Four O'Clock Factoid: Supremely Continental

Four O'Clock Factoid is a daily feature on Track Twenty-Nine helping to get you through the workday with a bit of useless knowledge.

In 1978, when Via Rail Canada took over operations of CN and CP passenger rail services in Canada, they operated two transcontinental routes, the Canadian and the Super Continental. The Super Continental had been Canadian National's transcontinental route, operating on the northern route from Montreal to Vancouver through Edmonton. The Canadian was CP's flagship train, operating over the original transcontinental route through Calgary. It started from both Montreal and Toronto, with the trains being joined (or split, eastbound) at Sudbury for the journey to Vancouver. Over the years, the Canadian became the premiere train on the Via network, and during the cuts of 1990, Via cancelled the Super Continental. The Canadian, along with the stainless steel rolling stock inherited from CP, began traveling over the route of it's former rival, the Super Continental. This arrangement continues today, leaving Calgary the largest Canadian city without Via rail service.