Canada's national rail service provider is VIA Rail (tel: 1 888 842 7245; website: www.viarail.com), but the nearest station to Calgary lies 299km (186 miles) to the north, in Edmonton. Edmonton's rail station, located at 12360 121st Street, has free parking (long and short term), although this is not recommended. The only direct passenger service to Calgary is offered by the privately run Rocky Mountaineer (tel: (403) 294 9298 or 1 800 665 7245; website: www.rockymountaineer.com), which terminates Downtown, near the Calgary Tower (reservations are required).

Rail services: VIA Rail's transcontinental trains arrive at Edmonton from western cities, such as Vancouver (journey time - 23 hours) and Kamloops (journey time - 13 hours 25 minutes). Services originating in Toronto (journey time - 47 hours 10 minutes) pass through Winnipeg (journey time - 15 hours 15 minutes) and Saskatoon (journey time - 5 hours 35 minutes) on the journey west. The Rocky Mountaineer service is aimed at tourists, with the journey from Vancouver broken by an overnight stop in Kamloops, so that the entire rail journey through the scenic Rockies is in daylight. The thrice-weekly service runs from mid April to mid October.

Transport to the city: Edmonton is connected to Calgary by Highway 2 and frequent coach services are available (see Getting There By Road).