VIA Rail Canada has partnered with CBC/Radio-Canada, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and The Historica-Dominion Institute to announce the On-board Entertainment initiative, an interactive digital platform providing passengers on VIA Rail trains free access to Canadian programming. Starting in spring 2013, the new interactive digital platform will provide passengers on VIA Rail trains within the Québec City - Windsor corridor free access to Canadian programming, including CBC/Radio-Canada TV shows programs, documentaries and animation from the NFB, and “Heritage Minutes” vignettes and Memory Project veteran interviews produced by The Historica-Dominion Institute.
“Over the past two years, VIA Rail passengers have become accustomed to world-class Wi-Fi on our trains. Today, we are pleased to extend our Wi-Fi offer with entertainment and information produced by Canadians, for Canadians. Canadian culture is known for its rich diversity demonstrated by the artistic creativity of its people. Canadians can be proud of the many artisans, authors, actors and producers who create distinctive, original and innovative audiovisual works that honour them on the international stage. VIA Rail Canada is happy to promote them to its passengers,” stated Marc Laliberté, President and Chief Executive Officer of VIA Rail Canada.
By offering VIA Rail customers the chance to watch movies, television shows and news programs presented in the country’s two official languages, the On-board Entertainment system will promote high quality Canadian productions.
VIA Rail’s On-Board Entertainment portal is the only system of its kind on a train in North America. It will present movies and other programming from the NFB and CBC/Radio-Canada collections, in addition to regular daily newscasts from CBC/Radio-Canada. Over time, this interactive digital platform will host other Canadian content from participating organizations.
VIA’s intermodal strategy saw the number of connections between VIA Rail and its various partners increase by 119% compared to 2011. On average, 160 customers per day purchased a ticket from VIA Rail’s website with the intention of using the services of more than one transportation company.
As a result of operational improvements, the Corporation is confident that it will reach its budget goals for 2012 and will continue to improve its financial performance for a third consecutive year by reducing government funding (before contributions to pension funds).
“These results prove that our efforts to use public funding judiciously are working. Even though there is still a lot to do, the increase in average revenue per passenger and that of the occupancy rates for the Ocean and the Canadian are proof that our strategy to adjust scheduling frequency according to market demand was the right one. All our efforts are ultimately aimed at making VIA Rail’s services financially and commercially viable,” affirmed Mr Laliberté.
The On-board Entertainment initiative required a total investment of $543,000 by VIA Rail. This program is part of VIA Rail’s modernization plan launched in 2007, and was made possible by the nearly $1 billion in capital funding announced by the Government of Canada since 2007 to rebuild aging equipment, refurbish stations, upgrade infrastructure, improve accessibility and support critical information technology projects. This investment includes $407 million under the Economic Action Plan and $60 million in Budget 2012.
(Source: Via Rail)
