Tadman wrote:I mean, look at the consist. It's 2-3 coaches and 20 sleepers sold at prices 50-100% higher than Amtrak sleepers. This is a tourist train. Look at Westjet, they can get you to Toronto or Vancouver in a few hours, not a few days. Buy a ticket and look at the riders. I did it in the off season and they were still mostly tourists, half were from foreign countries. I met Americans, Brits, French, Aussies... That's not a very hard challenge.As usual, you missed the point. That the train is a tourist train should be intuitively obvious to the most-casual observer. But your statement appears to be that no one should complain regardless of how late the train is. As another poster pointed out, would cruise ships tolerate this type of performance? And if a modicum of performance was not expected by someone, why is there a schedule, and why are there so many intermediate stops? On some level, VIA is advertising a service they do not provide. Despite the likelihood that the reason they advertise the service as they do is political, at some point there will be a day of reckoning.
Again, you missed the point, which was simply that without going to Toronto on the train, you were not in a position to say how the late train would have affected you because you did not go there! Therefore, you have no standing to criticize the others who did have a problem with it, and in spite of your vaulted resume, you have no idea about the travel and business experience of the others you labeled as idiotic.
At latest report, train 2-28 is 12 hours late departing Edmonton; train 1-28 is 18 hours late inbound to Hornepayne. The reality is that these very late trains have to have a negative effect on the operation if for no other reason than the increased costs of recrewing and passenger accommodations. Tadman may think that people who complain about the train being late are idiots, but as the word spreads, and they don't ride again because of it, patronage and revenue can only drop. An untenable situation, but we'll have to see how long it will be tolerated as it is....
Moderator's note: this post has been edited to remove certain personal comments.