Some trains you visit for an afternoon. These you ride for days. Canada's scheduled scenic services — run by VIA Rail, Ontario Northland and two Indigenous- and community-owned northern railways — cross the Rockies, skirt Hudson Bay, and link towns no road reaches. They are listed separately from the railway directory because they are a different kind of trip: the train is the holiday.
The journeys
The Canadian
Toronto – Vancouver · about 4 days / 4 nights (4,466 km) · VIA Rail
The great transcontinental crossing — four nights from Toronto's lakes to the Pacific, through Shield, prairie and Rockies.
Plan the journey →The Ocean
Montréal – Halifax · one day and one night (1,346 km, about 22 hours) · VIA Rail
North America's oldest continuously operated named train — an overnight run from Montréal to the Halifax harbourfront.
Plan the journey →Jasper – Prince Rupert
Jasper – Prince Rupert · 2 daylight days, with an overnight stop in Prince George · VIA Rail
The old Skeena route — two days of daylight running from the heart of the Rockies to the wild north Pacific coast.
Plan the journey →Winnipeg – Churchill
Winnipeg – Churchill · about 2 days / 2 nights · VIA Rail
Two nights north through boreal forest and tundra to the Hudson Bay town no road reaches.
Plan the journey →Sudbury – White River
Sudbury – White River · about 9 hours, one way · VIA Rail
Canada's last Budd Car run — a self-propelled railcar threading the Shield to lodges and lakes no road can reach.
Plan the journey →Northern Québec Services
Montréal – Jonquière / Montréal – Senneterre · a long day each way — roughly 9 to 13 hours depending on the branch · VIA Rail
Two forest-country trains in one: north from Montréal to the Saguenay, and northwest to the Abitibi.
Plan the journey →Polar Bear Express
Cochrane – Moosonee · about 5 hours, one way · Ontario Northland
Ontario's train to tidewater — five hours north from Cochrane to Moosonee, at the edge of James Bay.
Plan the journey →Keewatin Railway — The Pas to Pukatawagan
The Pas – Pukatawagan (Manitoba) · 160-mile route (the operator does not publish a duration) · Keewatin Railway Company
A First Nations-owned lifeline train into Manitoba's roadless north — a working mixed train, not a tour.
Plan the journey →Tshiuetin Rail — Sept-Îles to Schefferville
Sept-Îles – Schefferville (via Emeril Junction, Labrador) · A full day on the train (the operator publishes no duration) · Tshiuetin Rail Transportation
The Indigenous-owned railway into the Côte-Nord wilderness — the only land route in or out of Schefferville.
Plan the journey →