In a press release Senior Director, Corporate Communications for VIA Rail Marie-Anna Murat stated passenger rail service wouldn’t be operating until at least Thursday.
As you know, for the past few days, train service has been affected between Montreal-Toronto and Toronto-Ottawa due to a blockade on the tracks near Belleville, Ontario.
Bearing in mind the heavy rail congestion that has been building since last Friday east and west of the blockade near Belleville, VIA Rail is working with the infrastructure owner on the specifics of the resumption of service which is estimated to take at least 36 hours from the time the line is cleared.
Although we remain hopeful that a resolution will be reached, in view of the current uncertainty, VIA Rail is cancelling all departures until Thursday end of day on the Montréal-Toronto and Toronto-Ottawa routes, in both directions.
Furthermore, since the blockade continues near New Hazelton (British Columbia), normal rail activities are interrupted between Prince Rupert-Prince George, in both directions until further notice.
VIA Rail is processing full refunds for the cancelled trips automatically which could take up to 10 days due to the volume of transactions. This refund applies to all services affected by the blockades as well as related connections.
Passengers are being provided with details concerning their trip by email as the situation evolves and are invited to visit our website at viarail.ca for the updated schedule.
As of 8 a.m. on February 11th, 157 trains were cancelled since the beginning of the blockade. The total number of passengers impacted at that point is at least 24 500.
For information, passengers can call our VIA Customer Center at 1-888-VIA-RAIL (1-888 842-7245), TTY 800-268-9503 (deaf or hard of hearing). Customers trying from Eastern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area might be unable to get through using the toll-free number. If you are experiencing this issue, please contact us on one of the following temporary local numbers: 613-691-1869 or 647-475-1274.
We know that this unfortunate situation has an impact on our passengers travelling plans and we apologize for the inconvenience it is causing. We encourage them, if they need to travel in the affected areas over the next 2 days, to use alternative modes of transportation.
Please note that normal operations are maintained from Toronto to Southwestern Ontario, between Montréal-Ottawa and Montréal-Québec.
We invite you to reach out to CN, the infrastructure owner, for any progress regarding the resolution of the blockade.
We will continue to provide regular updates as required.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
