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The ''Ocean'' (french: link=no, L'Océan), previously known as the ''Ocean Limited'', is a
passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self pr ...
operated by
Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...
in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
between
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, Quebec, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is the oldest continuously operated named passenger train in North America. The ''Ocean'' schedule takes approximately 22 hours, running overnight in both directions. Together with ''
The Canadian ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' and Via's corridor trains, the ''Ocean'' provides a
transcontinental Transcontinental may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Transcontinental", a song by the band Pedro the Lion from the album ''Achilles Heel'' * TC Transcontinental, a publishing, media and marketing company based in Canada, a subsidiary o ...
service across Canada.


History

The
Intercolonial Railway of Canada The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also completely ow ...
(IRC) inaugurated the ''Ocean Limited'' on July 3, 1904, as a summer-only "limited stop" service to supplement the ''
Maritime Express The ''Maritime Express'' was a Canadian passenger train. When it was launched on 1 March 1898, it was the flagship of the Intercolonial Railway (ICR) between Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia and Montreal, Quebec. The train was operated b ...
''. In Halifax, it connected with the
Dominion Atlantic Railway The Dominion Atlantic Railway was a historic railway which operated in the western part of Nova Scotia in Canada, primarily through an agricultural district known as the Annapolis Valley. The Dominion Atlantic Railway was unusually diverse for a ...
's luxury train, the ''
Flying Bluenose The ''Flying Bluenose'' was a Canadian luxury passenger train operated by the Dominion Atlantic Railway between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia from 1891 to 1936. It was a boat train scheduled to connect with passenger steamships ...
''. During the immigration boom of the early 20th century, the ''Ocean Limited'' and other passenger trains on its route saw increased use as they provided key wintertime connections for both the
Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rai ...
and
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
in moving sponsored immigrants to lands in the
Prairie provinces The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...
. In 1918, the IRC was merged into the
Canadian National Railways The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I railroad, Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern United States, M ...
(CNR) and the ''Ocean Limited'' continued its operation much as before. During both the
First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
s, the ''Ocean Limited'' provided important service to the port of Halifax. In 1964 the ''Ocean'' received ex-
Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, Northwest of the United States fr ...
Skytop Lounge The Skytop Lounges were a fleet of streamlined passenger cars with the parlor-lounge cars built by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("the Milwaukee Road") and sleeper-lounges built by Pullman-Standard in 1948. The cars were de ...
lounge-sleeping cars. CNR dropped the "Limited" from the train's name in 1966 as part of the company's adoption of
bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
names. Despite the name change references to the ''Ocean Limited'' remain commonplace. During a landslide which affected the old IRC line near
Rimouski, Quebec Rimouski ( ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. Rimouski is located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, at the mouth of the Rimouski River. It has a population of 48,935 (as of 2021). Rimouski is the site of Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), the ...
, 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 its passenger services under a new division using the marketing slogan "Via". In April 1978 this division was split off as a separate
Crown corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
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 The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
'' (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 Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...
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. * (1994–2012) 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'' 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 The New Brunswick East Coast Railway was a railway that operated in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It included of track of which were mainline between Campbellton and Pacific Junction near Moncton. Important spurs connected Dalh ...
. CN re-acquired these portions on November 3, 2008, and, as a result, the ''Ocean'' now again operates solely on CN trackage. * (1998) October 26, 1998, saw CN abandon its scenic route along the waterfront of
Lévis, Quebec Lévis () is a city in eastern Quebec, Canada, located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, opposite Quebec City. A ferry links Old Quebec with Old Lévis, and two bridges, the Quebec and the Pierre-Laporte, connect western Lévis with ...
, which served the combined railway station and ferry terminal. This section of the railway was redeveloped as an urban cycling trail, although the former Lévis train station and platform remain. Via Rail was forced to relocate the ''Ocean'' stop for the Quebec City region to Charny, necessitating a reverse move in each direction. Via offers a connecting shuttle van service for ''Ocean'' passengers between Charny and Quebec City (in 2014 Via moved the stop from Charny to Sainte-Foy - both the eastbound and westbound trains travel in to Sainte-Foy forward, and reverse back to the main line). * (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 The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
equipment. However, Via has had occasional problems with this equipment and has had to use the Budd cars. 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 took place through to the winter of 2011/2012, and ended after the service was reduced to three trips a week, with the exception of extra Budd-equipped trains during the Christmas holidays in 2014 and 2015. A stainless steel Park Car (originally built in 1954) was attached to the end of every train for passengers in Easterly Class (named "Sleeper Plus"). Though initially available only during the peak summer season and the Christmas holidays, the Park car was part of every train year-round. The Renaissance cars' European couplers made it necessary to insert a barrier vehicle known as a transition car (numbered 7600–7602) between the Renaissance sleeping cars and the Park Car (or other Budd HEP cars). The transition car is converted from a Renaissance sleeper shell and is effectively an empty walk-through corridor with carpeted floor and handrails along the walls. * (2012) On June 27, 2012, Via Rail Canada announced plans to reduce frequency of the ''Ocean'' from six to three times per week. Starting October 2012, the ''Ocean'' departed Montreal on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, and departed Halifax on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The Tuesday departure from Halifax was later changed to Wednesday, so the departure days are the same in both directions. * (2014) In 2014, CN threatened to abandon the Newcastle Subdivision, an action which would have jeopardized the ''Ocean''. As part of an agreement, the government of New Brunswick announced it would give $25 million to CN to upgrade and maintain freight service on the line's northern and southern sections. CN committed to spend an equal amount to maintain and operate these two pieces for freight services for the next 15 years. However, a section of track between Bathurst and Moncton was not part of the deal and the lack of rail traffic initially kept this part of the route from being saved. However, in May 2014, the federal government pledged $10.3 million to rebuild the line to save the ''Ocean''. * (2014) The Ocean celebrates its 110th year of service. * (2020) Via Rail shuts down the ''Ocean'' due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. * (2020) On November 1, 2020, Via Rail's lease with the Halifax Port turnaround loop ended, meaning the train is not able to make the return trip, jeopardizing the train's future. * (2021) On August 11, 2021, the ''Ocean'' started a gradual return to service, departing once a week in Halifax and once a week in Montreal. Via Rail opted to have the locomotives in a back to back consist, something very unique and atypical of them. However, this made the train able to return to Montreal despite not having a turnaround loop in Halifax. * (2022) Starting June 3, 2022, Via Rail resumed the three times weekly schedule each way, with departures from both Montreal and Halifax on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.


Route

The route taken by the ''Ocean'' runs through eastern Canada including the
Island of Montreal The Island of Montreal (french: Île de Montréal) is a large island in southwestern Quebec, Canada, that is the site of a number of municipalities including most of the city of Montreal and is the most populous island in Canada. It is the main ...
and the city's skyline and suburbs, the lower
St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...
valley, the
Matapédia River The Matapedia River (french: Rivière Matapédia) is a river in the Matapedia Valley in the province of Quebec, Canada. It runs on from Matapedia Lake down to the village of Matapédia where it empties into the left bank of Restigouche River on ...
valley, the south shore of
Chaleur Bay frame, Satellite image of Chaleur Bay (NASA). Chaleur Bay is the large bay in the centre of the image; the Gaspé Peninsula is to the north and the Gulf of St. Lawrence is seen to the east.">Gulf_of_St._Lawrence.html" ;"title="Gaspé Peninsula ...
and the forests of eastern New Brunswick, the
Tantramar Marshes The Tantramar Marshes, also known as the Tintamarre National Wildlife Area, is a tidal saltmarsh around the Bay of Fundy on the Isthmus of Chignecto. The area borders between Route 940, Route 16 and Route 2 near Sackville, New Brunswick. The g ...
, the
Cobequid Mountains The Cobequid Mountains, also sometimes referred to as the Cobequid Hills, is a Canadian mountain range located in Nova Scotia in the mainland portion of the province. Geologic history Geologically, the Cobequid Mountains are considered part of th ...
and
Wentworth Valley The Wentworth Valley is a valley in the Cobequid Mountains of northwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. It comprises the lowest elevation pass through the Cobequids. It was named after the colonial governor John Wentworth (1792-1808). Physical geograp ...
, the edge of
Cobequid Bay Cobequid Bay is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy and the easternmost part of the Minas Basin, located in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The bay was carved by rivers flowing into the eastern end of the Bay of Fundy. The eastern end of the b ...
and mixed farmland through central Nova Scotia to Halifax.


Rolling stock

Three Renaissance train-sets supported the ''Ocean'' route, but the reduction to 3 departures in each direction per week in late 2012 reduced the need to only 2 sets of equipment. These sets range from as few as 14 cars in the off season to as many as 21 cars during the peak summer period, and each includes a baggage car, several coach cars, a dining car bracketed by two service cars, multiple sleeping cars, a transition car (see discussion above) and a "Park" Sleeper Buffet-Lounge Dome Observation Car. The ''Ocean'' is almost invariably hauled by a pair of London, Ontario-built GM
F40PH F4, F.IV, F04, F 4, F.4 or F-4 may refer to: Aircraft * Flanders F.4, a 1910s British experimental military two-seat monoplane aircraft * Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard, a British World War I fighter version of the Martinsyde Buzzard biplane * Fok ...
locomotives, all of which CAD Railway Industries of Montreal has upgraded to the F40PH-3 model. A third locomotive is sometimes added in the fall and winter to help deal with difficult track conditions. For several years prior to 2012, Via Rail removed one set of Renaissance equipment from service during the winter for upgrade work and replaced it with Budd-built stainless steel "HEP1" equipment (including a baggage car, coaches, a "Skyline" dome car, a dining car, "Château" sleeper cars, and a "Park" car). This practice ended after the service reduction, as only 2 sets of equipment were required. However, in 2014 and again in 2015, Via added trains during the Christmas holiday period, which they ran using a set of "HEP1" equipment much like in past years. These runs have been popular with railfans and the travelling public, as they provide more types of sleeping accommodations, a dome accessible to coach passengers, and a full dining car with meals cooked on board (a contrast to the catered meals in the normal Renaissance dining cars). Prior to August 2013, the ''Ocean'' ran from Montreal to
Matapédia, Quebec Matapédia (former name: Saint-Laurent-de-Matapédia) is a municipality at the southern tip of the Gaspé Peninsula, in eastern Quebec, Canada. Matapédia is located along Quebec Route 132 on the border of New Brunswick. In addition to Matapédi ...
, joined to Train 16/17, the "Montréal– Gaspé train" (formerly called the ''Chaleur'') 3 times per week. In Matapédia, the trains were separated with Train 16 continuing to the Gaspé peninsula and Train 14 (the ''Ocean'') continuing to Halifax (and vice versa with Trains 15/17). Train 16/17 had its own locomotive which ran from Montreal, resulting in the combined trains (14 + 16 and 15 + 17) running with three locomotives between Montreal and Matapédia. The Montréal–Gaspé train used Budd-built stainless steel passenger cars, including a "Skyline" dome car. It was not possible to pass between the two trains when connected. Trains 16/17 were suspended due to infrastructure problems on the line to Gaspé, and service will not resume until the line is upgraded. Since 2021, the loss of use of the turnaround loop at the PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub (South End Container Terminal) necessitated certain operational changes to maintain service in both directions. The two F40PH locomotives are coupled "back to back", unique for Via Rail trains, to enable the locomotives to couple on to the opposite end of train in Halifax for the return trip to Montreal. A result of the inability to turn the train set in Halifax is that the lead car on the eastbound Ocean (Train 14), typically a Renaissance baggage car, becomes the trailing car on the westbound Train 15 (in 2022, there is a second baggage car, a Budd HEP1 car, on the opposite end of the train). This situation has also resulted in the dropping of the iconic Park car (customarily the trailing car on Via's long-distance trains) from the Ocean train consist.


References

*


External links


Via Rail's site for the ''Ocean''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ocean (Train) Named passenger trains of Canada Railway services introduced in 1904 Canadian National Railway passenger trains Via Rail routes Passenger rail transport in Nova Scotia Passenger rail transport in New Brunswick Passenger rail transport in Quebec Night trains of Canada