VIA Rail Canada reports 5.2 percent revenue increase in 2Q

VIA Rail Canada Inc.'s revenue in the second quarter of 2015 came in at $72.3 million (in Canadian dollars), marking a 5.2 percent increase compared with the same period last year.

At the same time, quarterly operating expenses fell 3.3 percent to $138.4 million, while ridership increased by 0.1 percent to 912,900 passengers compared with 912,400 passengers in second-quarter 2014.

"Our revenues increased compared to last year, showing that our efforts are yielding results. Despite our success in this area, on-time performance continues to deteriorate due to increased freight traffic on third-party owned railways," said President and Chief Executive Officer Yves Desjardins-Siciliano in a press release. "We continue to look for creative ways to improve services within these limitations, in cooperation with our infrastructure partners."

Also during the quarter, VIA Rail unveiled a new seating configuration that eventually will be used in all refurbished LRC cars. Piloted in a business-class car and an economy car, the configuration is aimed at allowing more efficient operations and adding more departures, VIA Rail officials said.

The railroad also debuted a new ridership marketing campaign called, "Who's On Board," which uses personal narratives.

(Editor's note: This story was updated after its initial posting.)