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In 1990, VIA Rail Canada terminated regular rail passenger service between Halifax and Sydney Nova Scotia. As a result, many small towns along the route lost their most tangible link with the outside world. Some ten years later VIA decided to partially restore this service with a once a week seasonal train running from Halifax to Sydney and back. The name of this train is the Bras d'Or (pronounced by the Anglophones exactly like Labrador without the "la"). The wonderfully maintained trainset used for this roundtrip is part of the fleet used for regular six times a week service between Quebec and Halifax. Apparently there was only sufficient equipment for this one, midweek roundtrip to Sydney. The unfortunate result is that the service is so infrequent that you have to go out of your way to arrange your travel schedule to take the train at all. In July 2000, Gail and I flew into Sydney from the French Atlantic islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon specifically to ride the Bras d'Or back to Halifax where we had left our car. The service is priced at first class rates and no intermediate or connecting stops are included. For example, we passed through North Sydney less than a half kilometer from the Newfoundland ferry landing without a station stop. The route of the Bras d'Or has much touristic promise, but VIA has failed (as of the date of our riding) in its effort both to promote the service to tourists and to integrate this train with the remainder of Canada's rail passenger services. No westward connection at Truro is possible; indeed an overnight in Halifax is required before continuing on to Quebec. There were no tour groups on our train and no local traffic. At a minimum, VIA will need to market the train more broadly, provide more frequent service, increase the station stops to provide service to the local communities it passes through, provide locally and community oriented fare incentives, and rationalize westward connections. If VIA doesn't do some or all of these things, this train will be killed as a dreadful money loser with few having had the opportunity to enjoy its gentle grace and splendid panoramas. |
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Our train had about twelve revenue passengers, roughly equal to the number of aggregate crew members there to serve us. And, indeed, the service was extraordinarily attentive. One explanation for the mediocre ridership was that VIA didn't make the final decision to operate this train until March of 2000. This, apparently, was too late a date to coordinate with tour operators who could (and should) be providing substantial ridership for the train. We were told this is a three year experiment; hopefully VIA will make a more sustained effort to promote this train over the next two years. |
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The train, with its two dome cars, afforded magnificent views of the lakes, woods and farms that we passed through as we headed south through the center of Cape Breton. |
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Two young women from Cape Breton were working for VIA to provide the passengers with a sampling of typical Nova Scotia folk music and dancing. Dressed in their Cape Breton tartans, they conveyed their heartfelt enthusiastiasm for their home. |
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Before the construction of causeway in 1955, trains and cars would begin their southward crossing of the Strait of Canso here at Port Hawkesbury. Today the rails and road together cross at the causeway, a short distance to the west. We stopped, however, for an hour or so to sample some local chowder and to stretch our legs. While pleasant enough, because this stop adds an hour to the scheduled travel time, it works against the notion that this train could actually carry conventional (non-touristic) revenue passengers through Nova Scotia as its predecessor trains did for many decades. |
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The train provided excellent views of the tidal backwashes from the Bay of Fundy and of the farmlands of central Nova Scotia. At Truro the train left the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway and rejoined the CN mainline where, with better maintained track, we were able to substantially increase our speed. |
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We arrived in the Port of Halifax well ahead of schedule some ten hours after our departure from Sydney. |
