. Soon we were packed - even including a washing machine! - and on our way.

On our trip there we received free drinks (pop, juice, iced tea) and cookies. This was on top of our free continental (read: toast) breakfast. They also made a detour to Pisew falls to take in the beautiful sights.

Finally, they took care of dinner for those of us in the sleeper car. Great service!

Smoking
I feel like I've stepped back in a former Europe with the amount of smoking I've encountered. I think one of the reasons the train stops is so that everyone, including the staff, can take smoke breaks. It seemed like half the train smoked! When we stopped in Thompson, I saw 16 year olds smoking. Quite the eye opener.