MONTRÉAL, Nov. 27, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ – VIA Rail Canada (VIA Rail) closed the third quarter with positive results across all its services, from inter-city and long-distance to regional services. The growth in revenues and in ridership was accompanied by improvement in employee engagement results.
This quarter saw a 10% increase in overall revenues compared to the third quarter of 2014, and a 4% growth in passengers on VIA Rail’s trains. For the Québec City – Windsor corridor, ridership went up from 893,660 to 924,270 or 3.4% compared to the third quarter of 2014 and revenues increased by 8%.
“All services completed the quarter with higher revenue and more passengers than the same period last year – an astounding accomplishment. Of particular note is the increase in both revenue and passengers on the Toronto–Ottawa–Montreal corridor. This growth confirms our confidence that there is an ever-increasing demand for reliable, safe and environmentally-responsible inter-city passenger rail services”, said VIA Rail’s President and CEO Yves Desjardins-Siciliano. “This significant progress on all fronts is evidence that our growth strategy and the dedication and efforts of all of us, experienced through VIA Rail’s superior customer service, can produce great results.”
This quarter, VIA Rail received the results of a company-wide employee engagement survey report. More employees participated in the survey and the outcome shows an increasing level of engagement. However, work and change still need to happen before the employee engagement can reach the level of the best Canadian companies. “Over the coming months, action plans are being developed across all departments with the involvement of front line employees. Our best is yet to come”, stated Mr. Desjardins-Siciliano.
The Government of Canada confirmed capital funding of $102 million for VIA Rail this quarter. It will be used to improve the VIA Rail-owned infrastructure and its services in and around the Ottawa area.
These improvements come all the while on-time performance (OTP) continues to be a challenge. During the last quarter, on rail lines owned and controlled by freight operators, VIA Rail trains OTP ranged from 25.3% on the Canadian to 79.5% on the Ocean and 73.8% on the Quebec–Windsor corridor, a further reduction of 4.9 percentage points over last year’s results. Meanwhile, punctuality on the limited infrastructure owned by VIA Rail is in the mid-90%. “The plan we are developing to build a dedicated passenger rail infrastructure within the busiest Toronto – Ottawa – Montréal triangle will eliminate the challenges of sharing tracks with freight trains”, added Yves Desjardins-Siciliano.
The quarter’s report is available at viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail/our-company/quarterly-reports.
2015 Third Quarter Highlights:
Safety: VIA Rail continued to ensure the safety of its operations and inform the public about safety around railroads
Technology
Sales and Marketing
Corporate Social Responsibility
About VIA Rail Canada
As Canada’s national rail passenger service, VIA Rail (viarail.ca) and its 2,500 employees are mandated to provide safe, efficient and economical passenger transportation service, in both official languages of our country. VIA Rail operates intercity, regional and transcontinental trains linking over 400 communities across Canada, and safely transports nearly four million passengers annually. The Corporation was awarded seven Safety Awards by the Railway Association of Canada over the last eight years, and was the recipient of the 2012 Agent’s Choice Award voted by Canadian travel agents and presented by Baxter Travel Media. Since 2007, the Government of Canada has invested almost a billion dollars in VIA Rail. VIA Rail information at a glance: www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail
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