Evidence of meeting #129 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was passengers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Philip Lawrence Conservative Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON
They gave you the refund and I guess what you could call a ticket pass. What was it?
Conservative
Philip Lawrence Conservative Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON
It was a travel credit, and that was that.
Conservative
Philip Lawrence Conservative Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON
Okay.
I also want to go back briefly to some of your testimony with respect to the international travel you've done. You said that in South Korea the trains were rarely not on time. You also had some testimony with respect to Via.
I want to ask you a specific question here. Just in your own estimation, in your own anecdotal experience, how often is a Canadian train late, whether it be Via or otherwise? Is it 50% of the time, 20% of the time or 10% of the time?
Passenger, As an Individual
When I took it, I would say that about 40% of the time it was late.
Conservative
Philip Lawrence Conservative Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON
About 40% of the time it was not on time, right?
I have to imagine that it's pretty challenging for you and for all passengers to be that late. Does that maybe discourage you from taking Via? This time, I understand, you were visiting Quebec City, but if you had an important business meeting, would you think twice about getting onto a Via train?
Passenger, As an Individual
I typically take the train to get to the Montreal airport. What I do is that I take the earliest train. I try to have a buffer of six to eight hours in case they have a big delay.
Conservative
Philip Lawrence Conservative Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON
You have to put in an additional six to eight.... I mean, it's good planning—
Conservative
Philip Lawrence Conservative Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON
—and you're obviously a smart guy, but you have to add six to eight hours extra if you want to take the train to hang out at the airport.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Thank you very much, Mr. Lawrence.
The next and final questioner today is Mr. Lauzon.
You have five minutes, Mr. Lauzon. Go ahead.
Liberal
Stéphane Lauzon Liberal Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you all for being here today, Ms. Murray, Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Coderre.
I'll start with Ms. Murray.
You talked about the many service interruptions on Via Rail trains and the issues that arise as a result, especially when remote areas and climate change are involved.
You started in the railway industry 25 years ago, so given all your experience, can you describe how the issues have changed because of climate change?
Director, Atlantic Region, Unifor
There are a number of factors, I believe. Climate change is one of those things that I think we have to recognize. Certainly, it's difficult to control the weather. However, we do have infrastructure that we need to upgrade. We've been very vocal about that here at Unifor. That is infrastructure as far as tracks go and infrastructure as far as our train cars go.
We've had many issues in the northern part of New Brunswick, where there are tracks that are in ill repair. They're not our tracks. They're not Via Rail's tracks. They're owned by CN Rail. We are very reliant on the people who own the tracks to keep them upgraded and then, obviously, there's the infrastructure with the cars and the problems we have there.
I know that you've asked about climate change, but I think we're facing it, and we just can't deny it. Things like washouts and those kinds of things are things that we're going to see more frequently.
Liberal
Stéphane Lauzon Liberal Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation, QC
You mentioned flooding. Storms and weather events are also an issue because they can cause trees to fall on the tracks.
Have you had any experience with train service being interrupted because of a storm?
Director, Atlantic Region, Unifor
A few years ago—and I apologize that I don't know the exact year—when I was working as the union representative for Via Rail workers who travel on the ocean between Halifax and Montreal, there was an ice storm. Many of the trees had fallen on the tracks, and it was a very difficult time for our passengers and for our crew members trying to keep people safe, keep people away from windows and all of those things. Many of the trees were just lying over the tracks, and the train was passing through at a slow speed, which delayed the train greatly as well.
At that time, I do want to say that the union went to the company and begged it to listen to the workers and to what their experience was. We sat down in a room, and we actually did that. The workers were able to actually talk to the employer, express their concerns and discuss how we could improve upon things in the future.
Liberal
Stéphane Lauzon Liberal Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation, QC
Thank you, Ms. Murray.
Mr. Coderre, you said in your remarks that you felt as though the employees didn't really know what to do. There was no plan.
At what point did you get that feeling? Was it when the train stopped, started and then stopped again, or when the transfer happened?
Liberal
Stéphane Lauzon Liberal Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation, QC
For the first four hours or so, things were fine. The service you received was good.
Passenger, As an Individual
That's correct.
On the whole, we received very good service, in spite of the situation.
Liberal
Stéphane Lauzon Liberal Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation, QC
All right. The service you received was good overall.
You also said that supplies were a problem. There were few snacks initially, but you were able to get some pizza.
How did you get that pizza? Did the train that came to your rescue bring it, or was it delivered to you by car?
Passenger, As an Individual
I think it came by car. I didn't see how exactly it was delivered.
I think that, going forward, Via Rail should plan to order pizza, water and other supplies sooner, instead of waiting eight hours to do so. That would be one solution.