QUALITY CONTROLS:

!_check general rhetorical style and voice
  __DONE
!_check again that my journey was indeed on Fri before 2001-09-11
  __DONE
!_check nrs of passenger cars 
  again
  (_against StatsCan _Human Activity and the Environment 2000_, 
    catalogue nr 11-509-XPE, page 119)
  __DONE
!_check "Springhill" versus "Spring Hill"
  __DONE
!_check "Parrsboro"
  __DONE
!_check against old _Britannica_ atlas
  that it was indeed at Springhill Junction
  that Parrsboro passengers met the main line
  __DONE
!_check "Gare Centrale"
  __DONE
!_check "Khrushchev"
  __DONE
    __thus Nelson Candn Dict, PBS, CNN
      __tho Yale-Avalon has Khruschev
!_check "Tantramar"
  __DONE
!_check "Tantramar Marshes" vs "Tantramar marshes"
  __DONE
    __goes both ways
      __can get away without fussing
!_check "Amtrak"
  __DONE
!_check calculation from US Bureau of Transporation Statistics
  1997 tables, DOT-VNTSC-BTS-96-4, pages 178 and 182)
  __DONE
    __minor uncertainties re 
      * passenger-mile vs revenue passenger-mile
      * power generation and distribution losses at Amtrak
      do not affect my big-picture "less than half" 
      generalization
!_check VIA scheds against downloaded *.pdf timetables
  __DONE
!_check Hlfx-Toronto fare against http://www.viarail.ca
  __DONE
    __requested fare once for 2001-12, once for 2001-10
!_check handling of clock times against _Globe nd Mail_
  1996 _Guide to Language and Usage_
  __DONE
!_check "kilometre"/"kilometer" against 1996 _Guide_
  __DONE
!_check "$123.00"/"$123" against 1996 _Guide_
  __DONE
    __"$123" is okay
!_check "1990s" against 1996 _Guide_
  __DONE
    __okay by page 237
!_check for possbile miscellaneous faults against 
  1996 _Guide_                       
  __DONE
    __added comma in nrs like 4,737
!_check style again
  __DONE@20011007T035628Z
  __lots of small changes
!_run spellchecker
  __DONE

......................................................................
......................................................................
......................................................................
......................................................................


((FEATURE))

VIA Still Valued

by Tom Karmo 




Hang in there, VIA. 

The cutbacks in passenger rail over the past decade - out in the
Maritimes, we've lost Cape Breton, the Annapolis Valley, Saint
John - are just the latest chapter in a decline that will soon be as
old as living memory. Canada's railways had 4,737 passenger cars in
1961, 2,516 in 1971, 1,405 in 1981 and a mere 633 by 1991.  Now
receding to the edge of living local memory are many less spectacular
discontinuations: the loss of the few passenger seats still offered as
an afterthought on the slow 1960s freight from Truro to Windsor; the
disappearance of the almost-riderless cars still linking Parrsboro to
Springhill Junction after World War II; finally, the ripping up of
rails and dismantling of bridges after the freights, too, disappeared
from small branch lines.

Early last month, as I waited on a Truro platform for the triple
headlights of the Ocean that would take me to Montreal en route for
Toronto, such thoughts of the decline in rail were never far from
conscious recall. Early last month, that was. It was, as it happened,
the Friday before the Tuesday the towers fell in Manhattan.

Perhaps the runs to Montreal will never again offer their 1960s
cafe-cum-grill as an alternative to that hardy, and pricey, perennial
in Maritime railroading, the crockery-and-starched-linen diner.  And
never again will they offer the daily scoop, via telex printouts in a
club car, on Diefenbaker, Pearson, and Khrushchev.

But on the upside, VIA's Ocean currently gets you from Halifax to
Montreal in just over 20 hours, departing every afternoon but Tuesday.
If you're heading for the Great T.O., you face a pretty tolerable
breakfast-time wait of 1.5 hours in the Gare Centrale before your
5.5-hour rumble into Union Station. (VIA currently runs eight trains
from Montreal to Toronto on weekdays. The fastest, in the early
evening, makes it in 3 hours, 59 minutes.)

There's more on the upside. Even when you travel on the cheapest
terms - for Halifax/Toronto, the
pillow-and-blanket-but-no-berth-or-bedroom deal, 7 days' advance
purchase, comes to $175, plus tax - VIA gives you free dome-car access.
If you want to skip restaurant meals, you'll find a free microwave
near that dome.

And more: railroading (even as we know it in North America, with lots
of hard-to-fill seats in diesel longhauls) is easy on resources. US
Bureau of Transportation Statistics tables from the 1990s show Amtrak
consuming, per passenger-kilometre, less than half the energy consumed
by US-owned certificated air carriers on US internal routes.

In the end, though, travel decisions are often driven by feelings, not
facts. Who can resist the domecar immediacy of the Wentworth mountains
before Amherst? of the Tantramar marshes after?  of the endless
kilometres of brooding conifers separating the Maritimes from Place
Ville Marie and First Canadian Place? And who can resist the whistle's
conflicted note of reassurance and warning, recalling for us (a
reminder still more salutary now than before September 11) the
uncompromising solidity of distance, of oncoming night, and of steel
meeting steel?


((!--  498 words so far --)) 

((FILLER_IF_HIGHER_WORDCOUNT_NEEDED))

IF YOU GO: 

VIA Rail accepts bookings between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. weekdays
(8:30 and 4:30 Saturdays, 9:00 and 5:00 Sundays) on 1-888-842-7245.

The Web interface at www.viarail.ca applies discounts automatically.
A human agent confirms your requested reservation and fare by e-mail
within 48 hours.

((/FILLER_IF_HIGHER_WORDCOUNT_NEEDED))

((!-- 543 words --)) 

((/FEATURE))