CHURCHILL, Manitoba — The first passenger train to reach Churchill, Man., since May 2017 is set to arrive at the remote Hudson Bay community on Tuesday, Dec. 4. VIA Rail Canada’s announcement on Nov. 26 says required repairs and inspections on the Hudson Bay Railway route, out of service since being closed by flooding, have been completed. Hudson Bay Railway’s new owner, Arctic Gateway, LP, “confirmed that the track is safe for passenger operations.”
The first train to travel over the previously damaged track rolled into Churchill on Halloween night [“Service on long-closed line to Churchill to resume soon,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 6, 2018]. However, snow and temperatures in the minus-30-degree (Fahrenheit) range hampered final reconstruction efforts, according to a manager reached by Trains News Wire at The Pas, Man. The next freight train with supplies didn’t arrive into Churchill until Saturday, Nov. 24 (see video).
Beginning Dec. 2, schedules will revert to what they were before the closure: two weekly round trips from Winnipeg, departing Sundays and Tuesdays and returning from Churchill on Thursdays and Saturdays. Two sets of equipment allow VIA to run an additional round trip between Churchill and The Pas.
VIA has been operating one set of equipment out of Winnipeg, Man., every week. That train leaves Wednesdays and returns Tuesdays, after serving remote communities between Gillam, Man., and Thompson, Man., with tri-weekly roundtrips, and between Thompson and The Pas with two round trips.
As of 2 p.m. CT on Tuesday, travel to and from Churchill still could not be booked at the VIA website. A VIA call center reservationist tells Trains News Wire that inventory is being loaded into VIA’s reservation system and ticketing should be available sometime late Tuesday or early Wednesday.
