The Winnipeg–Churchill train (formerly known as the ''Hudson Bay'' and, before that, ''Northern Spirits'') is a twice weekly passenger

train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

operated by

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 ...

between

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

and

Churchill, Manitoba Churchill is a subarctic port town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leadi ...

. It is the only dry-land connection between Churchill and the rest of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The service, which runs through Manitoba and Saskatchewan, travels on 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 ...

line north to

The Pas The Pas ( , ) is a town in Manitoba, Canada, at the confluence of the Pasquia River and the Saskatchewan River and surrounded by the unorganized Northern Region of the province. It is approximately northwest of the provincial capital, Winn ...

, where it transfers to the Hudson Bay Railway, passing through Wabowden, Manitoba, with a spur from Sipiwesk to Thompson, and Gillam on its way to the Port of Churchill on

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

Schedule

The northbound train leaves Winnipeg at 12:05 on Tuesdays and Sundays and is scheduled to arrive in Churchill two days later at 09:00. The southbound service departs Churchill at 19:30 on Thursday and Saturday evenings and reaches Winnipeg at 16:45 two days later. An additional weekly service operates in each direction between

(departure at 02:30 on Fridays) and Churchill (departure at 19:30 on Tuesdays). The trip takes approximately 45 hours each way.

History

An unnamed mixed passenger train connecting with the ''Winnipeg–Churchill train'' at The Pas previously served Lynn Lake, but this service was truncated to Pukatawagan in 2003 by the then track owners

OmniTRAX OmniTRAX, Inc. is a transportation and transportation infrastructure holding company based in Denver, Colorado, in the United States. It primarily owns or operates railroads, with a network of 25 regional and shortline railroads in 12 U.S. state ...

citing a loss in freight traffic making the service unprofitable. Via still operates twice weekly service from

to Pukatawagan on behalf of the Keewatin Railway which now owns the Sherridon Subdivision.

2017 flooding

Service between Gillam and Churchill was suspended on May 23, 2017, when flooding heavily damaged the track bed and bridges. Because supplies had to be flown in by air when train service was suspended, prices skyrocketed in Churchill. Repairs of the track began on September 8, 2018. By October 31, 2018, the track was repaired, and passenger services resumed with train 693 on December 2.

List of stations

References

External links

*
Winnipeg-Churchill train
at Via Rail Canada {{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson Bay (Train) Transport in Northern Manitoba Passenger rail transport in Manitoba Passenger rail transport in Saskatchewan Via Rail routes Night trains of Canada Thompson, Manitoba Churchill, Manitoba Transport in Winnipeg Transport in The Pas