VIA Rail says ridership jumped 4.3% this past long weekend, compared to the same period last year.
The company says it transported 69,859 passengers on 353 trains between Windsor and Quebec City. Another 5,300 passengers boarded the long haul trains between Montreal and Halifax, and Vancouver and Toronto.
The greatest number of passengers travelled from Montreal to Toronto August 1. VIA Rail had to lengthen the train from the usual six cars to ten and used two locomotives to transport 570 passengers.
The highest ridership was on Friday, July 29 when 16,364 travellers board the train. Many trains had an occupancy rate over 85%, and some were sold out.