CAN: Pacific Central Station

1150 Station Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Pacific Central Station is the western terminus of VIA Rail's The Canadian, a transcontinental passenger train running from Vancouver to Toronto and vice versa. It's also the northern terminus of Amtrak's Cascades running from Vancouver to Seattle and Portland in the USA.

My BFF and I took the metro to Main Street - Science World station and walked for a mere 5 minutes to reach Pacific Central Station.

That's a lot of timepieces!


Built between 1917 and 1919 on reclaimed land that was originally part of False Creek, the railway station is an excellent example of Neoclassical Revival style design.

Signage for travelling to the USA had been put up.


We were informed via e-mail that the departure of The Canadian on that day would be pushed back from 3.00pm to around 11.00pm due to the late arrival of the train as there was forest fire in Ontario. As such, we went to the station to check in our luggage first before going to the nearby TELUS World of Science to watch a documentary at the world's largest OMNIMAX dome theatre.


The station has also been serving as a hub for intercity bus services since 1993.



There are a couple of shops on the right-hand side of the building.

Gateway Newstands convenience store operates there.

Lucky Osaka Sushi is a small family-owned business.

There's A&W, as well as a money changer, on the left-hand side of the building.




I was tempted to get some curly fries, but I decided not to.
As Sleeper Plus passengers, we could access VIA Rail's Panorama Lounge.


The indoor section was rather crowded that afternoon.


Simple snacks and drinks are available at the lounge.
We decided to sit at the outdoor section of the lounge to get some fresh air.



Due to the long delay, Sleeper Plus and Prestige Class passengers were treated to a buffet dinner at Granville Island.


VIA Rail booked a dining room at Granville Island Hotel for us.

Lovely cheese platter!

I don't intend to write about the dinner in my food blog, but here are some of the things that I had.



Hot and soft drinks were provided free of charge, but not alcoholic drinks.
Economy Class passengers were allowed to board much earlier as the staff were preparing the beds in the Sleeper Plus and Prestige Class cabins. 



Because of the delay, we could claim S$200.00 each from our travel insurance and an extra meal service onboard the train to Jasper. I suppose it was a blessing in disguise.

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