VIA Rail is a Canadian national transportation agency that operates Canada's national passenger rail service on behalf of the Government of Canada. VIA Rail connects more than 400 Canadian communities across their 12.500 km network.

For nearly five decades VIA Rail Canada has provided passenger rail service across the country. More than four million passengers travelled with VIA Rail just last year. To meet the evolving expectations of its passengers and drive continued growth in a world that is becoming increasingly digital, VIA realised it would need to change its reservation system.

Sunsetting VIAnet - switching to S3 Passenger

When it was launched in 1998, VIAnet was a modern reservation system. As technology advanced and customer demand grew, a more reliable and cost-efficient solution was needed. With growing expectations for faster feature deployment, VIA Rail decided to upgrade to S3 Passenger, ensuring a future-ready system for its passengers.

The reservation system was not the only thing VIA Rail would replace In fact, this technical advance involved a full replacement of VIA Rail's entire digital infrastructure in the sales domain. It included the backend reservation system, but also included frontend, middleware, distribution layer, CRM system and even the Loyalty system.

Enabling long-awaited commercial features

VIA Rail chose S3 Passenger to benefit from the cutting-edge technology and to support their modernised architecture, delivering improved efficiency, scalability, and a smoother passenger experience. The transition guaranteed continuity while at the same time enabling features that would allow VIA Rail's commercial teams to bring long-awaited functionalities to all of VIA Rail's digital channels. A few of the main features included:

• An increased autonomy and a simplified process to book online for a wider variety of needs (specific needs, pets, service animals);

• A fully user-friendly experience on all devices;

• Autonomous booking modifications and upgrades;

• Autonomous seat selection in the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor;

• Offering VIA Rail a comprehensive commercial management solution;

• Managing disruptions easily through re-accommodation, self-service rebooking, refunds, and more.

Looking towards the future

Passenger rail is a future-oriented mode of transportation. As such, the switch to S3 Passenger was made with organisational sustainability in mind. The system is designed to evolve over time to ensure that VIA Rail not only meets the current customer expectations, but can also keep up with the changing needs and expectations of future passengers.

Go live right before the holidays

VIA Rail went live on S3 Passenger on November 18, 2023, a few weeks ahead of December’s peak holiday-travel period. Despite the fact that the go live coincided with the traditionally hectic holiday-travel period, this switch led to zero downtime. After a strong start, VIA Rail processed its 100.000th booking with the new reservation system in mere weeks.

It also quickly became clear customers really appreciated the new reservation system. A simple search on social media shows a plethora of feedback on VIA Rail's posts surrounding the go live of the new system.

The first customer outside of Europe

While Sqills had continued success in Europe for more than a decade, the partnership with VIA Rail marked Sqills’ first implementation process in North America. After the initial success with VIA Rail, Brightline and Amtrak followed several years later.