Thanks very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the team from Via Rail for being here.
As I was listening to the responses and questions from my colleagues, I was just thinking about what it must have been like for those passengers on the train for 10 hours, not knowing what the outcome was going to be—an incredibly frustrating situation, to say the least, and probably scary for some of them. I appreciate that there's been an apology.
I also can understand why there might be frustration out there that this is the second incident in a short period of time. Passengers want the confidence that these problems are being worked out and that they can ride the train knowing that if something goes wrong, there's an effective plan in place. I look forward to hearing what that plan will be. I also appreciate the team from Via Rail reaching out and briefing me on the specific circumstances of train 622.
Now, Mr. Péloquin, in your remarks you mentioned immediate corrective measures. Of those, lots of them seem like things that were probably also taken after the 2022 incident—reviewing training requirements, revising communications protocols, examining what happened. Those are things that I would hope every company faced with a similar situation would do. The one that stands out as being somewhat different is the decision to evacuate if feasible.
Is this a significant departure from past protocols that Via Rail has had?