Cedric Coderre was one of dozens of travelers stuck on a Via Rail train for 10 hours earlier this year.
Passengers aboard train 622 on August 31 were left hungry and thirsty and forced to contend with foul-smelling and sometimes unusable toilets as the government-owned passenger railway suffered mechanical breakdowns. Ta.
Coderre told a recent House of Commons committee investigating the incident that some passengers on the Montreal-Quebec City trip were frustrated after waiting for hours with little to eat other than a bag of pretzels. became combative with Via employees.
“It sounded like the staff were getting rough with some of the passengers in the other vehicles,” Coderre said.
Coderre, who frequently travels domestically and internationally, told MPs that he experiences more plane and train delays here in Canada than anywhere else.
“As far as I’ve noticed, there’s no lag at all around the world compared to what we’ve seen in the past,” he said.
Some Via Rail passengers are demanding answers and accountability after being stranded for 10 hours on a train from Montreal to Quebec City on Saturday for lack of food, water and toilets.
The Aug. 31 delay was a particularly egregious incident, with the company’s CEO saying things like this don’t happen very often, but Via train passengers face 18-hour delays in December 2022. What he did is famous.
But data shows Via trains are frequently delayed and the problem is getting worse.
Only 59% of Via trains arrived on time last year, according to figures published in the company’s annual report.
This number is lower than the company’s on-time performance prior to COVID-19, with about 68 percent of Via trains arriving on time in 2019.
Via’s on-time performance last year was also an astonishing 23 percentage points lower than its 2013 performance of 82%.
Via’s frequent delays have cost passengers time, money, and time with friends, family, and colleagues.
Delays also cost railroads millions of dollars in lost revenue, as Via compensates passengers for: travel credit In some cases, delays of an hour or more may occur.
The railroad paid out $1.7 million in travel credits last year, according to data the company provided to CBC News. This is an increase from $1.13 million in 2022.
According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, Via’s on-time performance in 2023 is even worse than Air Canada’s on-time performance of 63%, making Air Canada one of the continent’s 10 largest airlines last year. He said he had the dubious honor of coming in last place.
And rail travelers have no access to transportation, unlike airline passengers who receive poor service and face unreasonable delays. “Passenger Bill of Rights” when things don’t go well.
Most of the delays are due to CN Rail: Via
A Via spokesperson blamed Canada’s major railroads for poor on-time performance.
Via owns very little of its own trucking infrastructure, only 3%, the spokesperson said.
Most of the track along the Quebec City-Windsor corridor is owned by CN Rail, which wants to get freight to market as quickly as possible.
The Via trains that operate along this corridor in central Canada (which accounts for the bulk of Via’s revenue and ridership) are used while CN promotes its own products, many of which are important to the economy. , often pushed to the side.
A Via spokesperson said the small section of track that Via actually owns between Ottawa and Montreal had on-time performance rates of nearly 90 per cent last year.
“While there are many reasons why trains are delayed (such as mechanical or trespasser accidents), the majority of Via Rail delays are caused by issues with the host railway, most of which are restrictions related to rail congestion or infrastructure maintenance. The train was instructed to slow down,” the spokesperson said.
But Amtrak, the U.S. government-owned passenger rail service, also runs most of its trains on tracks owned by freight companies and still has much better on-time performance.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, About 75% of Amtrak trains were on time In 2023, railways will my numbers Indicates that some routes perform worse than that.
“That’s shameful.”
Peter Miacek is president of the Ontario chapter of Transport Action Canada, an organization that advocates for rail and bus services.
Miasek said there’s a reason Via’s U.S. side is doing better: The U.S. government passed a law decades ago that required railroads to prioritize Amtrak passengers over freight. It is said that Canada has no such law.
In the early 1970s, the U.S. government effectively nationalized the underperforming passenger rail services of private railroads. In exchange for that relief, the government forced shipping companies to be more considerate of the traveling public.
It doesn’t always work as intended. Although Amtrak has had disputes with companies like Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific, its on-time performance remains significantly better overall than what’s happening here in Canada.
Mr Miacek said Via’s poor performance was a “major concern” and the government needed to bring forward legislation and regulations to give priority to passenger rail.
A recent petition was submitted to Congress calling for such changes. Gathered approximately 10,000 signatures.
“We need to improve on-time performance,” Miasek told CBC. “I was recently on a train from Toronto to Ottawa and got stuck behind a freight train. A four-hour journey was delayed by two hours. It’s shameful.” news.
“Finishing on time can make you feel happy. My personal track record is that I’m on time less than 59% of the time. That’s for sure.”
Asked about the company’s role in Via’s delays, a CN spokesperson said the company “understands that our operations can impact transit times for our partners and their customers, and we We are working hard to ensure delays are kept to a minimum.”
- Have you ever experienced delays when traveling on Via Rail? JP wants to hear your story. send him an email jp.tasker@cbc.ca
While Miacek welcomed the news that the federal government is reportedly moving forward with building high-speed rail, he said it’s not enough to just promise to build a new corridor that will likely take decades to complete. He said no.
High-speed rail is “attractive,” he said, but there are other fixes that could make passenger rail more acceptable.
Miasek said that in addition to prioritizing passenger rail, the government could also help pay for through tracks and longer sidings to allow Via trains to pass freight trains.
In exchange for that investment, Ottawa could require “via-nice-to-via clauses” from CN and other freight railroads, he added.
“Canadians expect to depart and arrive on time, and expect excellent standards of service when they travel,” said a spokesperson for Transport Minister Anita Anand.
“Our Liberal government is committed to modern, safe and reliable passenger rail,” the spokesperson added, pointing to recent investments to upgrade Via’s fleet with new rolling stock.
The spokesperson did not address questions about Via prioritizing rail passengers over freight to restore more acceptable on-time performance.
