Your experience with ViaRail employees

What do you think of VIA RAils employees in general? Just post any experiences (Good or bad) you had with them.

There's only one person who's ever been (very slightly) rude toward me.In my trip back from Moncton, I talked to a lady (an employee) in english. (I'm from Québec, but I couldn't care less if people speaks to me in french or english) Having received '' services'' in english on my way to Moncton, I though maybe I should do the same for the return trip. The lady in question said in a rather rude way that I could speak in french if I wanted. Other than that very small incident (that doesn't even deserve any kind of (even small) complain)...

I've bough 4 Train tickets in Quebec's Gare Du Palais (The train station) And every single time, the people selling tickets were extremely polite, and were always smiling. They always answered my question with clear, and simple answers. Also, the last time I went to buy a ticket (last July, during the major discount fare weekend) The lady who sold me the ticket litterally told me to have a nice trip as if I was going to take the train soon (even though My trip wasn't before 2 months and half until my trip then)

When I was younger (From age 0-5), and several time in the past 10 years (12 to 22 of age) I took the Northern Quebec train (From Either Shawinigan, La Tuque or Weymon to Either Weymon (If leaving from Shawinigan/La Tuque) or Casey (If leaving from Weymont)) People are always nice, and almost seems like they knew people personnaly (though I suspect these persons to be regular)

In my way to Moncton, I decided to take my Breakfast in the train. The waiter was very nice, and had an awesome acadian accent. Seriously, this guy was so kind to me, I gave him a 3$ tip for a 7$ meal. He was THAT awesome. The Guy helping people get off the train had probably the biggest smile I've seen in my life (no joke) He was really helpful toward the eldery and the few disabled people that were on the same train as me. And what can I say about the lady offering me a pillow in the train? She distributed them asking us with a smile ''do you want a pillow for your trip?'' They are regulary ''patrolling'' around the train, and even though we were in the middle of the night, they answered my question (I'm getting repetitive here) with a huge smile (I was mainly asking when we would be crossing the Quebec/New Brunswick border.

Anyways. Post your personnal experience with VIA Rail Employees (not the actual trips, lol)

It’s the employees that set VIA apart from Amtrak and your experiences on VIA are pretty well the same as mine…….nearly always friendly and helpful. The rare rude person you might run into is probably just having a bad day.

And you mention the Northern Quebec services…….a great trip and as you say…..everyone seams to know everyone else.

NS VIA FAN wrote:It’s the employees that set VIA apart from Amtrak and your experiences on VIA are pretty well the same as mine…….nearly always friendly and helpful. The rare rude person you might run into is probably just having a bad day.

And you mention the Northern Quebec services…….a great trip and as you say…..everyone seams to know everyone else.

In our four trips across Canada, we have encountered only one employee who seemed not willing to accomodate a request: because my wife has a balance problem, she does not like to move through a diner that is in motion (she might pull someone else's meal off the table), and we have asked that we be seated at the first table after we entered the diner. Except for the steward who was on board when we left Vancouver for Jasper last year, the stewards have agreed to help us as much as possible; this particular steward gave little, if any, hope of meeting our request.
In Montreal, if you are in a wheelchair, be prepared for the ride of your life both up and down the escalator. The red caps, of course are quite experienced at this, but it was a bit unnerving the first time (three years ago).
On the trip last year, we were changing trains in Toronto and in Montreal, and we expected to ahve plenty of time in Toronto--but we were delayed by a freight that had had great trouble, and the man in charge of the passenger services on board assured me that we would have all help possible in Toronto to make our train for Montreal. We did have enough time, and the young man who helped us make the connection would not let me either move my wife in a wheelchair or handle the baggage; he did it all, even though it took him two trips.
We have greatly enjoyed traveling by VIA.