EX-99.1

VITRAN REPORTS RECORD DILUTED EPS OF $0.42 IN 2005 Q3
ON 20 PERCENT INCREASE IN REVENUE

TORONTO, ONTARIO (October 20, 2005) – Vitran Corporation Inc. (NASDAQ: VTNC, TSX: VTN), a North American transportation and logistics firm, today announced record quarterly financial results for the 2005 third quarter ended September 30, 2005 (all figures reported in $U.S.).

For the quarter, Vitran posted all-time records for net income of $5.4 million, earnings per diluted share of $0.42 and revenue of $116.2 million. In the comparable three-month period in the prior year, Vitran recorded net income of $4.5 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, on revenue of $97.0 million.

Vitran President and Chief Executive Officer Rick Gaetz, stated, “With the first full quarter following the closing of our Chris Truck Line (CTL) acquisition, we are delighted to report another period of record operating results, our 16^th consecutive quarter with year-over-year earnings improvement. Importantly, CTL met our expectations and contributed to our improved LTL segment operating ratio.

“Although Vitran’s 2005 Q3 results were an all-time record, our reported results for the quarter would have been even better had it not been for the negative impact of both a prolonged strike at the Port of Vancouver, that was eventually resolved in mid-August, and two third quarter accidents that took place at our Truckload Segment.”

At September 30, 2005, the Company had $10.9 million in cash on hand and an additional $24.6 million of available credit as it continues to seek additional accretive acquisitions in the U.S. that will further expand Vitran’s growing North American presence.

For the nine-month period ended September 30, 2005, Vitran achieved net income of $12.9 million, or $1.01 per diluted share, on revenue of $315.2 million. In the year earlier period, the Company reported net income of $10.6 million, or $0.83 per diluted share, on revenue of $278.1 million.

Segmented Results
Income from operations at Vitran’s LTL (less-than-truckload) segment rose 31 percent during the 2005 third quarter to $7.7 million, led by a 27 percent revenue increase at the U.S. LTL business unit – buoyed by the CTL acquisition – and eight percent higher revenue from the Canadian business unit. The LTL segment’s consolidated OR (operating ratio) improved 50 basis points to 92.0, compared to 92.5 in the year-ago quarter. During the period, yields continued to show improvement at both the U.S. and Canadian LTL units. Vitran’s U.S. LTL business unit achieved an eight percent increase in revenue per shipment, and a 10 percent quarter over prior year quarter improvement in revenue per hundredweight. Its Canadian LTL business unit posted a 15 percent increase in revenue per shipment and revenue per hundredweight rose approximately 10 percent.

Vitran’s Logistics segment recorded 49 percent higher income from operations and an OR improvement to 94.8 in the 2005 third quarter, versus 95.9 in the prior year quarter. The Truckload segment had operating income of $0.4 million on revenue of $8.9 million during the three-month period.

Guidance Update
Vitran management maintained its 2005 diluted earnings per share guidance of $1.35 to $1.47.

About Vitran Corporation Inc.
Vitran Corporation Inc. is a North American group of transportation companies offering
less-than-truckload, logistics, truckload, and freight brokerage services. To find out more about Vitran Corporation Inc. (NASDAQ:VTNC, TSX:VTN), visit the website at www.vitran.com.

Statements in the press release regarding management’s future expectation, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. For this purpose, any statements that are contained herein that are not statements or historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Without limiting the foregoing, the words “believes”, “anticipates”, “plans” “intends”, “will”, “should”, ”expects”, “projects”, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual result, future circumstances or events to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, economic factors, demand for the Company’s services, fuel price fluctuations, the availability of employee drivers and independent contractors, risks associated with geographic expansion, capital requirements, claims exposure and insurance costs, competition, government regulation changes, environmental hazards and other risks detailed from time-to-time in the Company’s public disclosure documents or other filing with the Canadian and United States securities commissions or other securities regulatory bodies. The forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof, and the Company disclaims any intention and has no obligation or responsibility, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

VITRAN CORPORATION INC.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(in thousands of United States dollars)


	Sept. 30, 2005		Dec. 31, 2004
Assets	(Unaudited)
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	10,809	$	7,375
Marketable securities		—		33,087
Accounts receivable		52,885		40,124
Inventory, deposits and prepaid expenses		7,354		5,924
Future income tax assets		1,675		3,667

		72,723		90,177
Capital assets		63,683		37,563
Goodwill		63,990		45,304

	$	200,396	$	173,044

Liabilities and Shareholders’ Equity
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable & accrued liabilities	$	42,333	$	33,377
Income and other taxes payable		750		2,399
Current portion of long-term debt		5,283		3,030

		48,366		38,806
Long-term debt		12,622		11,507
Future income tax liabilities		4,847		3,546
Shareholders’ equity:
Common shares		63,361		60,798
Contributed surplus		797		323
Retained earnings		67,298		54,972
Cumulative translation adjustment		3,105		3,092

		134,561		119,185

	$	200,396	$	173,044

VITRAN CORPORATION INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
(unaudited)
(in thousands of $U.S., except share and per share amounts)


	Three Months		Three Months		Nine Months		Nine Months
	Ended September 30,		Ended September 30,		Ended September 30,		Ended September 30,
	2005		2004		2005		2004
Revenues	$	116,226	$	96,995	$	315,217	$	278,072
Operating expenses		96,061		82,269		262,947		236,508
Selling, general and administrative
expenses		10,399		7,267		29,011		23,631
Other income		-6		-29		-33		-142

		106,454		89,507		291,925		259,997
Income from operations before
depreciation		9,772		7,488		23,292		18,075
Depreciation expense		1,954		1,295		4,802		3,835

Income from operations before undernoted		7,818		6,193		18,490		14,240
Interest expense, net		171		7		209		87
Income from operations before income taxes		7,647		6,186		18,281		14,153
Income taxes		2,271		1,644		5,355		3,575

Net income	$	5,376	$	4,542	$	12,926	$	10,578


Earnings per share:
Basic	$	0.43	$	0.37	$	1.04	$	0.86

Diluted	$	0.42	$	0.36	$	1.01	$	0.83

Weighted average number of shares
Basic		12,584,358		12,339,956		12,481,840		12,241,013

Diluted		12,921,695		12,774,744		12,819,872		12,730,065

VITRAN CORPORATION INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(unaudited)
(In thousands of United States dollars)


	Three months			Three months			Nine months			Nine months
	Ended			Ended			Ended			Ended
	Sept. 30, 2005			Sept. 30, 2004			Sept. 30, 2005			Sept. 30, 2004

Cash provided by (used in):
Operations:
Net income	$	5,376		$	4,542		$	12,926		$	10,578

Items not involving cash from operations:
Depreciation expense		1,954			1,295			4,802			3,835
Future income taxes		2,030			1,726			2,677			1,557
Stock based compensation expense		181			119			474			177
Gain on sale of capital assets		(6	)		(29	)		(33	)		(142	)

		9,535			7,653			20,846			16,005
Change in non-cash working capital components		(3,961	)		(480	)		(6,658	)		(7,221	)

		5,574			7,173			14,188			8,784
Investing:
Purchase of capital assets		(10,806	)		(915	)		(17,651	)		(3,993	)
Proceeds on sale of capital assets		50			28			88			242
								(28,192	)
Acquisition of subsidiary		(1,693	)		—			—			—
Marketable securities		3,193			(148	)		31,974			(439	)

		(9,256	)		(1,035	)		(13,781	)		(4,190	)
Financing:
Revolving credit facility		5,074			—			5,074			—
Repayment of long-term debt		(570	)		(2,169	)		(1,710	)		(6,146	)
Issue of Common Shares upon exercise of stock options		18			503			60			1,402
Repurchase of Common Shares		(65	)		—			(921	)		—

		4,457			(1,666	)		2,503			(4,744	)
Effect of translation adjustment on cash		498			63			524			229

Increase (decrease) in cash position		1,273			4,535			3,434			79
Cash position, beginning of period		9,536			7,961			7,375			12,417

Cash position, end of period	$	10,809		$	12,496		$	10,809		$	12,496


Change in non-cash working capital components:
Accounts receivable	$	(5,886	)	$	(2,343	)	$	(9,717	)	$	(9,179	)
Inventory, deposits and prepaid expenses		534			(1,077	)		(921	)		(393	)
Income and other taxes recoverable/payable		(1,565	)		(1,019	)		(1,649	)		(1,078	)
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities		2,956			3,959			5,629			3,429

	$	(3,961	)	$	(480	)	$	(6,658	)	$	(7,221	)


	U.S. LTL			Q. over Q.				CDN LTL		Q. over Q.
($U.S.) Division			% Change ($CDN)				Division				% Change
Revenue (000’s)	$	56,824			26.7	Revenue (000's)		$	47,350		7.6

No. of Shipments		459,192			17.3	No. of Shipments			221,415		(6.4	)

Weight (000’s lbs)		640,602			14.9	Weight (000's lbs)			434,082		(1.9	)

Revenue per shipment	$	123.76			8.0	Revenue per shipment		$	213.85		15.0

Revenue per CWT	$	8.87			10.2	Revenue per CWT		$	10.91		9.6


For the nine months ended
September 30,2005
	U.S. LTL		Yr. over Yr.			CDN LTL		Yr. over Yr.
($U.S.)	Division		% Change		($CDN)	Division		% Change

Revenue (000’s)	$	149,460		15.1	Revenue (000's)	$	133,808		6.1

No. of Shipments		1,250,312		9.6	No. of Shipments		645,642		(6.4	)

Weight (000’s lbs)		1,743,199		5.8	Weight (000's lbs)		1,260,687		(4.5	)

Revenue per shipment	$	119.54		5.1	Revenue per shipment	$	207.25		13.4

Revenue per CWT	$	8.62		8.8	Revenue per CWT	$	10.61		11.1


For the quarter							For the quarter
ended September 30,							ended September 30,
2005							2004
	Revenue		Inc. from		OR%			Revenue		Inc. from		OR%
		—	Operations			—			—	Operations			—

LTL		96,658		7,734		92.0	LTL		78,727		5,895		92.5

LOG		10,652		551		94.8	LOG		8,936		370		95.9

TL		8,916		441		95.1	TL		9,332		565		93.9


For the nine							For the nine months
months ended Sept.							ended Sept. 30,
30, 2005							2004
	Revenue		Inc. from		OR%			Revenue		Inc. from		OR%
		—	Operations			—			—	Operations			—

LTL		259,191		17,620		93.2	LTL		224,943		13,459		94.0

LOG		29,144		1,531		94.7	LOG		25,872		1,142		95.6

TL		26,882		1,901		92.9	TL		27,527		1,500		94.5


CONTACT:
Richard Gaetz, President/CEO Sean Washchuk, VP Finance/CFO Vitran Corporation Inc. 416/596-7664		Robert Rinderman Jaffoni & Collins Incorporated 212/835-8500 or VTNC@jcir.com