VIA Rail

[reaperexpress]

So in those intervening hours, nobody had the authority, ability or foresight to get provisions for the passengers, maybe even a bus as soon as they got to a siding or crossing, in that deep wilderness area of Quebec? Here we go again.

Not being a railroader, but it took 3 hours for another train to hook-up and haul it back a short distance?

On the 6th of March when I took Via from Ottawa to Toronto they held us for an hour in Brockville with the intention to back up to Cornwall to rescue a stranded train from Montreal. After an hour they let us go because the following train from Ottawa showed up (they were the ones who ended up rescuing that train)

Even though our delay was only an hour, the crew ordered pizza to Kingston Station, which they picked up during our station stop there and handed out during the trip. Had they not given us pizza, I would have been quite hungry by the time I arrived in Toronto since I had intended to get lunch after I arrived.

It seems quite absurd that a train that was stranded next to a public road, only a 5 minute drive from the nearest town, and 60 minutes from the major station in Québec City would go for 5+ hours without being at least being reprovisionned for food and water. This was hardly deep wilderness. Is there no food delivery service in St-Apolinnaire, Laurier-Station or Québec City?

The statement from Via Rail in the TVA article says that passengers received drinks, snacks and a meal during the delay. Are they implying that that is sufficient food and drink for 14 hours? The passenger interviewed confirmed that they received food and drink, but only for the first 4 hours, leaving them without food or water for the remaining 6 hours of delay.

 

[crs1026]

So in those intervening hours, nobody had the authority, ability or foresight to get provisions for the passengers, maybe even a bus as soon as they got to a siding or crossing, in that deep wilderness area of Quebec? Here we go again.

Not being a railroader, but it took 3 hours for another train to hook-up and haul it back a short distance?

There are explanations being offered by usually reliable sources on Facebook (which being unofficial, I won't propagate) about why the rescue of the equipment took all day (hint: more than just the trainset had problems) - but these don't explain why the focus was on rescuing the equipment and not the passengers.

Sure seems to me that there needs to be a higher power that takes charge for any delay where passengers are kept on train for over x hours. I feel the same way about airplanes held on the tarmac or out of gate. Passengers should not have to come equipped with enough living supplies to camp out.

- Paul

 

[reaperexpress]

Sure seems to me that there needs to be a higher power that takes charge for any delay where passengers are kept on train for over x hours. I feel the same way about airplanes held on the tarmac or out of gate. Passengers should not have to come equipped with enough living supplies to camp out.

This is what I'm thinking as well. At minimum there should be additional staff who can drop their regular duties and be called upon to assist the response teams when delays are expected to be over x hours. Perhaps the additional office staff could help out with tasks such as figuring out how to get food and water to the train.

When I was a planner at the TTC, the office staff were all trained for front line duty for the purpose of helping out with crowd control during the Pan Am games. My office was in North York Centre so during the van attack I walked to Sheppard-Yonge station to help with crowd control there, since trains were offloading thousands of confused customers who had intended to go to Finch.

Here's a comparable incident from last week in the Netherlands. A train had broken down in the countryside. The first response team drove with lights and sirens to the train to assess the situation and coordinate further response. They ordered bottles of water, to be brought by the second unit on site. They ordered a shuttle bus but there was no public road adjacent to the train so they evacuated passengers onto the railway and escorted them as they walked 15 minutes along the railway to the nearest roadway crossing where the bus could pick them up.

 

[dowlingm]

According to groups.io, 2300/2209 was the guilty party, and a pair of P42s bracketing a HEP car fetched it.

The question that occurs to me is - shouldn’t Montreal-Quebec City services be busy enough to justify some double track on the Drummondville Subdivision in the foreseeable future, and not merely a scattering of sidings? A rescue train (with sufficient capacity) could have cross decked those passengers off.

 

[Allandale25]

The incident is getting some media attention. Stressful situation for the crew and passengers.

10-hour delay on VIA Rail train to Quebec City

A chaotic 13-hour VIA Rail train ride to Quebec City – delayed by two mechanical issues – reached a boiling point Saturday after an employee allegedly pushed a passenger before grabbing another’s phone right from his hands while he filmed the situation. What should have been, at the most, a...

montreal.citynews.ca

 

[nfitz]

I suspect it will get media attention mostly because of the report that a VIA staff member was physically assaulting passengers than because the train was late.

 

[crs1026]

The question that occurs to me is - shouldn’t Montreal-Quebec City services be busy enough to justify some double track on the Drummondville Subdivision in the foreseeable future, and not merely a scattering of sidings? A rescue train (with sufficient capacity) could have cross decked those passengers off.

The number and spacing of controlled sidings is pretty reasonable, actually - in keeping with what VIA has on its own single track lines, and possibly more than a vanilla HFR proposal might require. . If more frequent trains were planned, one might look at extending some sidings to allow freight to clear more expeditiously.

Try guessing where double tracking might be needed for such a contingency..... if one added track for that purpose, one would have to double track much of the line.

The bigger question that a look at the timetable begs is..... what is the service plan for this line post HxR? My angst is that VIA might be reducing, not adding trains, and that might actually drive withdrawal of some sidings..

- Paul

 

[micheal_can]

The bigger question that a look at the timetable begs is..... what is the service plan for this line post HxR? My angst is that VIA might be reducing, not adding trains, and that might actually drive withdrawal of some sidings..

- Paul

Quebec support for high speed rail could be a challenge for High Frequency project - Trains

MONTREAL — With political support lining up in Quebec behind high speed rail service between that province and Ontario, Canada’s Transport Minister — who has been working to advance a more conventional-speed “High Frequency Rail” project — has said he is open to a hybrid approach along the...

www.trains.com

My understanding is they would use the line north of the River.

 

[crs1026]

My understanding is they would use the line north of the River.

Exactly. And then what happens to service to the communites along this line?

- Paul

 

[micheal_can]

Exactly. And then what happens to service to the communites along this line?

- Paul

The same thing planned for the Kingston Sub.