(Ottawa) Senior VIA Rail executives gave their mea culpa on Friday and assured that the rail carrier’s practices are being reviewed with the help of experts to learn from the delays that have plagued travelers during celebrations.
“It’s totally unacceptable,” admitted the big boss of VIA Rail when he was questioned about the passengers who remained stuck in a train for nearly 18 hours.
It’s “obvious” that there is room for improvement in protocols, especially those in the event of winter storms, said Martin R. Landry, the interim president and chief executive officer, before the standing committee on Transport of the House of Commons.
Earlier this month, the Crown corporation apologized for widespread delays passengers experienced between Dec. 23 and 26 as a winter storm swept through Ontario and Quebec.
PHOTO JUSTIN TANG, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Martin R. Landry, Interim President and CEO of VIA Rail
The railway company said the derailment of a Canadian National (CN) freight train has caused further delays for its trains in its east-west corridor between Quebec City and Windsor, Ont.
“We can do a lot better” in our communications, he admitted, adding that even in a constantly changing situation “recognizing that you don’t know all the facts is reassuring rather than remaining silent”.
VIA Rail also recognizes that “clearly” the quantity of emergency food and water on board trains is not sufficient, despite the Crown corporation ensuring that it has more in winter.
The rules in place were also not followed when employees continued selling food from carts rather than giving it away. In fact, the chief customer officer, Rita Toporowski, said she did not know if passengers who made such purchases were reimbursed.
Similarly, the carrier acknowledged that maintaining only one or two functional toilets per train – with employees taking care of the emptying – was insufficient.
And, finally, communication with CN, which owns the rails, could have been better and improvements would have been identified, it was said to Liberal MP Angelo Iacono.
The committee meeting also revealed that the Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra, did not speak with VIA Rail until January 11, which the Conservative vice-chairman of the committee, Mark Strahl, deplored.
horror night
The situation that affected one of the VIA Rail trains overnight on December 23 was “beyond anything we had experienced previously,” testified Mr.me Toporowski.
The train in question was in an almost inaccessible place when it hit a tree which “shattered the windshield of the locomotive” and then ended up on a passenger car. The responsibility then fell to CN, by virtue of “industry standards”, to come and move the trunk.
A first response team was dispatched to the scene, but was involved in a road accident due to the difficult conditions, and the second team judged that the winds were too strong to remove the tree safely, explained the big boss.
Around 5 a.m. the food started to run out. And it was only after 13 hours of immobilization that the train was able to restart.
VIA Rail was unable to tell Bloc Québécois Xavier Barsalou-Duval whether the situation would have been corrected more quickly if it had owned the tracks – as is the case for barely 3% of its network – in which case its employees would have had the ability to move the famous tree trunk.
The vice-president of rail operations, Michael Brankley, dismissed the suggestion of NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice to equip the trains with chainsaws. “Employees are definitely not trained for this,” he said.
Several elected officials deplored the refusal of CN and the Railway Association of Canada to come and testify before the committee, one of them calling them “contemptuous”.
Passenger protection
Opposition MPs in Ottawa say it’s time to expand the Air Passenger Protection Regulations to cover rail travel as well.
Passengers affected by the cancellations have all been refunded and those stuck on trains overnight from December 23 to 24 have also received a credit equal to the value of their ticket, we learned.
VIA Rail management has not objected to elected officials legislating to better protect passengers, provided that the companies that own the rails are part of the conversation.
“Part of this will come from the promulgation of rules and guidelines which would, for example, give greater priority to passenger train services [par rapport aux trains de marchandises] so that schedules can be respected and avoid the need for penalties, as the number of delays would be considerably reduced,” said Mr. Landry.
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra testified before the committee earlier this month. He promised to tighten the rules, which critics say lack the teeth to hold companies accountable for compensating air passengers.
In a statement provided to The Canadian Press, Alghabra’s office did not say whether the minister supported calls to expand the current passenger protection regime to cover those traveling by train.
“VIA Rail’s situation during the holiday season was unacceptable. Passengers deserve to be informed, especially in the unprecedented weather conditions Canadians have experienced,” spokeswoman Nadine Ramadan said in an email.
“The safety of crew and passengers is always a top priority. All options are on the table to further enhance passenger safety,” she said.