page_title: Ocean (train)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Ocean (train) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: View of the "Ocean Limited" train, running under the Canadian Government Railways. Identified as a 19th Century image by the LAC; unlikely as the CGR was created in 1915 and was renamed Canadian National Railway in 1918. Either way, is public domain due to age.
context_page_description: The Ocean, previously known as the Ocean Limited, is a passenger train operated by Via Rail in Canada between Montreal, Quebec and Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is the oldest continuously operated named passenger train in North America. The Ocean's schedule takes approximately 23 hours, running overnight in both directions. Together with The Canadian and Via's corridor trains, the Ocean provides a transcontinental service.
context_section_description: The Intercolonial Railway of Canada (IRC) inaugurated the Ocean Limited on July 3, 1904, as a summer-only "limited stop" service to supplement the Maritime Express. In Halifax, it connected with the Dominion Atlantic Railway's luxury train, the Flying Bluenose. During the immigration boom of the early 1900s, the Ocean Limited and other passenger trains on its route saw increased use as they provided key wintertime connections for both the Grand Trunk Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway in moving sponsored immigrants to lands in the Prairie provinces.
  In 1918, the IRC was merged into the Canadian National Railways (CNR) and the Ocean Limited continued its operation much as before.  During both the First and Second World Wars, the Ocean Limited provided important service to the port of Halifax.
  In 1964 the Ocean received ex-Milwaukee Road Skytop Lounge lounge-sleeping cars.
  CNR dropped the "Limited" from the train's name in 1966 as part of the company's adoption of bilingual names. Despite the name change references to the Ocean Limited remain commonplace.
  During a landslide which affected the old IRC line near Rimouski, Quebec, in 1977, for six months CN diverted the Ocean onto another parallel line several hundred kilometres to the south, maintaining the same Halifax–Montreal schedule times.
  In 1976, CN placed operation of its passenger services under a new division using the marketing slogan "Via". In April 1978 this division was split off as a separate Crown corporation named Via Rail Canada, taking with it all CN passenger trains and equipment.  The new national passenger rail service did not begin to change train names and operations until 1979, following the October 1978 assumption of all CPR passenger trains and equipment.
  The Ocean did not get renamed by Via, and in fact became supplanted on the Halifax–Moncton portion of its route in 1985 by another Via train, the Atlantic (formerly the Atlantic Limited), which saw its eastern terminus extended to Halifax from Saint John.  This train also assumed the train numbers and equipment of the defunct CN passenger train Scotian, which survived only into the first few years of the Via era.
  Under Via, the Ocean underwent several changes in its operation:
  (1979–1981) Daily operation (seven days a week) in both directions between Halifax-Montreal.  Another Via train, the Atlantic also served these cities over a different route.
  (1981–1985) Daily operation (seven days a week) in both directions, albeit as the only through train between Halifax-Montreal, following cancellation of the Atlantic.
  (1985–1990) Daily operation (seven days a week) in both directions between Moncton and Montreal, following reinstatement of the Atlantic, which became the through train to Halifax.  Passengers on the Ocean were forced to change trains at Moncton.
  (1990–1994) Operation three days a week in both directions between Halifax and Montreal following Via budget cuts.  The Atlantic also operated three days a week and equipment rotated on the two trains.  Service between Moncton and Halifax and between Saint-Hyacinthe and Montreal, the only common portions of the two routes, was six days a week.
  (1994–2012) Daily operation (six days a week) in both directions between Halifax and Montreal. The second cancellation of the Atlantic resulted in increased operation on the route of the Ocean. CN sold its portion of the Ocean's route between Rivière-du-Loup, QC, and Moncton, NB, to a shortline operator which operated the section from Rivière-du-Loup to Campbellton as the Chemin de fer Matapédia et du Golfe and the section from Campbellton to Moncton as the New Brunswick East Coast Railway.  CN re-acquired these portions on November 3, 2008, and, as a result, the Ocean now again operates solely on CN trackage.
  October 26, 1998, saw CN abandon its scenic route along the waterfront of Lévis, Quebec, which served the combined railway station and ferry terminal. This section of the railway was redeveloped as an urban cycling trail, although the former Lévis train station and platform remain. Via Rail was force
caption: Ocean Limited promotional poster, c. 1915
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