Thousands of Canadian passenger train riders may have to change their travel plans for a second day after a nationwide rail lockout paralyzed lines in major metropolitan areas.
Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to impose final and binding arbitration to end the work stoppage.
Canadian National Railway Company (CN) said late Thursday it had ended its lockout and launched a recovery plan, while Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) said it was preparing to restart operations.
The CPKC also said in a statement that the CCRI had called an urgent meeting Thursday evening to resume service, but noted that the Teamsters union has refused to discuss the resumption of service and wants to submit submissions to challenge the constitutionality of Mr. MacKinnon’s directive.
PHOTO PATRICK DOYLE, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Steven MacKinnon, Federal Minister of Labour
CN and CPKC locked out workers after failing to reach an agreement on a new contract by a 12:01 a.m. deadline Thursday, the first simultaneous shutdown of Canada’s two largest railways.
In the Montreal region, three of the exo network train lines that run on the CPKC tracks will remain suspended on Friday, namely those of Vaudreuil/Hudson, Saint-Jérôme and Candiac. Trains running on the CN network, namely the Mont-Saint-Hilaire and Mascouche lines, will maintain normal service.
Exo spokeswoman Catherine Maurice said the timing of the resumption of services remains unknown. “We are awaiting instructions from the CPKC before deciding on the terms and timing of the resumption of commuter train service,” she said Thursday.
Confused travellers were turned away from closed rail lines Thursday, and the agency responsible for GO Transit in Ontario said service would remain disrupted Friday on the Milton line and at Hamilton GO Station.
British Columbia’s regional carrier, TransLink, announced that West Coast Express service would also remain out of service Friday.
VIA Rail said trains on its 480-kilometre Sudbury-White River line, which runs three times a week in northern Ontario, are cancelled until the work stoppage is resolved.
Affected commuter railways in Ontario and British Columbia also operate on CPKC-owned lines.
The CPKC said Thursday that further details on the timetable for resuming service would be provided once it received the order from the industrial relations board.