Ocean (train)

Ocean
Train #14, the Ocean, at Belmont, Nova Scotia on August 13, 2005.
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Operating
Locale	Quebec, Canada
Current operator(s)	Via Rail (1978–)
Former operator(s)	IRC (1904–1918), CN (1918–1978)
Route
Start	Montreal, Quebec
End	Halifax, Nova Scotia
Distance travelled	1,346 km (836 mi)
Service frequency	6 trains per week
Train number(s)	14, 15
On-board services
Class(es)	Economy, sleeper, and sleeper touring class
Seating arrangements	Reserved coach seat
Catering facilities	Dining car
Technical
Gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Track owner(s)	CN (since 2008)
Route map Legend Distance Station 0 Montreal (Central Station) St. Lawrence River - Victoria Bridge 7 km (4.3 mi) Saint-Lambert Richelieu River 54 km (34 mi) Saint-Hyacinthe 100 km (62 mi) Drummondville 247 km (153 mi) Charny Bus to Quebec City (service began 1998) 260 km (160 mi) Levis (service discontinued 1998) 311 km (193 mi) Montmagny 371 km (231 mi) La Pocatière 439 km (273 mi) Rivière-du-Loup 482 km (300 mi) Trois-Pistoles 543 km (337 mi) Rimouski 572 km (355 mi) Mont-Joli 619 km (385 mi) Sayabec 643 km (400 mi) Amqui 665 km (413 mi) Causapscal 722 km (449 mi) Matapédia Montreal – Gaspé train to Gaspé Restigouche R. - Quebec-New Brunswick border 741 km (460 mi) Campbellton 772 km (480 mi) Charlo 797 km (495 mi) Jacquet River 825 km (513 mi) Petit Rocher 842 km (523 mi) Bathurst 913 km (567 mi) Miramichi Northwest Miramichi River Southwest Miramichi River 949 km (590 mi) Rogersville 1,042 km (647 mi) Moncton 1,103 km (685 mi) Sackville New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border 1,119 km (695 mi) Amherst 1,146 km (712 mi) Springhill Junction 1,243 km (772 mi) Truro 1,346 km (836 mi) Halifax

The Ocean is a Canadian passenger train operated by Via Rail between Montreal, Quebec and Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is currently the oldest continuously-operated named passenger train in North America. The Ocean's schedule takes approximately 21 hours, running overnight in both directions. Together with The Canadian and Via's corridor trains, the Ocean provides a transcontinental service.

Ocean Limited

Inaugurated by the Intercolonial Railway of Canada (IRC), the Ocean Limited was created to supplement the Maritime Express as a summer-only "limited stop" service beginning on July 3, 1904. In Halifax, it connected with the Dominion Atlantic Railway's luxury train, the Flying Bluenose.^[1] During the immigration boom of the early 1900s, the Ocean Limited and other passenger trains on its route saw increased use as they provided key winter-time connections for both the Grand Trunk Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway in moving sponsored immigrants to lands in the Prairie provinces.

In 1918, the IRC was merged into the Canadian National Railways (CNR) and the Ocean Limited continued its operation much as before. During both the First and Second World Wars, the Ocean Limited provided important service to the port of Halifax.

Ocean

CNR changed its name to the bilingually appropriate Canadian National/Canadien National (CN) in 1960, however passenger trains and other company assets were slow to evolve. However by 1966, the Ocean Limited had been renamed to the Ocean/Océan, while maintaining the same schedule and train numbers.

During a landslide which affected the old IRC line near Rimouski, Quebec, in 1977, for six months CN diverted the Ocean onto another parallel line several hundred kilometres to the south, maintaining the same Halifax–Montreal schedule times.

In 1976, CN placed operation of all its passenger services under a new division using the marketing slogan "Via". In April 1978 this division was created as a separate Crown corporation named Via Rail Canada, taking with it all CN passenger trains and equipment. The new national passenger rail service did not begin to change train names and operations until 1979, following the October 1978 assumption of all CPR passenger trains and equipment.

The Ocean did not get renamed by Via and in fact became supplanted on the Halifax–Moncton portion of its route in 1985 by another Via train, the Atlantic (formerly the Atlantic Limited), which saw its eastern terminus extended to Halifax from Saint John. This train also assumed the train numbers and equipment of the defunct CN passenger train Scotian, which survived only into the first few years of the Via era.

Under Via, the Ocean underwent several changes in its operation:

• (1979–1981) Daily operation (seven days a week) in both directions between Halifax-Montreal. Another Via train, the Atlantic also served these cities over a different route.
• (1981–1985) Daily operation (seven days a week) in both directions, albeit as the only through train between Halifax-Montreal, following cancellation of the Atlantic.
• (1985–1990) Daily operation (seven days a week) in both directions between Moncton and Montreal, following reinstatement of the Atlantic, which became the through train to Halifax. Passengers on the Ocean were forced to change trains at Moncton.
• (1990–1994) Operation three days a week in both directions between Halifax and Montreal following Via budget cuts. The Atlantic also operated three days a week and equipment rotated on the two trains. Service between Moncton and Halifax and between Saint-Hyacinthe and Montreal, the only common portions of the two routes, was six days a week.
• (1994–present) Daily operation (six days a week) in both directions between Halifax and Montreal. The second cancellation of the Atlantic resulted in increased operation on the route of the Ocean. CN sold its portion of the Ocean's route between Rivière-du-Loup, QC, and Moncton, NB, to a shortline operator which operated the section from Rivière-du-Loup to Campbellton as the Chemin de fer Matapédia et du Golfe and the section from Campbellton to Moncton as the New Brunswick East Coast Railway. CN re-acquired these portions on November 3, 2008, and, as a result, the Ocean now again operates solely on CN trackage.^[2]
• October 26, 1998, saw CN abandon its scenic route along the waterfront of Levis, Quebec, which served the combined railway station and ferry terminal. Via Rail was forced to relocate the Ocean stop for the Quebec City region to Charny, necessitating a reverse move in each direction.
• (2006) The gradual phasing out of the restored stainless steel Budd cars was to have taken place, with all departures in both directions to have been operated in favor of the more modern European-built Renaissance equipment. However, Via has experienced occasional problems with this equipment and has had to press the Budd cars into service as needed. Work on upgrading the Renaissance fleet has resulted in the need to operate one Budd consist (with the two other consists Renaissance outfitted) during the winter season. This is taking place through the winter of 2010–2011, although it is unclear as to whether it will occur again in winter 2011–2012. A stainless steel Park Car is attached to the end of every train for passengers in Easterly Class during peak season.

Via Rail train 14, the eastbound Ocean, at Jacquet River, New Brunswick, with Renaissance equipment.

Route

The route taken by the Ocean runs through a very scenic portion of eastern Canada including the Island of Montreal and the city's skyline and suburbs, the lower St. Lawrence River valley, the Matapédia River valley, the south shore of Chaleur Bay and the forests of eastern New Brunswick, the Tantramar Marshes, the Cobequid Mountains and Wentworth Valley, the edge of Cobequid Bay and mixed farmland through central Nova Scotia to Halifax.

See also

• Nightstar (train) the Alstom-built UK rolling stock that was converted to "Renaissance" cars for use on the Ocean

References

1. ^ *Halifax Herald, July 4, 1904, OCEAN LIMITED STARTS TO-DAY and Flying Bluenose Begins 1904 Season
2. ^ *CN acquires three rail subsidiaries and ferry operation of Quebec Railway Corp. (QRC) for C$49.8 million

Douglas N.W. Smith, The Ocean Limited: A Centennial Tribute (2004)

External links

• Via Rail's site for the Ocean