Harold F. Murray, 1924 – 2016

Harold Francis Murray, former Senior Advisor – Passenger and On Board Services, PTSI Transportation, Winnipeg, Alberta, Canada, has passed away, the company announced April 11, 2016. He was 92.

“In many respects, Murray was one of the last members of the transitional generation between the era when railways handled most of the domestic passenger traffic and that in which they fought to maintain an important role,” PTSI Transportation says. “His work on Canadian National, and later VIA Rail Canada, helped pass along valuable lessons in traditional and historic methods, while adapting to a new age and employing techniques which ensured that true hospitality would never go out of style.”

Murray was born in 1924 and was married to the late Viola “Vi” Rolls for about 65 years. They had five children and numerous grandchildren, and several of their offspring maintained the Murray presence in the railway industry. Murray started with Canadian National in 1943 rising through the ranks of the dining car department to General Manager – Passenger Services. Later, when VIA Rail Canada was formed to take over the intercity passenger service in Canada, Murray was appointed Vice President –VIA West, moving from his long-time home in Montreal to Winnipeg. He retired with more than 50 years of railway service, and then served as a consultant with PTSI Transportation until his passing. Murray had been instrumental in the exciting years of the 1960 decade at CN, when despite international downward trends in intercity rail passenger service, CN’s traffic level increased to the point at which much new and used equipment had to be added to the fleet. Much of this was attributed to the Red, White and Blue pricing system CN adopted, and to innovative service techniques and fleet design. Harold was instrumental in much of this.

Murray served as Chairman of the Executive Committee, and finally, as the last President of the American Association of Railroad Dining Car Officers, prior to that organization closing its books in 1971 with the onset of Amtrak and VIA. He played a key role in the organization of the 3rd International Conference on Railway On Board Services held in Washington DC in 2002. At this conference, Paul Cote, President of VIA Rail Canada and Michael Weinman, President of PTSI Transportation, presented Harold with a joint Lifetime Achievement Award.

“We join the Murray family, the CN family, and the VIA Rail Canada family in mourning the loss of this extraordinary railroader,” PTSI Transportation says.