The Calgary–South Edmonton train, at times the Calgary–Edmonton train, was a Canadian

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...

service between

Alberta's Alberta is a province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, the Northwest Territories to its north, and the U.S. stat ...

two most populous cities:

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

and

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

. Intermediate stops along the corridor were in

Didsbury Didsbury is a suburb of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 26,788. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of ...

Olds Olds may refer to: People * The olds, a jocular and irreverent online nickname for old age, older adults * Olds (surname) Places * Olds, Alberta, Canada * Olds, Iowa, United States * Olds Peak, Antarctica Other uses * F. E. Olds, an American b ...

, Innisfail,

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or Hart (deer), hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Ir ...

, and

Wetaskiwin Wetaskiwin ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. The city is located south of the provincial capital of Edmonton. The city name comes from the Cree word , meaning "the hills where peace was made". Wetaskiwin is home to the Reyn ...

. Rail service was replaced with buses in 1985.

History

In 1891, the Calgary and Edmonton Railway completed a rail line from Calgary to "South Edmonton", an area south of Edmonton across the

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows event ...

. The trip initially took around 12 hours. In 1899, South Edmonton was incorporated as the Town of Strathcona. This town was merged into Edmonton in 1912, becoming the Strathcona neighborhood. On January 8, 1904, the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , 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 Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

acquired control of the Calgary and Edmonton Railway. To better compete with the

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canada, Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonto ...

, the CP built the High Level Bridge over the North Saskatchewan River and extended service to the downtown Edmonton station on September 2, 1913. This lasted until October 29, 1972, when service was cut back to again terminate at Strathcona station. In 1978,

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

assumed operation of the route alongside the rest of Canadian Pacific's passenger trains. Under Via, the train ran from Tower Centre in Calgary through

to Strathcona in Edmonton. Timetables listed the latter stop as "South Edmonton" to distinguish it from the downtown Edmonton station built by the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

. Service consisted of two daily round trips, taking about 3 hours 10 minutes to traverse the route. On October 27, 1985, the train was discontinued and replaced with

motorcoach A coach (also known as a motorcoach or coach bus) is a type of bus built for longer distance service, in contrast to transit buses that are typically used for shorter journeys within a single metropolitan region. Often used for touring, inte ...

bus service via

Alberta Highway 2 Highway 2 (also known as the Queen Elizabeth II Highway) is a major List of Alberta provincial highways, highway in Alberta that stretches from the Canada–United States border through Calgary and Edmonton to Grande Prairie. Running primaril ...

Proposed restoration

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calgary-South Edmonton train Railway services discontinued in 1985 Former Via Rail routes Passenger rail transport in Alberta