When British Columbia became part of Canada in 1871, one of the promises the federal government made was to link it to the rest of Canada by rail. Most of the trains that use the CPR carry freight, and the CPR used to run passenger train services until they were taken over by Via Rail in 1978. For many years, until the airplane was invented, the railway was the only way to move people across the country. Because of this, it had a big role in the settlement and development of Western Canada.