Latest news with #TheCanadian
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Yahoo
Two strangers met on a train. Then they decided to travel the world together
Savery Moore and his wife Jan always talked about traveling across Canada by rail. The American couple shared a dream of waking up to the sun rising over the tracks and spending days winding through forests and across prairies, glimpsing snow-capped peaks and frozen lakes through the train's domed glass roof. Making memories together. For most of their 35 years of married life, Savery and Jan didn't travel much, spending long days working in advertising. But when the couple finally retired in their 60s, leaving New York City for a small town in Massachusetts, they were excited for a new chapter and new opportunities. 'We both retired the same day,' Savery tells CNN Travel today. 'We looked forward to having our life forever, together.' Savery and Jan finally looked into booking their dream trip on VIA Rail's 'Canadian' service, a luxury train journey that winds from the West Coast of Canada to the East over four days. 'We were going to spend some money and take The Canadian in a class called 'prestige,' which is VIA Rail's most expensive way to travel,' says Savery. This was a 'bucket list trip,' explains Savery. The couple wanted to splurge, figuring 'we were only going to do this once, so let's just do it right.' But just as they started planning the trip, life took an unexpected turn. 'Jan was diagnosed with cancer, and it was lung cancer, and it was aggressive,' explains Savery. 'Within a month-and-a-half to two months after her being diagnosed, the cancer had already spread.' In the months that followed, Jan had brain surgery. She was enrolled in a couple of clinical trials. 'But from diagnosis to her passing was 16 months,' says Savery. Jan died in 2019. And without her, Savery was left heartbroken and lost. Life was put on hold. Travel plans were shelved. Everything was uncertain. 'That dream of taking The Canadian never went away from me, but it wasn't… it didn't have the same… I wasn't looking forward to it as much,' says Savery. Time passed. Savery, searching for meaning in his new reality, eventually found himself returning to that abandoned dream of traveling across Canada by rail. 'I decided to take the trip myself, to fulfill a promise I had made to her,' he says. 'It took me about three-and-a-half, four years to say, 'Just do it. Do it for me. Do it for Jan.' Because she would want me to.' Savery boarded The Canadian on April 1, 2024, in Vancouver. He treated himself to the prestige class ticket, just as he and his late wife had planned. As soon as he boarded the train, Savery felt a surprising feeling of contentment. He was proud of himself. And excited for what was to come. It turned out Savery was the only passenger in prestige class. The whole front row of the domed viewing carriage was reserved just for him. But on the second day of the journey, Savery was surprised when he walked up the stairs into the domed car and saw 'the back of someone's head sitting in one of those reserved seats.' He raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything, instead sitting on the opposite side of the aisle from the mystery passenger: a woman with long curly hair, reading. Savery recalls thinking: 'She's reading a book, so obviously can read the sign that says this is for prestige passengers only.' But he kept the slightly ungenerous thought to himself. 'I didn't say anything,' he says today. 'And after a while, she got up and left without a word.' Later that day, at dinner, Savery was sharing a table with a friendly couple, chatting about what prompted them to book The Canadian. Savery told them about losing his wife, about deciding to fulfill their shared dream, solo. 'Have you met Giselle?' asked the couple, glancing at one another. Savery told them, no, he didn't think he'd met a Giselle yet. The couple described her — tall, long hair. 'I know who that is,' said Savery, realizing the description matched the woman he'd spotted sitting in the prestige class seat. 'She lost her spouse too,' said the couple. 'Quite recently.' Taking in this information, Savery decided he'd make a conscious effort to seek Giselle out on board the train. That evening, the train had an extended stopover in Edmonton. Savery was sitting in the lounge car, sipping coffee alone. 'And just before we left Edmonton, I saw Giselle walking towards me,' he recalls. 'I just motioned her, I said, 'Would you like to have a seat?'' 'Sure,' said Giselle, smiling. She sat down, introducing herself. Giselle Ruemke was a Canadian traveler in her 50s who had, it turned out, a number of things in common with Savery Moore. For one, she'd always wanted to travel across Canada on The Canadian. 'Taking the train was one of these bucket list things for me,' Giselle tells CNN Travel today. And, like Savery, Giselle's spouse had recently died of cancer. Giselle and her late husband Dave had been friends for decades before they started dating. Within a few whirlwind years they'd fallen in love, got married and navigated Dave's cancer diagnosis together. Then Dave passed away in the summer of 2023, leaving Giselle unmoored and unsure of the future. In the wake of her grief, booking the trip on The Canadian seemed, to Giselle, 'like a good way to connect with myself and see my country, refresh my spirit, a little bit.' Like Savery, Giselle had always dreamed of taking the VIA Rail Canadian with her late spouse. And like Savery, she'd decided traveling solo was a way of honoring her partner. 'That trip is something that I would have really liked to have done with my husband, Dave. So that was why I was taking the train,' Giselle says today. But unlike Savery, Giselle hadn't booked prestige class. She admits she was 'sticking it to the man' in her own small way by sitting in the reserved seats that first day. She'd only moved when Savery arrived. She tells CNN Travel, laughing, that she'd thought to herself: 'I better get out of the seat, in case someone prestige wants to sit in that spot.' Giselle didn't tell Savery any of this in their first conversation. In fact, she didn't share much about her life at all in that first encounter. But Giselle liked his company right away. He was friendly, enthusiastic and respectful — sharing that he was a widower and indicating he knew about Giselle's loss without prying about the circumstances. As for Savery, he says, it was 'the common bond, the losses of our respective loved ones' that first made him feel a connection to Giselle. But it was also obvious that for Giselle, the loss was much fresher. She clearly didn't want to talk about Dave that day. 'So then we just shifted to talking about other things, everyday things, in a nice, relaxed atmosphere,' says Savery. 'And I was very at ease speaking with Giselle right away. We started having meals together and as the trip went on, we would spend more and more time together.' Over the next couple of days, Savery and Giselle also got to know the other solo travelers on board The Canadian. They became a group, and Giselle recalls plenty of moments when they good-naturedly teased Savery 'because of him being the only prestige passenger.' She appreciated having a gang of new friends. Their company distracted from the inevitable loneliness that would sometimes settle over her in her grief. When the train arrived in Toronto, Savery and Giselle shared a final dinner together before going their separate ways. The reservedness that marked their first meal together had all but melted away. It was an evening marked by laughs, recalling favorite memories of the trip across Canada and talking about their lives back home. The next day, they said goodbye. Appropriately enough, their farewell took place at a train station. 'I was taking the airport shuttle to fly back home to Boston, and Giselle was taking the train to Montreal. So we said, 'Well, let's just say goodbye at the train station, since we're both going to be there at the same time tomorrow,'' recalls Savery. 'We were under the big clock in Toronto station, and she was watching the clock. She said, 'I really gotta go. I have to catch my train.' And I just… I said, 'I can't not see you again.'' Their connection didn't feel romantic — both Giselle and Savery were sure of that. But it felt significant. Both Savery and Giselle felt they'd met a like-minded soul, someone who could be a confidant, who could help them through the next chapter of life which they were unexpectedly navigating alone. Saying 'goodbye' felt too final. So Giselle, who is French-Canadian, suggested they say 'au revoir' — which translates as 'until we meet again.' And as soon as they went their separate ways, Giselle and Savery started texting each other. 'Then the texts became phone calls,' recalls Savery. On these calls, Giselle and Savery spoke about their lives, about what they were up to, about their interests. 'Music was like a common interest that we both shared,' recalls Giselle. Savery is older than Giselle, and their music references spanned 'different eras of music, but very compatible musical interests,' as Giselle puts it. On one of their phone calls, Giselle mentioned she was considering booking a train trip across North America. Soon, she and Savery were planning a train journey across the US for the fall of 2024, together. And in the meantime, Giselle invited Savery to visit her in her home in Victoria, Canada, for a week's summer vacation. Savery remembers ringing Giselle's doorbell in Victoria and wondering how their reunion would play out. 'We had been talking on the phone. We'd been texting each other. It wasn't as though we were complete strangers, but still… seeing someone face to face, I was nervous,' says Savery. 'I knew it was going to be okay. I was fine with the fact that it was going to be okay. But still my heart rate was a little elevated, I will say. But it was immediately fine. She opened the door, we hugged.' Giselle says the time on the train in Canada and the subsequent two months of chatting made her pretty certain Savery was a 'good, safe person to welcome into my world.' And during his visit to Victoria, 'that proved to be true.' Every Sunday, Giselle has dinner with her in-laws. When she mentioned Savery would be in town, they encouraged her to invite her new friend along. 'They're absolutely lovely, lovely people, and they adored him, and they thought he was fantastic,' says Giselle. Savery also met Giselle's sister and many of her friends, all of whom welcomed Savery. Giselle was delighted they liked him as much as she did. 'That's been important for me, to create a little bit of a bridge, so that people aren't wondering 'who's this person and what's going on,' she says, 'Everybody really likes him. And I think that's given them confidence about me traveling with him.' Savery's friends were also excited that he had a new traveling buddy. 'Most of my friends are married, and they're couples, and I was always kind of the odd man out,' he says. 'They were very happy and supportive of the fact that I had someone to do things with, to travel with.' During the week in Victoria, Savery and Giselle nailed down plans for their fall travels, which morphed into a mammoth, almost two-month-long adventure across North America, spanning some 9,700 miles by rail. 'We went from San Francisco to Chicago to Washington, DC to Boston, to my house for a little while, back to New York City, where I lived for a good portion of my life…,' recalls Savery. 'I got to show Giselle around New York City. And then we took the train to Montreal, where Giselle lived for quite a while, and she got to be the tour guide there for me, which was great. Then we took the train to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for three days, and then ended up back in Toronto and took the VIA Canadian the other way, going westbound from Toronto to Vancouver.' Traversing miles of track across North America, Savery and Giselle grew even closer. They learned that they travel well together, too. They bring 'these different skill sets that are very helpful and complimentary, albeit very different,' as Giselle puts it. Savery is a great organizer — he enjoys putting together itineraries and putting to use the problem solving skills he honed in his 40-year advertising career. Meanwhile Giselle is great at finding places to go, recalling recommendations and hunting out spots off the beaten track. Their easy camaraderie translated into a great traveling partnership. 'We seem to have established a great way of communicating about challenges — that we address and meet and work out in a great way,' says Giselle. 'I think that's worth a lot… I'm really grateful for that.' The natural next step was planning another trip. When Giselle and Savery speak to CNN Travel, in spring 2025, they're in Germany, in the middle of a month-long adventure across Europe via riverboat and rail. This European trip was a big step for Savery. While he'd always dreamed of traveling and exploring the globe, he'd never left North America until this year. 'Two weeks ago this past Sunday, I crossed my first ocean,' he says, adding he was grateful to have Giselle by his side to encourage him on this adventure. As for Giselle, she was excited to revisit old European haunts and see new places, all with Savery at her side. 'There were some places that I had been to before that I thought were amazing, that I thought he would really enjoy seeing, and it's just been great to see those places through his eyes,' she says. 'And to be discovering new places, together as well, has been great.' Both Giselle and Savery had learned lessons from their fall adventure. They're closer than ever. 'There's been a teamwork to this that I have rarely experienced, actually, even in romantic relationships, in family relationships,' says Giselle. 'It's a really lovely, rare thing, I think, to be, just tackling things, trying to work out the best way forward and to feel like my issues and my challenges are understood.' Giselle lives with some chronic health issues and says Savery is 'very helpful and supportive in terms of navigating stuff that's challenging for me.' She tries to offer that same support for Savery, who is a cancer survivor of several years and takes life-saving medication on a daily basis. On one of their trips, he forgot his blood pressure medication. Giselle resolved this worrying situation with an ease and calm that Savery greatly appreciated. 'I got my medicines and went back on the train, all because of Giselle,' he says. As Giselle and Savery have become closer, they've also talked more about their shared experience of grief. From the outset, Giselle appreciated that Savery brought a few more years of grief experience to their conversations, and was grateful for his candor. When Savery talked through challenges he'd faced, Giselle felt seen and understood. 'Regret is such a common feature of grief. There's always things that you kind of doublethink or you rethink,' she reflects. 'He was just really kind about sharing things that he had learned along his grief journey.' Giselle always enjoyed hearing about Jan, Savery's late wife. In time, she opened up about Dave, her late husband. 'It's really nice to share stories about our spouses with each other,' she says today. 'I feel like I've been getting to know Jan through Savery.' 'I feel the same about Dave,' says Savery. 'That's really nice,' says Giselle. For Giselle and Savery, traveling with each other has also encouraged them to experience life to its fullest on behalf of their late partners. 'Because my husband died when he was only 53 years old, I kind of feel like I'm seeing these things for him,' says Giselle. 'On some level, it's like I'm kind of carrying him with me, wanting to bring him with me, in some way, to see these places in the world.' Giselle and Savery's shared understanding of loss also helps them navigate and support each other through the ups and downs that come with the nonlinear journey of grief. 'One of the things about grief is that you never know what's going to trigger something that brings back a memory,' says Savery. 'When we're together, and one of us has that trigger, we're both very comfortable now sharing that with each other — because we know the other person gets it and is there to understand and give support, but also say, 'I know what you're talking about, because I've done it too. It happens to me.'' While there are emotional moments, the majority of stories they share make one another smile, adds Savery. 'I was married for 35 years, and with my wife for 38, so a long, long time with one person. And so I've got a million stories, most of them fun, and a lot of them funny.' 'Very funny,' agrees Giselle, who says of Savery's wife: 'She's hilarious. I love her sense of humor.' Both speak about each other's spouse in the present tense, indicating the roles they continue to play in their lives. 'It's nice having someone not only to share the grief, but to share the good stories of the loved one that we each lost,' says Savery. 'It's not all crying and tears. It's like, 'This was a great story. Let me tell you this story about what Jan and I did.' And Giselle says, 'Let me tell you about Dave.' And we get to share that with each other, and we know that we understand it.' As Savery and Giselle wrap up their time in Europe with a trip on the Glacier Express through the Alps, the two friends are planning future adventures, while taking a moment to feel grateful for their connection. 'It's just been a really fun, unlikely friendship. This guy's quite hilarious, and very sweet and kind,' says Giselle. 'And so it's been a really wonderful connection for me to have in my life. And it's wonderful to be able to get out into the world.' Admittedly, people they meet on their travels don't always understand Giselle and Savery's platonic connection. There's a general assumption, almost everywhere they go, that they're a married couple. 'It bothered me for a while,' admits Giselle. 'It did feel awkward.' But after issuing constant corrections in every destination, Giselle stopped bothering. She decided this assumption was less about her and Savery, and more about other people's preconceptions. 'tt really doesn't matter. I kind of got over it,' she says. Her attitude now is 'They're gonna think whatever they think. It doesn't matter, because this is our trip, and we know who we are.'' Savery agrees. 'Let other people think what they want,' he says. 'We know. What they think isn't going to change what is between us.' That's not to say the two aren't aware of the 'loadedness around male and female relationships,' says Giselle, adding this loadedness is 'heteronormative and patriarchal' but existent nonetheless. But to automatically assume their connection is romantic discredits the importance of friendship, says Giselle. 'There's so much focus on romantic love. Maybe friendships can also have that level of importance,' she says. 'I like the idea of cherishing our friendships and putting that effort into them as well.' 'It's also interesting starting a new, close friendship this late in life,' adds Savery. 'You've got all this life experience behind you, and now you're starting a friendship with all of that stuff, all of that knowledge. And it's a different, really interesting and great way, I think, to start a friendship.' Savery says he's excited for their connection to continue to grow as they travel the world, to continue to 'respect what it is that makes our friendship so good and our traveling together so good.' Giselle adds that Savery has made the year since they met 'a ton of fun.' It was a year that's panned out in a way she never expected. 'He's just become a really cherished person in my world,' Giselle says. 'And I didn't expect that. That was such an unexpected thing to have happened out of that trip.' Savery reflects that their meeting on the VIA Rail Canadian was 'sort of magical.' 'It was truly a chance encounter,' he says, calling meeting Giselle a 'silver lining.' 'It's been really nice to be able to have a good friend, to go traveling and we've been having such a blast,' says Giselle. 'I really love the mutual support that we offer each other. And just being able to do this is really, really something. It's really special, and it's really fun to share it.'
Toronto Sun
28-04-2025
- Toronto Sun
Driver charged with 8 counts of murder in Vancouver's Lapu Lapu Day tragedy
Kai-ji Adam Lo, charged Sunday with eight counts of murder, had dozens of interactions with police related to his deteriorating mental health. A victim lies near a food truck after a car drove into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver on Saturday April 26, 2025. There has been a number of fatalities and numerous injuries. Photo by Rich Lam Rich Lam/The Canadian / The Canadian Press The man who allegedly plowed through a crowd enjoying a Filipino festival in southeast Vancouver Sunday, killing 11, lost his brother to murder last year. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Kai-ji Adam Lo, charged Sunday with eight counts of murder, had dozens of interactions with police related to his deteriorating mental health. Last year he wrote on a fundraising page to cover his brother Alexander's funeral costs that 'it pains me deeply to put these words down, but my brother has been taken from us in a senseless act of violence, something we never saw coming.' 'Our reality has abruptly shifted. Despite our disagreements, the harsh truth that he's no longer with us hits me with an overwhelming force,' Adam Lo said. The body of Alexander Lo, 31, was found in a home near Knight Street and East 33rd Avenue about 1 a.m. on Jan. 28, 2024. Dwight William Kematch, 39, was arrested at the house and later charged with second-degree murder. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Police along 41st Avenue, west of Fraser, after someone drove into a crowd of people at Lapu Lapu Day in Vancouver. Photo by Kim Bolan / PNG Vancouver Police secure the scene where a car drove into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Day in Vancouver on Saturday April 26, 2025. Photo by Rich Lam / The Canadian Press Vancouver police investigate a crime scene after a man drove into pedestrians at the annual Lapu Lapu festival celebrating Filipino culture, at East 43rd Avenue and Fraser, in the south of Vancouver on April 26, 2025. Canadian police arrested a man on April 26 after a car plowed into a street party in the western city of Vancouver killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8:00 pm (0300 GMT Sunday) in Vancouver's Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. Photo by DON MACKINNON/AFP via Getty Images) Vancouver police investigate a crime scene after a man drove into pedestrians at the annual Lapu Lapu festival celebrating Filipino culture, at East 43rd Avenue and Fraser, in the south of Vancouver on April 26, 2025. Canadian police arrested a man on April 26 after a car plowed into a street party in the western city of Vancouver killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8 p.m. in Vancouver's Sunset on Fraser neighbourhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. Photo by DON MACKINNON/AFP via Getty Images) Steve Rai, Vancouver Police interim police chief, speaks during a news conference that there had been a vehicle and a suspect involved in an incident at the annual Lapu Lapu festival celebrating Filipino culture, at East 43rd Avenue and Fraser, in the south of Vancouver on April 26, 2025. Canadian police arrested a man on April 26 after a car plowed into a street party in the western city of Vancouver killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8 pm in Vancouver's Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. Photo by DON MACKINNON/AFP via Getty Images) A victim lies near a food truck after a car drove into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver on Saturday April 26, 2025. There has been a number of fatalities and numerous injuries. Photo by Rich Lam Rich Lam/The Canadian / The Canadian Press A victim lies near a food truck after a car drove into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver on Saturday April 26, 2025. There has been a number of fatalities and numerous injuries. Photo by Rich Lam Rich Lam/The Canadian / The Canadian Press A victim lies near a food truck after a car drove into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver on Saturday April 26, 2025. There has been a number of fatalities and numerous injuries. Photo by Rich Lam / The Canadian Press VANCOUVER, B.C.: APRIL 26, 2025 - Multiple people were killed and more injured after a black SUV sped through crowds at the Lapu Lapu Day Block Party in Vancouver, B.C. near East 43rd and Fraser on Saturday, April 26, 2025. This black SUV was pictured at the scene after driving through a pedestrian-only area flanked by food trucks. Photo by SUBMITTED / POSTMEDIA VANCOUVER, B.C.: APRIL 26, 2025 - Multiple people were killed and more injured after a black SUV sped through crowds at the Lapu Lapu Day Block Party in Vancouver, B.C. near East 43rd and Fraser on Saturday, April 26, 2025. This black SUV was pictured at the scene after driving through a pedestrian-only area flanked by food trucks. Photo by SUBMITTED / POSTMEDIA April 26, 2025: A screenshot from a video taken in the aftermath of a mass casualty event at the Lapu Lapu festival on East 43rd Avenue near Fraser Street in Vancouver. Credit: Abigail Andiso The scene around Fraser Street and 41st Avenue after someone drove into a crowd of people at Lapu Lapu Day in Vancouver on Saturday, April 26, 2025. Photo credit: Kim Bolan/PNG Photo by Kim Bolan The scene around Fraser Street and 41st Avenue after someone drove into a crowd of people at Lapu Lapu Day in Vancouver on Saturday, April 26, 2025. Photo by Kim Bolan / PNG (L-R) Mable Elmore, a member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly, and RJ Aquino, chair of the community advocacy group Filipino BC, hold a news conference the day after a man drove a vehicle into pedestrians at the annual Lapu Lapu festival celebrating Filipino culture, in Vancouver, Canada, on April 27, 2025. Photo by NAV RAHI / AFP via Getty Images Mable Elmore (R), a member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly, and RJ Aquino, is embraced at the end of a news conference the day after a man drove a vehicle into pedestrians at the annual Lapu Lapu festival celebrating Filipino culture, in Vancouver, Canada, on April 27, 2025. Canadian police arrested a man on April 26 after a car plowed into a street party in the western city of Vancouver killing 11 people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8:00 pm (0300 GMT Sunday) in Vancouver's Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The suspect acted deliberately and had a history of mental health problems, police said Sunday, warning the toll could rise. (Photo by Nav Rahi / AFP) Photo by NAV RAHI / AFP via Getty Images People pay their respects at the site of a fatal crash in Vancouver April 27, 2025 during a Lapu Lapu celebration. Nick Procaylo photo A woman places flowers on the scene where at least 11 people were killed by a speeding vehicle on Fraser St during Lapu Lapu Day celebrations in Vancouver, B.C., April 27, 2025. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO / PNG Saul Schneider at the site of a fatal crash in Vancouver April 27, 2025 during a Lapu Lapu celebration. Nick Procaylo photo Photo by Denise Ryan Aerial views of 43rd Avenue in south Vancouver in the aftermath of a driving rampage that left at least 11 people dead and many others injured during the windup of the Lapu Lapu Day Block Party celebrating Filipino culture on Saturday, April 26, 2025. Photo by Curtis Kreklau / for Postmedia News Vancouver Kingsway riding NDP incumbent MP Don Davies (left) speaks to BC Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Gary Begg earlier in the day at the Lapu-Lapu day event in Vancouver Saturday morning. The event is a celebration of the Filipino community. A late Saturday attack left at least nine people dead. Photo by Jason Payne / PNG BC finance minister Brenda Bailey at the annual Lapu-Lapu day event in Vancouver earlier on Saturday Photo by Jason Payne / PNG BC Premier David Eby and daughter Iva Eby earlier in the day at the Lapu-Lapu day event in Vancouver Saturday. Photo by Jason Payne / PNG Former Vancouver, BC mayor Gregor Robertson, now running as the Liberal candidate in the Vancouver Fraserview-South Burnaby riding, at the annual Lapu-Lapu day event in Vancouver earlier on Saturday. Photo by Jason Payne / PNG VANCOUVER, B.C., April 27, 2025 - BC Premier David Eby speaks at the scene where at least twelve people were killed by a speeding vehicle on Fraseer St during Lapu Lapu Day celebrations in Vancouver, B.C., April 27, 2025. (NICK PROCAYLO/PNG) 10107854A [PNG Merlin Archive] Photo by NICK PROCAYLO / 10107854A People mourn near the scene where a car drove into a crowd of people during the Lapu Lapu Festival on April 27, 2025 in Vancouver, Canada. Police said a 30-year-old man drove his car into a crowd at a Filipino street festival, killing at least eleven people and injuring multiple others. Photo by Andrew Chin / Getty Images A young child and his mother leave a teddy bear and flowers, near the location where a vehicle drove into crowd at a street festival, in Vancouver, Sunday April 27, 2025. Members of the community are sharing their shock and devastation in the wake of a car-ramming attack at a Vancouver street festival that left 11 people dead and dozens more injured. Photo by Rich Lam / The Canadian Press People listen from outside St. MaryÕs Parish during afternoon mass that was at capacity, in Vancouver, on Sunday, April 27, 2025. Shock and grief rippled through Canada's Filipino community on Sunday as members struggled to come to grips with an attack at a cultural street festival in Vancouver on Saturday that killed 11 people and injured dozens more. Photo by DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS Full Screen is not supported on this browser version. You may use a different browser or device to view this in full screen. Lo wrote about how devastated his family was as he thanked donors for contributing more than $9,000 for his brother's funeral. 'I'm burdened with remorse for not spending more time with him,' he said. 'I implore you to keep his soul in your thoughts and prayers.' Months later, in August, he again asked the public for donations to help his family after his mother attempted suicide and ended up in hospital for a month. 'The unimaginable grief brought upon my mother is something that is worse than my own sadness. For she brought him into this world, only for him to leave abruptly, it is a sadness I cannot being to express,' he said. 'She lost a son already and is on the verge of losing her home. This has driven her to attempt to take her own life.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Vancouver police investigate a crime scene after a man drove into pedestrians at the annual Lapu Lapu festival celebrating Filipino culture, at East 43rd Avenue and Fraser, in the south of Vancouver on April 26, 2025. Canadian police arrested a man on April 26 after a car plowed into a street party in the western city of Vancouver killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8 p.m. in Vancouver's Sunset on Fraser neighbourhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. Photo by DON MACKINNON/AFP via Getty Images) Lo had no prior criminal record, according to the online court database. Sources told Postmedia that a family member had contacted a hospital psych ward hours before Sunday's attack because of Lo's deteriorating mental health. It's not known what action, if any, was taken. He was believed to be suffering from delusions and paranoia. Police said they've had significant interactions with Lo — as did health care professionals — due to his mental health issues. Some were recent. Politicians of all stripes who have commented on the mass tragedy at the Lapu Lapu festival have been asked about support for people with serious mental health problems. Premier David Eby said Sunday the attacker was obviously 'profoundly ill.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'We have a huge need in the province for interventionist mental health services,' he said, noting that the province just opened secure involuntary beds at Surrey pretrial jail. 'I was really pleased that we got those beds open in a very short period of time,' Eby said. 'But it's just the start.' However, he also said that in terms of the Lapu Lapu killings, 'it's important for investigators or others to go into this with an open mind, to provide the answers to the public, to everybody that they find, so that we can ensure that we have the systems in place to prevent this kind of thing from happening.' 'In some cases, that may be a change in how the city does security for events. It maybe a change in health care response. We don't know the story of why or what led up to this man taking the horrific action that he did,' Eby said. 'There are so many questions that I have. There are so many questions that British Columbians have about how that could take place, how we could get to that moment, and as we learn those answers, we'll take the action that's necessary to ensure that it can't happen again.' kbolan@ Canada Federal Elections Toronto Blue Jays Opinion Federal Elections
Telegraph
08-03-2025
- Telegraph
The world's greatest countries for rail travel, ranked and rated
Is there anything more exciting than stepping onto a train? The moment when you have one foot on a platform and the other on the ledge in the train door is a huge thrill. When the journey that awaits is a long one, the excitement is immense. Add in a sleeper, a reservation or two at the buffet car, perhaps a good friend (though a solo trip can be amazing), a little luxury and a good book, and you have the makings of a dream holiday. The getting there is transformed into the high point of the adventure – pure travel, perfect travel. Railways changed the world. They built cities. They opened up landscapes. They created new relationships, economic, amorous, political. In the world's richest and largest nations – which feature in our ranking below – they have played a seminal role in industry and development, and remain important workhorses in national and international freight. For travellers, they provide access to deserts, mountain ranges, lakelands, canyons – and offer the opportunity to visit without getting off, without hiking or biking. Slow travel is all the rage. Green travel is in vogue. Safety is valued more highly than ever. Rail ticks all the boxes. For our ranking, which is a top ten plus some also-rans (or used-to-runs, and might-run-soons), we chose the largest passenger networks. Some countries have shifted towards a tourist-based model, meaning luxury trains, exclusivity, poor frequency. Others continue to invite foreign guests to ride alongside local travellers, workers and commuters – an authentic and democratic experience. The railways were the greatest travel invention of the past. They could yet be the most promising mode of transport in the future – and there's never been a better time to plan a holiday aboard one. 10. Canada Canada's almost 27,000 miles of railway lie, like its towns and cities, in the less gelid southern lands bordering the US. There's a basic linearity to the main VIA Rail lines, with the main east-west axis connecting Halifax, Quebec City, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver. There are two romantic flights northward to Prince Rupert and Churchill and a lonely 67.5 miles of isolated and ultra-scenic rail track on the tourist-focused White Pass and Yukon Route linking Skagway (Alaska) to Carcross (Yukon). The flagship service is The Canadian, from Toronto to Vancouver – but it only runs once or twice a week, depending on the season. The economy class ticket starts at £377, which isn't bad for a four-night, 2,775-mile journey, though a numb bum is highly likely even in roomy seats. Prestige Class sleeper cabins on the VIA services are classy, with oversized windows and private bathrooms with showers – but they sell out quickly, no doubt group-scooped by tour firms. The compact Sleeper Plus couchettes, costing three times economy, are a fair compromise. Canada's landscapes are among the most jaw-dropping on the planet. Rail is king for mega-countries and trains are designed to give travellers panoramic hits as the mountains and forests come up to the track and the Northern Lights fill the skies. Canada gets 'punished' in our ranking for coverage, as it can't run trains to places where hardly anyone lives – but it also falls down on punctuality and relatively inflated ticket prices. 9. Spain AVE trains – capable of more than 190 mph – link Madrid to Barcelona, Malaga, Granada, Seville, Alicante, Murcia, Valencia and Ourense in Galicia. In this large country with its capital bang in the middle, high-speed rail has been transformative. On board, the trains are plasticky and soulless, and WiFi is patchy and diesel-speed. You get a sense of Spain's scale, agriculture and general contours from an AVE, but slower services are recommended if you want to take in the landscapes of Asturias or Extremadura. State-owned operator Renfe runs the luxury Transcantábrico metre-gauge line between Bilbao and Ferrol, but there are ordinary public services along much of the route. Pricing in Spain is dynamic and last-minute tickets are usually expensive. Avlo's low-cost, high-speed services were introduced in 2018 and you can get a Madrid-Barcelona one-way ticket for around €7 (£5.80). The purple-liveried trains have only tourist class seats, no quiet car and don't allow pets. 8. United States As with cowboys, cartoons and cars, we feel we know the American railroads even if we've never ridden on them. Whether it's Woody Guthrie and Dylan hopping on to a freight train, or film scenes shot in Grand Central Station, the US loves to export its transport culture. But this is, above all, a driving and flying nation, and the long distances have turned Amtrak and the two smaller passenger rail firms (Alaska Railroad and Brightline) into a long-distance option mainly for the time-rich – ie. the retired, tourists, arty types who like Patricia Highsmith, and rail enthusiasts (also known as 'railfans'). With 140,000 miles, the US has the largest rail network in the world, but it is 100,000 miles shorter than at its 1917 peak, when 1,500 lines operated around 254,000 miles and employed 1.8 million people. Seventy per cent of services run on freight-owned tracks. Its track miles per square miles isn't as high as you might expect as it is a huge country and Alaska, which occupies around a fifth of the continental landmass, has a paltry 506 miles of railway line. Amtrak has great names for its long-distance trains: California Zephyr, Downeaster, Empire Builder, Silver Meteor. The Texas Eagle (Chicago-San Antonio) connects with the Sunset Limited (New Orleans to Los Angeles) to create a 2,728 through-train of sorts. A few stations – mainly called Union – are iconic and handsome, but San Francisco has no central Amtrak station (big trains terminate at Emeryville), and Manhattan's Penn Station, beneath Madison Square Garden – said to be the busiest passenger transit hub in the Western hemisphere – is a chaotic mess. 7. Poland Polish provincial stations have an olden-days quality. Slow express trains operate between city termini, and there are no high-speed lines whatsoever. Warsaw Central could have been the cover of Bowie's Low album. Somehow, the railways – freighted with history – open up the soul of Poland. Trains go in all directions from Warsaw to the edges of the nation, including county-crossing night trains between Kolobrzeg and Krakow and Swinoujscie and Przemysl Glowny (with connections to Kyiv). EuroNight's recently launched Warsaw-Munich sleeper connects the Polish capital with Krakow, Salzburg, Vienna and Munich – with sections for Prague and Budapest. Day trains run between all cities and towns. In May 2023, PKP announced Poland's first train featuring panoramic windows, connecting Przemysl with the Austrian city of Graz. Lithuania, way too small for this survey, has the most expensive rail services in Europe. Next comes: Poland. Why? The operator blames high electricity prices, inflation and interest rates. 6. Japan Even more than the nickname 'bullet train' (dangan ressha in Japanese), the shape of the first Shinkansen high-speed trains – launched in 1964 – was a superlative PR coup. Nothing says future, efficiency, promise and power, like a sleek javelin of a train that everyone can see shooting across their homeland, via fields, past villages, into cities. Japan has twice as many stations per head of population as the UK. Trains are generally modern, clean, punctual and safe. For travellers, the speed can be a bit too jet-like as awesome mountains and rich agricultural landscapes flit by – a blip in the general blur. Tokyo to Aomori in the north, the longest single journey, is only 419 miles (three hours on a Hayabusa train, the fastest service in Japan), but the 33.5-mile Seikan Tunnel – the world's longest undersea tunnel – permits onward travel to Hokkaido. By 2030, a direct line should run up to the city of Sapporo, linking it to Tokyo in less than four hours. The bullets have made sleeper services obsolete, but the Sunrise Express still runs between Tokyo and Okayama, splitting to service two separate branches, and stopping at Osaka on the return leg. The network stretches across the four main islands, with lots of fast and local services branching high-speed off the Shinkansen system. Japan's long, skinny shape lends itself to great rail coverage. 5. Italy Likewise long and narrow, with major urban centres spaced well apart, Italy is also ideal for train travel. Regular, generally punctual Frecciarossa ('red arrow') trains, capable of 300km/h (186mph) connect Venice, Milan, Naples, Bolzano and Genoa along the main ultra-high-speed west coast route. An ordinary high-speed line runs down the opposite coast. East-west connections tend to be slower and it's still quite an odyssey to go all the way to the toe of the boot and cross over to Sicily. The fastest journey from Milan to Palermo – which involves changing at Rome and/or Naples – takes upwards of 15 hours, with ferries conveying through-trains over the Straits of Messina. By the end of 2026, Frecciarossa trains will link Italy with Germany, though the current Munich-Verona-Bologna service (5.5 hours) is lovely precisely because it doesn't go too fast through Upper Bavaria, the Tyrol and Alto Adige. There are Nightjet sleepers between Munich and both Rome and La Spezia and from Stuttgart to Venice and also from Vienna to all three Italian cities. Milan is one of Europe's grandest railway palaces and there are many other imposing stations the length and breadth of this railway superpower. 4. Germany The opening of Berlin Hbf in 2006 was a powerful symbol of German reunification. The impressive glass prism thrills to the constant passage of trains headed to the rest of the country and to Europe. Germany has eight of Europe's 20 busiest stations (the UK has five) – but the German stations serve seven different cities while all the British ones are in London. A lot of journeys across Germany involve flat fields and grey skies, but the old, slow-paced Cologne-Mainz line along the left bank of the Rhine has great mountain and lake views – and some trains have panoramic windows. With just 62.5 per cent of long-distance trains reaching their destination on time (i.e. less than six minutes late) in 2024, the myth of German efficiency has imploded. But regional trains fared better (90.3 per cent were punctual). Germany has the biggest rail network in Europe and its ICE trains are among the most dashing of the high-speeders. Its impressive stations reflect how important trains are to the putative 'heart of Europe'; Leipzig Hauptbahnhof, the largest station in Europe, is where the Saxon and Prussian railways met and is a symbol of the city's – and the nation's – engineering prowess and pride. After its amazing €9 public transport giveaway of 2022, Germany has now committed long-term to the Deutschlandticket: a €58 (£48) monthly pass to use on regional trains as well as buses. 3. France The arrival of the swaggering orange TGV in 1981 confirmed French railways as the new standard for Europe. Gare du Nord is Europe's busiest railway station and Paris is a major hub for onward travel to Germany, Spain and Italy. Night trains out of Gare d'Austerlitz connect the capital to Nice, Lourdes, Narbonne and, in summer, Hendaye (for San Sebastián). In December 2023, Austrian operator ÖBB started a Nightjet sleeper service between Paris and Berlin. Ten lost Intercités de Nuit routes are due to be relaunched by 2030 by the environmentally minded French ministry. Ouigo, France's low-cost option – launched a decade ago – is the model other networks copy. Beautiful stations, some delectable dining options – as on the TGV Lyria Franco-Swiss routes – and frequent, punctual services mean holidaying on French rail is a joy. One dark spot: some of the slower rolling stock is UK-provincial-style awful, even in picturesque regions like the Côte d'Azur. 2. China Twenty-first century China is all about speed, work, busyness, productivity. In a couple of decades the country has opened more than 28,000 miles of high-speed line, and the network is expected to reach around 44,000 miles by 2035. More than three quarters of Chinese cities with a population of 500,000 or more have access to a high-speed rail link. With maximum speeds of 217mph on many lines, intercity travel has been transformed and the dominance of airlines has been seriously challenged on some routes. The map of Chinese railway lines is alluring, though the bulk of routes, and urban centres, is heavily weighted to the east and south east. Major no-change services link Beijing and Shanghai to Xi'an (site of the Terracotta Army), Harbin in Manchuria (known for its ice festival), Hong Kong West Kowloon, Lhasa in Tibet and Urumqi, as well as a host of international services into neighbouring countries, including North Korea – though many cross-border routes were cut back or completely stopped after the pandemic. Backpackers use the 'hard sleepers' but, given the panoply of classes and services, it's worth consulting with a tour firm before booking. There are more than 1.4 billion Chinese and rail travel, especially at holiday times, can be noisy and uncomfortable. 1. India People on the tops of carriages. Commuters rotating like vertical sardines to eject the fortunate alighter. Beggars and the dirt-poor sleeping and toileting on the tracks. Queues a mile long and queue-jumpers employed by the wealthy. Indian railways have a mixed image internationally, though recent years have seen modernisation, improved punctuality and cleaner loos and other facilities. The lines, which cover more than 42,000 miles, are well distributed over the country and the most positive aspect of rail travel in India is that ordinary people do it. The long services are not for tourists, and there's a convivial atmosphere as people chat and share food as they travel. Families with children, senior citizens, pilgrims and business people share the same spaces. So-called express trains in India travel at anything from 35mph to 99mph. There are no high-speed routes. The current longest service (2,581 miles) is a Vivek Express (named after a swami or religious teacher) linking Assam in the northeast with Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south. More than 13,000 passenger trains operate daily to 7,000 stations. All the great sights and landscapes of India can be visited by train and some routes – such as the narrow-gauge Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, the Goa Express, and the Deccan Odyssey luxury service – slice through wonderful landscapes. Increasingly, monied tourists are drawn to exclusive private trains, but these have to give way to the busy public expresses and not everyone enjoys fillet steak and burgundy while gawping at the needy and prayerful.
