Review: VIA Rail Canada Train – Ottawa to Montréal

My investigation of random travel experiences continues 🙂 . And this time, it’s the Canadian edition! I took a weekend trip to Ottawa and decided to take the train back so this is a recap of my first time using a Canadian train company, VIA Rail Canada, on a trip between those two cities. Let’s see what happened!

Booking

In a very un-Purple fashion, this trip only solidified 2 weeks before I was planning to take the train. I had read that this train ticket usually starts at $35 CAD. When I visited the VIA Rail Canada website it told me it would be $62 CAD before taxes (or $47.06 USD) and $70.02 CAD aka $53.14 USD after all fees were accounted for.

That was more than I was expecting, but not horrible for a last-minute trip and a 2 hour train ride. The ticket was easy to book on their website, but one strange thing is that they don’t clearly state the location of the train stations. The website calls different stations within one city different names, but doesn’t provide an address on the webpage.

However, I then received two emails from them:

• A receipt
• A ticket

And within the receipt, the station location was clickable and took me to a website that had the specific address. So it’s possible to find, but requires a few extra steps. I would have preferred if this info was in the receipt email or the ticket.

Ottawa Station

The Ottawa train station was lovely and easy to find. Once inside, there’s a standard screen with a list of trains that includes a boarding door. I arrived about 20 minutes before the train was meant to leave and the boarding gate was already on the screen.

I got in line and an employee scanned the QR code on my ticket on my phone. I appreciated that I didn’t need to download another app to do that 🙂 .

My boarding pass said what car I was in and another employee directed us to each car. Then I got on the train!

Boarding

Now comes my first mistake 🙂 . I wasn’t paying enough attention and forgot/didn’t realize that my ticket had a specific seat number on it. Unlike on Amtrak, (my main train experience until this point) where you take whatever open seat you can, VIA Rail gives you a specific seat.

I had completely forgotten that when I booked my ticket, they asked me for my window or aisle seat preference. I didn’t get to pick a specific seat like on an airplane, but they did give me the window seat I preferred.

So my confused self was trying to decipher the French language around me and missed that detail on my ticket. As a result, I accidentally sat in someone else’s seat, they (understandably) called me on it and I had to try to find my actual seat with my tail between my legs (of course I’m not being overdramatic – have you met me 😉 ?)

Onboard

Once I got settled in my correct seat, I began cataloging the train’s amenities, which I appreciated. There’s ample room underneath my seat for luggage (instead of under the seat in front of me like on Amtrak or an airplane). There are also small overhead bins that can handle personal items.

There was also an electric socket between every seat – nice! The VIA Rail Canada website mentioned that most of their trains have free Wifi. Mine didn’t so I guess I got unlucky, but that wasn’t a big deal. I had data the whole time in case I needed to contact someone (thx Google Fi 😉 ).

About 30 minutes into the 2 hour ride, a cart came around with food and drinks like on an airline. I was reading my book and zoned into that world and didn’t realize what was happening for a second, so I declined anything on the cart. I’ve been searching on their website and am not sure if things on there are free or not, but it was a cool feature. I felt like I was on the Hogwarts Express or something.

Then another employee came by for tickets and they easily scanned the QR code on my phone once again. I was all set to finish my chapter 🙂 . Once we got close to Montréal a little over an hour later, they made an announcement that we were approaching in French and English.

I prepared my stuff and noticed that everyone around me was doing the same – it looks like they organize the cars by who is getting off where – Smart!

Arrival In Montréal

Once the train came to a stop, I shuffled out with the rest of my train car and emerged in Montréal Central Station! There was a line forming after I got off the train and I discovered that it was a line for the escalator. If you don’t have large bags, the stairs are directly to the left of the escalator and are available for use without waiting in line 🙂 .

Once I got to ground level, I saw that each door leading to the outside of the station lists what street it’s on so you can orient yourself, which I appreciated. I headed towards the closest door to my place and left the station.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed my first trip with VIA Rail Canada! The seat was very comfortable (way more than Amtrak…sorry 🙂 ), there was ample room for my stuff, and there were helpful employees at every step of my journey in case I had questions speaking in French and English. I have no notes 🙂 .

After getting home I learned that this same train company goes all the way across Canada and sees some amazing views. After this lovely experience, I’m going to look into booking that kind of adventure 🙂 .

What’s your favorite train ride?