CANADA: Intermodal partnerships between airlines and rail operators are an ever increasing sight in the travel market. Following the success of Lufthansa and Deutsche Bahn in Germany and the international KLM and Thalys integration, Air Transat and VIA Rail Canada have announced their intermodal partnership to improve the customer experience of Canadian travellers.

Air Transat and VIA Rail have streamlined their service schedules to encourage the purchase of tickets combining both modes of transportation.

Although they haven’t reach European integration level just yet, where customers can book their air and rail journey in one go. AirTransat customers are invited to book both their international flight as well as their train ticket (connecting them to the airport) online. To facilitate the shopping process, a dedicated page has been created on Air Transat’s website under the car rental and train travel booking section, where passengers can book their rail journey separately.

"Thanks to this partnership, Transat is making vacations even more accessible to Canadians and is allowing its customers to expand upon travel destination opportunities by conducting a rail transfer to one of its main departure cities. Transat is offering vacations to over 50 destinations in the South and in Europe departing from over 20 Canadian cities, and today's announcement once again allows us to meet our customers' expectations and modernise our offer", stated Joseph Adamo, Vice-President of Marketing, Transat Canada.



This agreement is the latest in a series of measures taken by VIA Rail to modernise Canadian passenger rail. In the last two years, VIA Rail has entered into numerous intermodal partnerships.
Over the course of the last two years, VIA Rail has implemented a strategy involving the creation of intermodal synergies aimed at improving the interconnectivity with other passenger carriers across the country. To date, this strategy has led to partnerships with major urban transportation companies in Montréal and Toronto (Agence métropolitaine de transport in Montreal and GO Transit in Toronto), and three motor coach transportation companies operating in Western Canada, the City of Toronto, and the Maritimes region. VIA has also signed an agreement with Amtrak, a company that specialises in train services in the US, for travel between Toronto and New York.

To celebrate this announcement, a 10% discount will be offered on the best available fare until October 31, 2012 for VIA Rail tickets purchased through Air Transat's site. Passengers can also take advantage of the free AirConnect shuttle providing a transfer between VIA’s Dorval station and Montre´al’s Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport.

“This announcement is in line with VIA Rail’s strategy of creating synergy among carriers in order to enhance the client experience and facilitate intermodal travel”, said Marc Laliberte´, VIA Rail’s President and CEO.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Air Transat, a well-respected company that has been using innovation for decades to carve out its position among the leading airlines in the world”, added Steve Del Bosco, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer at VIA Rail. “Not only does this partnership provide our clients with the option of using the airport of their choice, it also meets their need for safe, reliable and affordable modes of transportation as they travel the considerable distance between their home and their chosen airport.”

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