Atlantic
In 1978, Via Rail was created out of a Canadian National Railway subsidiary to become Canada's national passenger rail service. In October of that year, Via negotiated the take-over of CPR passenger service, although routes, equipment and schedules did not change until the summer of 1979. Thus for the first few months after Via was created, the company included The Atlantic Limited in its timetable and the service continued to operate using the same CPR equipment and crews. In the summer of 1979 this was changed with the name The Atlantic Limited shortened to the bilingually appropriate Atlantic/Atlantique.
At the same time, service was extended effective October 1979 with a new eastern terminus at Halifax, Nova Scotia and the 1970s-era CPR passenger station in Saint John was closed in lieu of a new station in that city's downtown. The extension of the train to Halifax was made possible by Via's decision to not continue a CN train named the Scotian, thus the Atlantic assumed that train's numbers of 11/12 (westbound/eastbound) and equipment.
Under Via, the Atlantic became a well-used train, given the shorter route (by 150 miles) over the Ocean, and the fact that the Atlantic served the cities of Saint John, New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick and Sherbrooke, Quebec, in addition to many smaller towns and villages in between.
However increased patronage of the Atlantic did not meet Via targets, although some might say it did not cross as much politically-crucial territory in Quebec as the Ocean. Thus in the Via budget cuts by the Trudeau government in 1981, the Atlantic was terminated in lieu of Budd RDC service between Halifax-Moncton-Saint John-Fredericton. During this time, Fredericton saw its first passenger trains since the early 1960s when Rail Diesel Cars were instituted from Halifax via Moncton and Saint John to replace the Atlantic's connections.
Southwestern New Brunswickers were incensed at the cutting of the Atlantic's route, one which had seen daily passenger rail service in both directions between Saint John and Montreal since the International Railway of Maine opened in 1889. Community leaders along the route, led by rookie Saint John mayor Elsie Wayne, quickly rallied local populations to lobby the federal government. After several years and a personal promise by Brian Mulroney that his government would reinstate Via service on the route, the PC Party won election in 1984 and that December it was announced that the Atlantic would be returning to the rails.
In August 1985 the train was reinstated on its former route between Halifax and Montreal, although Via made some changes to its operations in the Maritimes to accommodate the Atlantic. The Ocean service was actually downgraded to just a Montreal-Moncton train with a platform connection to the through Atlantic. This lasted until the 1989 budget cuts to Via which saw service on both routes reduced to 3 days/week in each direction (alternating days) beginning on January 15, 1990. From 1990 until December 16, 1994, the Atlantic operated consistently on its 3 day/week service which saw it share an equipment pool with the Ocean.
In 1993, the owner of the tracks between Saint John and Montreal, CPR, began to look for potential buyers of its former International Railway of Maine and associated lines. When it became apparent by summer 1994 that a buyer would not be found, CPR began the formal process of applying to abandon the entire route. Faced with uncertainty about the continuance of the operation after the abandonment date of December 31, Via announced in October of that year that it would terminate the Atlantic effective December 17 (last trains leaving December 16) and switch its equipment to the Ocean which would jump to a 6 day/week schedule in each direction. Prior to the discontinuance of the Atlantic, CPR announced that it had made an agreement in principle with J.D. Irving Limited to buy the line and operate it as a shortline to be called New Brunswick Southern Railway, however Via was not permitted at this time to operate on a shortline railway. Federal regulations stated that it must operate on one of the two national railways of Canada.
Abandonment of passenger service for the second time on this route (by the same political party) was especially controversial for southwestern New Brunswickers who viewed it as a convenient excuse by the federal government to cut the service for both shortsighted fiscal and strategic political reasons. Paul Martin was making aggressive budget cuts throughout the federal government, thus concentrating service on the Ocean's route would likely save some money. The Ocean also travelled a route that passed through then-Minister of Transport Doug Young's riding of Acadie-Bathurst. The Atlantic also passed through the only two ridings in the country which elected Progressive Conservatives - Elsie Wayne in Saint John and Jean Charest in Sherbrooke. It also didn't help that the Atlantic passed through Maine (U.S. territory) on its short route between Montreal and Saint John.
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