Improving Efficiency at VIA Rail  Guest Post by James Cobban - One of the features of the current implementation of passenger rail in Canada that significantly increases travel time and the operational costs of VIA Rail is the time which it takes at each station to disembark and board passengers because the platform is about a metre lower than the entrance to the passenger rail car. This metre gap is also contrary to the goal of eliminating physical mobility barriers. At a few stations, most notably Union Station in Toronto, this barrier is only addressed by the use of passenger lift devices which require that the train be ready well before departure time so that disabled passengers can be pre-boarded. These lift devices are only available at a few stations, and require that VIA rail have additional staff on hand to assist with boarding, which is demeaning to disabled passengers. It is a fact that outside of North America almost all passenger stations have en...