OTTAWA– Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez has truly supplied Via Rail a due date to make some modifications adhering to a prepare hold-up that left vacationers stranded over the weekend break.
Rodriguez knowledgeable Via Rail in a letter it has thirty day to improve its emergency state of affairs monitoring exercise technique and he motivates it to collaborate with Transport Canada to arrange an upgraded interactions technique in the exact same timeframe.
He’s moreover requesting for an unbiased examination proper into the prevalence wherein vacationers had been stranded for 10 hours as they lacked meals, water and functioning loos.
Rodriguez known as the prevalence “unacceptable for Canadians” and requested that Via Rail’s board “report to me on the corrective actions to be implemented.”
The upgraded technique has to offer info regarding interplay with vacationers, he said.
“Via Rail must also explain how it intends to provide basic care of passengers (e.g., potable water, food, functioning toilets) and other services, such as a reliable access to telephone and internet connectivity, by looking at alternative solutions.”
Rodriguez said he moreover anticipates the technique to “clarify the level of compensation to passengers when such disruptive events occur.”
He saved in thoughts Via Rail previously said it had truly resolved considerations adhering to comparable disturbances all through the 2022 vacation, nonetheless he said that technique “failed” when examined final weekend break.
Via Rail said in a declaration the scale of time vacationers had been caught on the prepare is “unacceptable.”
The Crown agency states it’ll definitely appoint an unbiased analysis and has truly at present begun executing quite a few procedures.
It previously validated a prepare broken down in between Montreal and Quebec City after experiencing 2 successive mechanical considerations.
Rodriguez said in his letter he’s “concerned that a breakdown happened with a new fleet,” and wishes “to be sure Via Rail is taking the right steps, including working with suppliers, to fix the problem.”
This document by The Canadian Press was very first releasedSept 5, 2024.
— With information from Mickey Djuric
Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press
