The packaged-holiday arm of U.S. national passenger rail carrier
Amtrak, Amtrak Vacations, offers getaways that include rail, hotel and
attractions admission in some 50 U.S. and Canadian destinations. This
year, Yankee Leisure Group, operator of Amtrak Vacations, enabled agents
to book Via Rail Canada packages through Amtrak Vacations.
In addition to hotels, safaris and cruises, Belmond operates six
tourist trains, including the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express in Europe,
the only product that still uses the Orient-Express name, and similar
upscale rail services in the U.K., Peru and Southeast Asia. Next summer,
Belmond will debut its first train in Ireland with the launch of the
Belmond Grand Hibernian, its seventh luxury rail experience.
Rail Europe represents more than 50 European train companies. Rail
Europe is the largest distributor of European rail products in North
America, offering a wide range of passes and train tickets to North
American travelers. Rail Europe’s products include classic Eurailpasses
and exclusive France and Switzerland rail passes.
This year marked the 25th anniversary for Rocky Mountaineer, the
largest privately owned luxury tourist train in the world, which has
welcomed nearly 2 million guests on over 45 vacation packages, and five
rail routes to destinations such as Seattle, Vancouver and the Canadian
Rockies in Alberta. This year the line began offering SilverLeaf
Service, which includes gourmet snacks and complimentary wine, beer and
spirits, on its Rainforest to Gold Rush route.
The Canadian government has invested almost $1 billion into Via Rail,
its national rail passenger service, since 2007, with a significant
portion devoted to infrastructure improvements on the Ontario-Quebec
corridor, Via’s busiest market. Via Rail transports nearly 4 million
passengers annually on almost 8,000 miles of track serving 450
communities across Canada. In partnership with tour operators, Via
offers both short, urban Via Getaways to Toronto and Montreal and
longer, themed Via Train Packages across Canada.