Rocky Mountaineer
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| Rocky Mountaineer | |
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| Reporting mark | RMRX |
| Locale | British Columbia / Alberta |
| Dates of operation | 1990–present |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) (standard gauge) |
| Headquarters | Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Website | www.rockymountaineer.com |
Rocky Mountaineer is a Canadian tour company offering Western Canadian vacation packages that operates trains on four rail routes through British Columbia and Alberta.
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[edit] Background
The company was founded by the Armstrong Group in 1990, and is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is the busiest privately owned passenger rail service in North America, having transported over one million passengers since 1990.
Rocky Mountaineer was awarded the "World's Leading Travel Experience by Train" in 2005, 2006 and 2007 at the World Travel Awards,[1] has been listed among the "World's Top 25 Trains" since 2005 by The Society of International Railway Travelers[2], and was recognized by National Geographic Magazine as one of the "World’s Best Journeys" in 2007. The Society of American Travel Writers, the world’s largest organization of professional travel journalists and photographers, rated the Rocky Mountaineer as the world's top train ride in 2009.[3]
[edit] Equipment
RMV[expand acronym] operates 60 railcars in their fleet:
- GP40-2L locomotives, ex-Canadian National Railway, rebuilt by GEC - Alstom
- 35 Canada Car and Foundry single deck coaches, ex-Canadian National Railway.
- 10 Colorado Railcar (now US Railcar) bi-level Ultra Dome coaches, with wrap-over view windows on the top level.
- An unknown number of Colorado Railcar single-level dome cars
Previous equipment: GE B36-7 locomotives leased from BC Rail.
[edit] Routes
Rocky Mountaineer operates trains over four principal routes:
- Over the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) on the First Passage to the West route from Vancouver, British Columbia via Kamloops to Banff or Calgary, Alberta.
- Over the Canadian National Railway (CN) on the Journey through the Clouds route from Vancouver via Kamloops to Jasper, Alberta
- The Rainforest to Gold Rush route over the CN operated portion from North Vancouver via Whistler and Quesnel through Prince George to Jasper
- The Whistler Sea to Sky Climb return day trip from North Vancouver to Whistler.
The First Passage to the West and Journey through the Clouds route trains depart from Rocky Mountaineer's station at 1755 Cottrell Street just off Terminal Avenue in Vancouver. The Whistler Sea to Sky Climb route trains depart from a platform at the corner of Philip Avenue and West 1st Street in North Vancouver. The Whistler Sea to Sky Climb route connects to the Rainforest to Gold Rush route, which departs from Rocky Mountaineer's platform at the Nita Lake Lodge in the Creekside area of Whistler.
[edit] Trip structure
To allow for the best views, trains operate exclusively during the day. On the Calgary/Banff-Vancouver and on the Jasper-Vancouver routes an overnight stop is made in Kamloops, whilst on the Jasper to Whistler route, an overnight stop is made in Quesnel. The services do not operate during the winter months of October to April.
[edit] Connecting services
The nearest international airports to the Rocky Mountaineer are Calgary International Airport and Vancouver International Airport.
In Vancouver, Rocky Mountaineer trains depart from the Rocky Mountaineer Station while other rail services operate out of either Pacific Central Station (Amtrak and Via Rail) or Waterfront Station (WestCoast Express).
At the Jasper railway station passengers can transfer directly to Via Rail's Canadian and Jasper – Prince Rupert train services.
[edit] Worker Lock Outs
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This Worker Lock Outs has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality. Discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page. (April 2012) |
In the summer of 2011, Rocky Mountaineer locked out members of Teamster Local 31, longstanding employees and replaced them with scab workers. Over a hundred train attendants represented by the Teamster union have been locked out to date, since June 22. The Luxury tourist train workers were negotiating about overtime pay and scheduling and have not been validated. Rocky Mountaineer believes that the company, being regulated by federal legislation, is permitted to hire "replacement workers" during the lockout[4] and denies the validity in them being coined "scabs" by the community.
[edit] References
- ^ Robertson, Ian (18 December 2007). "Rocky Mountaineer Vacations Scores a Hat Trick with Top Honour at the World Travel Awards". http://www.rockymountaineer.com/media/media_kit/press_releases/2007/12-18.aspx. Retrieved 25 October 2009.[dead link]
- ^ "World's Top 25 Trains: Luxury, First-class, Steam". http://www.irtsociety.com/trains.php. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
- ^ Broda, Bea; Rich Grant (17 June 2009). "Travel writers select the world's top 10 train rides". http://www.satw.org/admin/detail_news.asp?Sid=26&Id=722&parent=15. Retrieved 25 October 2009.[dead link]
- ^ Sandborn, Tom (7 July 2011). "Rocky Mountaineer Strike Soon to Enter it's Seventh Month". http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Labour-Industry/2011/07/07/NastyStrike/. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rocky Mountaineer Station |
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