VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Rocky Mountaineer has announced a limited-run trip through Canada’s Banff and Jasper national parks to be offered for four weeks in summer 2026.
The “Passage to the Peaks” service will feature two days of viewing the parks with an overnight stay in Kamloops, B.C. It will offered beginning June 10 from Banff; other departures from Banff will be June 14, 18, 24, 28, and July 2 and 8; departures from Jasper are scheduled for June 12, 16, 22, 26, 30, and July 6 and 10. More information is available here. Prices start from Ca$2,834 per person; the trip is also available as part of Rocky Mountaineer vacation packages of up to 10 days.
“With Vancouver expected to welcome a significant number of visitors for the FIFA World Cup, we wanted to offer a route for those seeking an alternative experience,” Rocky Mountaineer spokeswoman Nicole Ford wrote in an email to Trains.com.
The company will continue to offer its “First Passage to the West,” between Vancouver and Banff, and “Journey Through the Clouds” (Vancouver-Jasper) on a reduced schedule during this period.
The new service comes at a time when the future of another Rocky Mountaineer offering, the three-day “Rainforest to Gold Rush” trip between North Vancouver and Jasper, is in doubt because of Canadian National Railway plans to end operations on more than 200 miles of the route [see “CN seeks to end lease …,” Trains.com, July 22, 2025]. The Rainforest to Gold Rush operation will continue through 2026, but the company has yet to determine the long-term impact of CN’s plans. Ford said the new service is unrelated to the Rainforest to Gold Rush operation.
— Updated Aug. 20 at 5:35 p.m CT with additional information from Rocky Mountaineer
For myself and hundreds , if not thousands of property owners along this railway – CN’s decision to decommission the 200mile stretch of railroad comes as a huge relief. There is nothing more annoying than having to listen on Sunday morning to the deafening honking noise these “Rocky Mountaineer” trains are making when crossing a roadway. In my case I have to listen to 16 honks before my peace and quietness comes back. Needless to say that I am looking forward to celebrating the last train that will pass by my property. I hope that the government will turn these useless and rotting tracks into leisure trails for mountain bikers, hikers, dog walkers, equestrians and X-country skiers – that way everyone can enjoy the natural setting in peace and calm.
To all the train lovers:
If you want to experience a truly spectacular route then take the train that travels between Skagway and Carcross – the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway. It is a historic narrow-gauge railway that was originally built during the Klondike Gold Rush. The route is known for its scenic views of mountains, glaciers, trestles, and tunnels. ☮️
That belongs in the NIMBY Hall of Fame (Shame?). The ROCKY MOUNTAINEER runs once a week in each direction–hardly a quality of life killer. But pre-2000 BC Rail ran daily passenger service as far as Lilloet and tri-weekly from there to Prince George, plus as many as 4-5 freights daily. How did anyone survive? If you buy a place near the tracks don’t be surprised if a train goes by.
By the by, I speak from great experience regarding the beauty of this route. For over 30 years I ran a rail based tour company (Rail Travel Center/Rail Travel Adventures) that sold travel and tours on BC Rail and rail passenger services worldwide. Between 1983 and 2000 we put well over a thousand passengers on BCR.
Not only did we support the Royal Hudson and the Caribou Dayliner passenger services, but on six occasions we ran chartered BCR RDC trains with our partner Mountain Outin Tours and rode all the way a thousand miles north the full length of the BCR manline from Vancouver to Fort Nelson on the Alaska Highway. Once we even ventured onto the never completed Dease Lake branch. Clients were consistently amazed at the beauty of BC as revealed from BC Rail.
The White Pass & Yukon is a blow-out as well–indeed its ascent from tidewater at Skagway to the White Pass summit is certainly in the same league as BC Rail’s climb out of the Fraser Canyon. Both would stand very high on any objective list of “Great Scenic Railways!
Don’t know your age but I assume the railway was in place before you showed up. And now you want it to be closed because of two trains a week?
The threatened “Rainforest to Gold Rush” trip includes one of the most spectacular mountain railway mainlines in the world, the former Pacific Great Eastern/British Columbia Rail route. The section the CN is threatening to close includes an unending stream of trackside canyons, waterfalls and towering peaks–topped off by the 26 mile upgrade in the Fraser River Canyon, which takes the tracks from a riverside crossing to a final view thousands of feet above the cascading waters. This is truly amazing!
The long 3% grade up to the Caribou Plateau, (a helper district for all northbound tonnage trains), combined with the lack shippers in this magnificent landscape and CN’s ability to send Prince George-Vancouver traffic via (the very much longer) Red Pass Jct (near Jasper) and Kamloops explains the CN plan, but the BC Rail line hosted long freights for decades. Clearly the CN does not care about transit times for shippers north/west of Prince George. Hopefully the province can find a way out of the CN closure, but I am not optimistic.
If you can do not let riding this route escape your mileage collection. The ROCKY MOUNTAINEER offers great service and all-daylight running. The scenery will more than justify the cost!