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Three commuter train lines serving the Montreal area were suspended Thursday morning because of the Canada-wide freight rail strike.
Montreal’s commuter train authority, Exo, said it had no choice but to bring service on Line 11 (Vaudreuil/Hudson), Line 12 (St-Jérôme) and Line 14 (Candiac) to a halt.
“Due to a work stoppage in rail transport, Exo confirms that no service will be offered on the train lines running on CPKC tracks,” Exo said in a news release. “Our teams will be on the ground today and tomorrow to support and guide customers.”
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After months of negotiations, Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. locked out 9,300 workers as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday.
In an interview Thursday morning, Exo spokesperson Catherine Maurice said the authority tried to communicate with clients as best as possible this week but also had to work around the uncertainty of when or if the walkout would happen.
Maurice said Exo employees have also been dispatched to each of the affected stations to greet commuters who weren’t aware the lines were suspended.
She believes the message mostly got across. At the Ste-Catherine station in St-Constant Thursday morning, for example, only about 40 commuters were present, she said. The parking lot serving the station has spots for 800 cars.
About 21,000 rides per day are taken on the three affected lines. The walkout does not affect two Exo lines that use CN tracks — Mont-St-Hilaire and Mascouche.
Exo has said it is working on having alternative measures in place as of Monday. Since there aren’t enough buses available in Montreal to replace the number of cancelled trains, however, the measures “will focus on serving the majority of stations located outside the island of Montreal and Laval.”
The authority is instead urging train users to use the métro and bus services of the Société de transport de Montréal and Société de transport de Laval.
Asked why Exo planned measures for Monday but not Thursday or Friday, Maurice again said the uncertainty of the walkout complicated matters. Fewer people also usually use the service on those days, she added.
“We were faced with a work conflict that wasn’t yet confirmed, and putting in place a shuttle bus service — finding drivers, finding buses — takes a fair amount of time,” Maurice said.
The authority instead focused on having everything in place for Monday, she added, which coincides with back-to-school and is expected to be busy.
More information about the measures in place can be found here.
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