Via Rail passengers departing from Montreal are most at risk of being left stranded when their train is cancelled, often without a replacement option, a compilation of the Duty.
In total, Via Rail had to cancel 18 passenger train departures from Montreal in 2023, a year in which the carrier reported a general deterioration in the punctuality of its service. Only one of these cancelled departures was replaced by another train, following an equipment failure last July.
The duty obtained, under the Access to Information Act, details of all cancelled trains departing from Canada’s four busiest stations: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec City. The data shows that passengers on two-thirds of the trains that remained in stations in 2023 were not offered any replacement options by Via Rail.
Travellers from Toronto are faring better, with replacement bus service being offered for 11 of the 20 cancellations last year. Most of those were caused by planned roadworks, giving the carrier plenty of time to arrange an alternative.
Buses have also been mobilized in other unforeseen circumstances, such as during “frozen equipment” which disrupted a departure from Ottawa in February, during a mechanical breakdown which occurred in Quebec City the same month, and again for a departure from Toronto in October 2023, cancelled due to “lack of crew”.
The train is more expensive than the bus. If there is a cancellation, I would expect them to give us options to get there [à destination].
Various causes
Weather has been the reason for most last-minute train cancellations, such as a storm, ice or heavy rain requiring a track inspection. Added to this are a variety of other causes, such as a CN train derailment in March, a wildfire in July or a person struck by a train in August, all of which have resulted in passengers being stranded in Montreal.
According to Torontonian Jacob Munene, who he met during his transit at the Ottawa train station as he was getting ready to board his Via Rail train to Montreal, which was on time, tourists like him choose the train to enjoy the beautiful scenery, while the plane is often the quickest option.
“First, the train is more expensive than the bus. If there is a cancellation, I would expect them to give us options to get there [à destination] “, he believes.
For Quebec City traveler Nîme Pellerin, the important thing is that train tickets are refunded in the event of cancellation, which is what Via Rail is providing. “At least there are other ways to get to the big cities.”
In a written statement, Via Rail said it always tries to get passengers to their destination in the event of an unforeseen event that prevents a train from operating, either by using another nearby train or by chartering buses. “Unfortunately, it is not always possible to charter a large number of buses on short notice,” it said.
Punctuality down
Via Rail’s 2023 annual report touts its efforts to make “the travel experience as enjoyable as possible,” including by purchasing brand new trains. At the same time, it notes that “punctuality has deteriorated since the beginning of the year,” including in the busiest corridor, in Quebec and Ontario, where delays have jumped 69%.
“Poor punctuality and associated delays could negatively impact customer satisfaction and ridership, and could hamper the Corporation’s efforts to bring passengers back on board trains,” senior management noted.
Via Rail is a Crown corporation. However, the carrier does not own the tracks, which were transferred by Ottawa to Canadian National (CN) when it was privatized in 1995. Since then, passenger trains have systematically had to give priority to freight trains, which sometimes causes delays.
The overwhelming majority (96%) of Via Rail passengers travel along the Quebec City-Windsor corridor. A large portion of this route is expected to be served by a high-frequency train (HFT) line by the early 2030s. A consortium is to be chosen this year to carry out this public-private partnership (P3). Ottawa is not promising that the trains will run at high speed, unlike the main train lines in Japan, France, Italy, Germany, China, Spain or South Korea.
The data obtained by The duty show that Toronto’s Union Station is the busiest in the country, recording 1.2 million passengers in 2023, followed by Montreal’s Central Station (777,000 passengers), then those of Ottawa (555,000) and Quebec City (355,000, including those of Sainte-Foy).