Train routes in Canada
24 routes · classic 15 · night train 2 · scenic 3 · heritage 1 · mountain 2 · luxury 1
24 routes cross Canada in the World Train Map atlas. The longest is The Canadian at 4,466 km; the fastest is the Adirondack, running up to 177 km/h; the oldest line dates to 1879. Every route links to its facts, photo and story, and to the interactive world map.
Open the world railway map →Classic (15)
- Winnipeg–Churchill
Two nights across muskeg and permafrost to Churchill, the polar-bear-and-beluga town on Hudson Bay that no road reaches.
Wikipedia ↗ - Amtrak Cascades
Salish Sea beaches, Puget Sound ferries and Willamette farmland: the Pacific Northwest’s green corridor train, re-equipping with new Airo sets in 2026.
Wikipedia ↗ - Adirondack
Hudson castles, Lake Champlain narrows and border-country vineyards: widely called the most scenic day train in the eastern United States.
Wikipedia ↗ - Polar Bear Express
No road reaches Moosonee. Ontario Northland’s lifeline train rolls 300 km of spruce and muskeg to tidewater on James Bay, canoes and pickups riding along.
Wikipedia ↗ - Maple Leaf
The only Amtrak–VIA joint train: passengers clear customs at Niagara Falls, where the line crosses the gorge beside the thundering cataract.
Wikipedia ↗ - VIA Rail Corridor
VIA’s new Siemens Venture trainsets made their Toronto debut on this Ottawa run in October 2024, cruising at up to 160 km/h.
Wikipedia ↗ - VIA Rail Corridor
Rides the Grand Trunk main line of 1856, which once cut the Toronto–Montreal journey from five days to fourteen hours.
Wikipedia ↗ - VIA Rail Corridor
The quickest run reaches Québec City’s château-style Gare du Palais in about 2 h 43 min, tracing the south shore of the St. Lawrence.
Wikipedia ↗ - VIA Rail Corridor
Its own railway rather than any part of the Toronto line: east through Casselman and Alexandria, joining the Montreal main line at Coteau. Five trains a day.
Wikipedia ↗ - VIA Rail Corridor
Four Corridor trains a day southwest through London and Chatham to Windsor, the rare Canadian city that looks north across the river to the United States.
Wikipedia ↗ - Sudbury–White River
Canada’s last Budd RDC mainline train will flag-stop anywhere along 484 km of roadless Canadian Shield.
Wikipedia ↗ - VIA Jonquière
A flag-stop wilderness train: nine hours through Laurentides lake country few roads reach, to the Saguenay fjord railhead of Jonquière.
Wikipedia ↗ - Tshiuetin
The Labrador iron road with no highway beside it: twice a week from the St Lawrence at Sept-Îles to Schefferville, on the first railway in North America owned and run by First Nations.
Wikipedia ↗ - VIA Senneterre
A flag-stop train into the Abitibi bush three times a week: 13½ hours from Montreal past hunting and fishing clubs listed as request stops, to Senneterre, whose station opened in 1914.
Wikipedia ↗ - VIA Rail Corridor
VIA’s corridor train to the St. Clair River: from Sarnia by Strathroy, London and Stratford, then through Kitchener and Guelph to Toronto.
Wikipedia ↗
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Night train (2)
- The Canadian
Four nights in 1955 stainless-steel dome cars. Ontario lakeland, prairie infinity, then the Rockies at dawn.
Wikipedia ↗ - Ocean
North America’s oldest continuously named train, since 1904: overnight past the Matapédia salmon rivers and Chaleur Bay to the Atlantic.
Wikipedia ↗
Scenic (3)
- Skeena
Two daylight days from the Rockies to the Pacific. Mount Robson, totem-pole country at Hazelton and the Skeena’s misty canyons, overnighting in Prince George.
Wikipedia ↗ - Agawa Canyon Tour Train
A 10-hour day trip 114 miles north into a wilderness canyon whose blazing autumn colours inspired Canada’s Group of Seven painters.
Wikipedia ↗ - Train de Charlevoix
Runs 140 km wedged between Laurentian cliffs and the St. Lawrence, at times just metres from the tide.
Wikipedia ↗
Heritage (1)
- White Pass & Yukon Route
Blasted through gold-rush cliffs in 26 months (1898–1900): 900 m of climbing out of Skagway on cantilever bridges, then along Lake Bennett to the Yukon.
Wikipedia ↗
Mountain (2)
- Old Quebec Funicular
Scaling Cap Diamant at 45 degrees since 1879, it links Petit-Champlain’s boutiques to Dufferin Terrace beside the Château Frontenac.
Wikipedia ↗ - Falls Incline Railway
Niagara Parks bills it the world’s slowest funicular: a 62-second, 3.5 km/h glide linking Fallsview’s hotels to Horseshoe Falls at Table Rock.
Wikipedia ↗
Luxury (1)
- Rocky Mountaineer
All-daylight luxury through the Canadian Rockies: glass-domed coaches, an overnight hotel stop and the Kicking Horse Pass.
Wikipedia ↗
Photos via Wikimedia Commons; each route page credits the author & licence
What is the fastest train in Canada?
The Adirondack, running New York to Montréal at up to 177 km/h. It is one of 24 routes in Canada in this atlas.
Are there night trains in Canada?
Yes, 2 sleeper services in this atlas serve Canada: The Canadian (Toronto – Vancouver), Ocean (Montréal – Halifax).
Can you cross the border by train from Canada?
Yes, 4 of its 24 routes continue into another country: Amtrak Cascades (Vancouver – Eugene), Adirondack (New York – Montréal), White Pass & Yukon Route (Skagway – Carcross), Maple Leaf (New York – Toronto).
Which is the most scenic railway in Canada?
Canada has 5 scenic or mountain lines in this atlas. The longest is the Skeena, 1,160 km.
Cross-border lines continue into
Train routes in United States 67 routes