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The Ocean is a Canadian passenger train operated by VIA Rail between Montreal, Quebec and Halifax, Nova Scotia . It is currently the oldest continuously-operated named passenger train in North America. The Ocean's schedule takes approximately 21 hours, running overnight in both directions. Together with The Canadian, and VIA's corridor trains, the Ocean provides a transcontinental service.
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Ocean Limited
Inaugurated by the Intercolonial Railway of Canada (IRC), the Ocean Limited was created to supplement the Maritime Express as a summer-only "limited stop" service beginning on July 3, 1904. During the immigration boom of the early 1900s, the Ocean Limited and other passenger trains on its route saw increased use as they provided key winter-time connections for both the Grand Trunk Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway in moving sponsored immigrants to lands in the Prairie provinces.
In 1918, the IRC was merged into the Canadian National Railways (CNR) and the Ocean Limited continued its operation much as before. During both the First and Second World Wars, the Ocean Limited provided important service to the port of Halifax.
Ocean
CNR changed its name to the bilingually appropriate Canadian National/Canadien National (CN) in 1960, however passenger trains and other company assets were slow to evolve. However by 1966, the Ocean Limited had been renamed to the Ocean/Océan, while maintaining the same schedule and train numbers.
During a landslide which affected the old IRC line near Rimouski, Quebec in 1977, for six months CN diverted the Ocean onto another parallel line several hundred kilometres to the south, maintaining the same Halifax-Montreal schedule times.
In 1976, CN placed operation of all its passenger services under a new division using the marketing slogan "VIA". In April, 1978 this division was created as a separate Crown corporation named VIA Rail Canada, taking with it all CN passenger trains and equipment. The new national passenger rail service didn't begin to change train names and operations until 1979, following the October, 1978 assumption of all CPR passenger trains and equipment.
The Ocean did not get renamed by VIA and in fact became supplanted on the Halifax-Moncton portion of its route in 1985 by another VIA train, the Atlantic (formerly the Atlantic Limited), which saw its eastern terminus extended to Halifax from Saint John. This train also assumed the train numbers and equipment of the defunct CN passenger train Scotian, which survived only into the first few years of the VIA era.
Under VIA, the Ocean underwent several changes in its operation:
- (1979-1981) Daily operation (7 days/week) in both directions between Halifax-Montreal. Another VIA train, the Atlantic also served these cities over a different route.
- (1981-1985) Daily operation (7 days/week) in both directions, albeit as the only through train between Halifax-Montreal, following cancellation of the Atlantic.
- (1985-1990) Daily operation (7 days/week) in both directions between Moncton-Montreal, following reinstatement of the Atlantic, which became the through train to Halifax. Passengers on the Ocean were forced to change trains at Moncton.
- (1990-1994) Operation 3 days/week in both directions between Halifax-Montreal following VIA budget cuts. The Atlantic also operated 3 days/week and equipment rotated on the two trains. Service between Moncton-Halifax, the only common portion of the two routes, was 6 days/week.
- (1994-present) Daily operation (6 days/week) in both directions between Halifax and Montreal. The second cancellation of the Atlantic resulted in increased operation on the route of the Ocean. CN sold its portion of the Ocean's route between Rivière-du-Loup, QC, and Moncton, NB, to a shortline operator which operates the section from Rivière-du-Loup to Campbellton as the Chemin de fer Matapédia et du Golfe and the section from Campbellton to Moncton as the New Brunswick East Coast Railway. The easternmost and westernmost sections of the route still travel on CN trackage.
- (2006) The gradual phasing out of the restored stainless steel Budd cars was to have taken place, with all departures in both directions to have been operated in favor of the more modern European-built Renaissance equipment. However, Via has experienced occasional problems with this equipment and has had to press the Budd cars into service as needed. A stainless steel Park Car is attached to the end of every train for passengers in Easterly Class during peak season.
Route
The route taken by the Ocean runs through a very scenic portion of eastern Canada including the Island of Montreal and the city's skyline and suburbs, the lower St. Lawrence River valley, the Matapédia River valley, the south shore of Chaleur Bay and the forests of eastern New Brunswick, the Tantramar Marshes, the Wentworth River valley, the edge of Cobequid Bay and mixed farmland through central Nova Scotia to Halifax.