{"id":16197,"date":"2018-10-16T15:36:11","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T19:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=16197"},"modified":"2018-10-16T16:48:16","modified_gmt":"2018-10-16T20:48:16","slug":"via-rails-once-proud-canadian-death-by-a-thousand-cn-blows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/16\/via-rails-once-proud-canadian-death-by-a-thousand-cn-blows\/","title":{"rendered":"VIA Rail\u2019s once-proud Canadian: Death by a thousand CN blows?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite twice lengthening its already-excessive trip length and agreeing to cut out one of its three weekly transcontinental runs next summer, VIA Rail Canada\u2019s Canadian <\/i>is routinely running hours late all across Canada due to the slipshod performance by Canadian National (CN).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCN\u2019s inconsiderate handling and lack of passenger priority is destroying the Canadian public\u2019s flagship passenger train,\u201d says \u00c9ric Boutilier, the founder of the citizens\u2019 rail committee, All Aboard Northern Ontario. \u201cThe Canadian <\/i>is not just a train for tourists expecting once-in-a-lifetime travel experiences. It\u2019s a lifeline to rural Canadians with no other transportation options across Northern Ontario and the Prairies. The Canadian <\/i>also provides a basic service for those whose travel needs can\u2019t be met by automobiles, air service or the soon-to-vanish Greyhound buses west of Sudbury.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After reducing The Canadian <\/i>to its off-peak low of two departures weekly from Toronto and Vancouver, and being forced by CN to accept a ridiculously long schedule lengthening, the three domeliners rolling across Canada this morning exemplify the severity of the problem. At 09:00 EDT today, The Canadians <\/i>\u2013 VIA #1 westbound and VIA #2 eastbound \u2013 were reported as:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0#1 ex-Toronto on Thurs., Oct. 11 \u2013 19 hours, 2 minutes late near Edson, AB\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0#2 ex-Vancouver on Fri., Oct. 12 \u2013 4 hours, 55 minutes late near Sioux Lookout, ON\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0#1 ex-Toronto on Sat., Oct. 13 \u2013 37 minutes late near Winnipeg, MB *\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

* #1 subsequently lost more time west of Winnipeg\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWe share the pain of those who must endure this sort of \u2018public service,\u2019 especially with the winter weather now about to hit the North and the Prairies,\u201d says Chris West, the founder of the Southwestern Ontario rail advocacy committee, All Aboard St. Marys. \u201cSouthwestern Ontarians haven\u2019t had to endure as much due to this kind of treatment of VIA\u2019s trains by CN, but it has been bad enough. We, too, have experienced too many delays of several hours due to CN\u2019s mistreatment of VIA\u2019s passenger trains. It\u2019s time for the government to settle this matter once and for all.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ever since VIA turned its first wheel almost exactly 40 years ago \u2013 when it took over the Canadian Pacific (CP) Canadian <\/i>and CN Super Continental <\/i>on the last weekend of October 1978 \u2013 Canada\u2019s public passenger railway has operated at the discretion of the freight railways. In its early days, CP and CN honourably handled VIA\u2019s trains properly, often compensating for the deteriorating, service-worn passenger equipment that the Trudeau government-of-the-day failed to modernize or replace.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, CN receives $10 for every mile a VIA train operates on its tracks, but its service delivery has descended to abysmal levels since the days when it was Crown-owned, with some wintertime Canadians <\/i>ultimately arriving nearly two days late at their end terminals. This has mainly been due to a CN operating plan based on monstrously long freight trains that can\u2019t fit into the sidings, which largely haven\u2019t been extended to hold them. The result is VIA\u2019s shorter passenger trains are put into the sidings and frequently wait an hour or more for each opposing freight train.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Transportation analyst and policy adviser Greg Gormick, who is a consultant to both All Aboard citizens\u2019 groups, notes that CN\u2019s inferior passenger service delivery isn\u2019t restricted to VIA. He points to Amtrak\u2019s congressionally-mandated host freight railway reports, which consistently rate CN as Amtrak\u2019s worst service provider and CP as its best.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Click here to read the Amtrack Report<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Says Gormick, \u201cIt\u2019s frustratingly ironic that Amtrak\u2019s best and most passenger-friendly host is CP, which had an excellent record in accommodating VIA before the Mulroney government hacked it in half in 1990 and axed most of VIA\u2019s trains on CP lines, including the original daily Canadian <\/i>on the CP route through Thunder Bay, Regina, Calgary and Banff. The tragedy is that VIA\u2019s reduced system now uses CP for only 4% of its route mileage and CN for 83%.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Both All Aboard groups point out there is a solution available if only the federal government would act. This is VIA\u2019s right to grieve CN\u2019s performance before the Canadian Transportation Agency under Section 152.1 of the Canada Transportation Act<\/i>. However, VIA fears retaliation if it requests such a hearing without the full support of the government. As VIA CEO Yves Desjardins-Siciliano recently told Trains <\/i>magazine columnist Bob Johnston, \u201cOne has to accept that VIA has a pocket knife in a gunfight with CN.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, the two affiliated All Aboard citizens\u2019 groups will be taking this issue to Minister of Transport Marc Garneau and others in Ottawa for their immediate attention.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe future of The Canadian <\/i>and all of VIA hinges on action by Ottawa,\u201d says Boutilier. \u201cBoth rail advocacy groups intend getting clear answers from the Trudeau government before The Canadian <\/i>\u2013 a national and international transportation icon for 63 years \u2013 is beaten to death.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Source – \u00c9ric Boutilier\/Chris West,\u00a0<\/span>All Aboard Northern Ontario\/All Aboard St. Marys\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite twice lengthening its already-excessive trip length and agreeing to cut out one of its three weekly transcontinental runs next summer, VIA Rail Canada\u2019s Canadian is routinely running hours late all across Canada due to the slipshod performance by Canadian National (CN).\u00a0 \u201cCN\u2019s inconsiderate handling and lack of passenger priority is destroying the Canadian public\u2019s …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[1768],"class_list":["post-16197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-northern-ontario","tag-destroying-the-canadian"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-03 00:13:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16197"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16202,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16197\/revisions\/16202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}