Status Operating Distance travelled 1,710 km (1,063 mi) Train number(s) 692 & 693 Start Winnipeg Sleeping arrangements Stainless Steel Sleepers Service type Inter-city rail | Locale Manitoba, Canada Service frequency 2 trains per week Average journey time 1 day 12 hours End Churchill Current operator Via Rail | |
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Class(es) Economy and sleeper class Catering facilities Stainless Steel Dining Car | ||
The Winnipeg–Churchill train (formerly known as the Hudson Bay and prior to that Northern Spirits) is a semiweekly passenger train operated by Via Rail between Winnipeg and Churchill, Manitoba. It is the only dry land connection between Churchill and the rest of Canada.
Schedule
The train, which runs through Manitoba and Saskatchewan, leaves Winnipeg in the evening on Tuesday and Sunday and arrives in Churchill early in the morning two days later. The train departs Churchill in the evening on Thursday and Saturday and arrives in Winnipeg early in the morning two days later. An additional service operates between The Pas (leaving Monday) and Churchill (leaving Tuesday)
The journey travels on the Canadian National Railway line north to The Pas where it transfers to the Hudson Bay Railway passing through Thompson and Gillam on its way to the Port of Churchill on Hudson Bay, taking approximately 36 hours each way. The train previously served Lynn Lake, service was truncated to Pukatawagan in 2003 by then track owners OmniTRAX citing a loss in freight traffic making the service unprofitable. Via still operates twice weekly service from The Pas to Pukatawagan on behalf of the Keewatin Railway which now owns the Sherridon Subdivision.