Via Rail

Via Rail Canada (reporting mark VIA) (/ˈviə/; generally shortened to Via Rail or Via; styled corporately as VIA Rail Canada) is an independent crown corporation, subsidised by the Minister of Transport, mandated to offer intercity passenger rail services in Canada.

Via Rail operates 497 trains per week in eight Canadian provinces (exceptions are Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island) over a network of 12,500 kilometres (7,800 mi) of track, almost all of which is owned and operated by CN Rail. Via Rail carries approximately 4.1 million passengers annually, the majority on routes along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor.

History

Background

Yearly passenger levels on Canada's passenger trains peaked at 60 million during World War II. Following the war the growth of air travel and the personal automobile caused significant loss of mode share for Canada's passenger train operators. By the 1960s it was obvious to both Canadian National Railway (CN) and the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) that passenger trains were not economically viable in the current market. The CP sought to divest itself of its trains but federal government regulators and politicians balked, forcing the CP to maintain a minimal service through the 1970s, with the government subsidizing up to 80% of losses. CN, being a Crown corporation at that time, was encouraged by the federal government and political interests to invest in passenger trains. Innovative marketing schemes such as Red, White, and Blue fares, new equipment such as scenic dome cars and rail diesel cars, and services such as Rapido and the UAC TurboTrain trains temporarily increased numbers of passengers, reversing previous declines.

STAR (interbank network)

STAR is an interbank network and EFTPOS network in the United States. It is the largest American interbank network, with 2 millionATMs, 134 million cardholders and over 5,700 participating financial institutions. The STAR Network began in 1984 and was acquired by First Data Corporation in 2003. The network is owned and operated by STAR Networks, a subsidiary company of First Data.

Mergers

The network has existed since the 1980s, and has since included several other networks, mostly in the 2000s:

See also

References

External links

Via (surname)

The surname Via may refer to:

VIA3

VIA3 Corporation is a company that provides web collaboration, online meeting, web conferencing, and video conferencing applications. Its product is the VIA3 suite of web conferencing applications.

History

VIA3 Corporation was founded in 1999 and has offices located in San Jose, CA, Scottsdale, AZ and Redmond, WA. The Company continues to augment VIA3 with new and enhanced capabilities, and is developing additional products and services under the VIACK 2.0 brand.

Products and services

VIA3 – VIA3 delivers live audio, video, instant messaging, application viewing and sharing, whiteboarding, and secure workspaces directly from the desktop, over any public or private IP network, whether fixed, mobile or wireless.

Rail

Rail or rails may refer to:

Rail transport

Science, technology, biology, and medicine

Batten (theater)

In theater, a batten (also known as a bar or pipe) is a long metal pipe suspended above the stage or audience from which lighting fixtures, theatrical scenery, and theater drapes and stage curtains may be hung. Battens that are located above a stage can usually be lowered to the stage (flown in) or raised into a fly tower above the stage (flown out) by a counterweighted fly system or automated, motor-driven lift.

Types

Electric

An electric is a batten that incorporates electrical cables above the pipe, often enclosed in a raceway. It typically has power cables for lights and DMX512 data cable for lighting control, and may also have audio cables for microphones. The cables emerge from one end of the batten and continue through a snake to dimmers, control boards, or patchbays. All cable plugs have identifying numbers printed on them so that they can be easily referenced by the lighting control system. Loaded electrics are among the heaviest types of battens, often weighing more than a thousand pounds. Consequently, electrics must be properly balanced to avoid catastrophic runaways.

RAIL (magazine)

RAIL is a UK magazine on the subject of current rail transport in Great Britain. It is published every two weeks by Bauer Consumer Media and is available in the transport sections of many British newsagents. It is targeted primarily at the enthusiast market (those whose hobby is railways, rather than their occupation), but also covers business issues, often in depth.

RAIL is more than three decades old, and was known as Rail Enthusiast from its launch in 1981 until 1988. It is one of only two railway magazines that increased its circulation in 2012 (the other being The Railway Magazine, published monthly, which RAIL outperforms overall). It has had roughly the same cover design for at least a decade, with a capitalised italic red RAIL along the top of the front cover.

Editorial policy

RAIL is customarily critical of railway institutions, including the Rail Delivery Group, the Office of Rail Regulation, as well as, since it assumed greater railway powers, the Department for Transport. RAIL's continuing campaigns include one against advertising and media images showing celebrities and others walking between the rails (an unsafe practice) and another against weeds on railways.