Two consecutive mechanical issues were the cause of a delay from Montreal to Quebec City on Saturday, according to Via Rail.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
Carmel Tanaka’s trip from Montreal to Quebec City was supposed to take around 3½ hours but it was 14 hours before she finally arrived at the station.
Ms. Tanaka was one of 214 passengers stranded for 10 hours on a Via Rail journey on Saturday, and for some of the time she and her fellow passengers did not have access to working washrooms or water.
“It was pretty bonkers,” said Ms. Tanaka, who was travelling to meet a long-lost cousin.
Two consecutive mechanical issues were the cause of the delay, according to Via Rail, which added that no other options for moving passengers existed. Shuttle buses, for example, were unavailable in the region and exiting a train – away from a station – is dangerous and a last resort, it said.
The company said passengers were offered beverages and snacks throughout the day, and that a meal was delivered toward the end of the trip. But there was a 90-minute period when the engine was shut off because of repair attempts. During this time, there was no running water, no air conditioning and the toilets did not flush.
As the delay went on, the irritation built, said Ms. Tanaka, adding that it hit a boiling point when an employee snatched a phone from a passenger.
Eventually another train did arrive, at which point the fire department was called to help with the transfer.
Ms. Tanaka said the situation was not “life or death” but that it was “extremely frustrating” to be trapped in the carriage, sitting for hours unable to stretch her legs or go outside.
She said she was also upset because she was only going to be in Quebec City for two days. “I missed a whole day to spend with my cousin.”
On Sunday, federal Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez said he will meet with Via Rail leadership to learn about how the delay happened.
“This is unacceptable and we will get to the bottom of this,” Mr. Rodriguez said on X. “I’m meeting with VIA’s leadership this week. Passengers deserve better.”
Via Rail has offered full refunds and a 100-per-cent travel credit to passengers aboard train 622.
“VIA Rail understands this unfortunate situation impacted the travel plan of its passengers and offers its deepest apologies for the inconvenience caused,” the company said in a statement to The Globe and Mail.
The event was extremely challenging but to be expected, said Jonathan English, a fellow at Marron Institute of Urban Management at New York University. Mr. English lives in Toronto.
Only 59 per cent of Via’s trains were on time in 2023, according to reporting from The Globe. Mr. English said this is partly because much of Via Rail’s infrastructure is dated and prone to mechanical failure. For example, a few of the trains on the Montreal to Quebec route are 50 to 70 years old, he said.
Minimizing delays will require updating the fleet, said Mr. English, and fortunately this work is under way. In 2022, Via Rail started to deploy a new fleet of trains for the corridor between Quebec City and Windsor.
However, while this should cut down on delays caused by mechanical issues, other delays on Canada’s passenger rail lines will continue, said Barry Prentice, a transportation professor at the University of Manitoba.
This is largely because, unlike passenger rail service in most European countries, Via Rail does not own the rail tracks. Most of the rail line used is owned by Canadian National Railway Co. This means that passenger rail is constantly stuck behind heavier and slower freight trains.
While the delay on Saturday was not related to shared tracks, Via Rail still needs passenger-specific rail lines, alongside an updated train fleet, said Prof. Prentice.
“If you want to spend the money, you could have a beautiful train system,” he said. “But you can’t just adapt the old train sets and use freight rail lines and expect the same kind of reliability.”
In 2022, the federal government formed VIA HFR Inc., which has the mandate to develop and implement high-frequency passenger rail service in the 1,000-kilometre corridor that connects Toronto and Quebec City.
Ottawa has yet to approve funding for the plan.
With reports from The Canadian Press