A press release from VIA Rail Canada; February 24, 2020:
MONTREAL, Feb. 24, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ – VIA Rail Canada (VIA Rail) announces that The Ocean, its Montréal-Halifax route, will resume service on Friday, February 28.
VIA Rail is reaching out directly to passengers with reservations to update them on the latest developments. All other passengers are encouraged to visit our website for more information.
We continue to work with the infrastructure owner, CN Rail, on making sure that normal service can resume on all other routes and that passengers can be welcomed back on board our trains as quickly as possible.
As we will be sharing updates on resumption dates of our services in a timely manner, the safety of our passengers and employees remains our top priority.
Please find below a summary of routes in service, including as of Friday:
| Overview of service resumptions* | |
| Route | Service |
| Toronto- London-Windsor | In full service |
| Toronto-Sarnia | In full service |
| Toronto-Niagara Falls | In full service |
| Québec City-Montréal-Ottawa | In Full service |
| The Ocean (Montréal-Halifax) | Full service to resume starting Friday, February 28 |
| *This information is subject to change without notice. |
Since all other VIA Rail services remain cancelled until further notice, with the exception of Sudbury-White River (CP Rail) and Churchill-The Pas (Hudson Bay Railway), VIA Rail has cancelled all affected departures as per the table below.
As of February 24, 789 trains have been cancelled because of the blockades.
More than 138 000 passengers have been affected.
Please note that the cancellation window of the different services is based on the minimum expected time it would take to resume the service once the line reopens.
Accordingly, we are protecting reservations as long as possible to prevent passengers from changing their travels plans unnecessarily.
| Overview of service cancellations* | ||
| Route | Service | Cancelled until (inclusively) : |
| Toronto-Ottawa | Cancelled | Friday, February 28 |
| Toronto-Montréal | Cancelled | Friday, February 28 |
| Senneterre-Jonquière | Cancelled | Friday, February 28 |
| Winnipeg-The Pas | Cancelled | Monday, March 2 |
| Prince Rupert- Prince George-Jasper | Cancelled | Monday, March 2 |
| The Canadian | Cancelled | Monday, March 2 |
| *This information is subject to change without notice. |
All passengers are encouraged to visit our website for more information. Details on the refunding procedure are available on our website: https://www.viarail.ca/en/travel-advisory-information.
We remain hopeful for an end to the situation as soon as possible and encourage all parties involved to continue their efforts towards a peaceful resolution.
We thank our passengers for their continued patience and understanding.
About VIA Rail
As Canada’s national rail passenger service, VIA Rail (viarail.ca)
and all its employees are mandated to provide safe, efficient and
economical passenger transportation service, in both official languages
of our country. VIA Rail operates intercity, regional and
transcontinental trains linking over 400 communities across Canada,
and about 180 more communities through intermodal partnerships, and
safely transported over 5 million passengers in 2019. The Corporation
has been awarded five Safety Awards and three Environment Awards by the
Railway Association of Canada since 2007. Visit the “About VIA Rail” section at https://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail.
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SOURCE VIA Rail Canada Inc.