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Allandale25 said:
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Honestly the weather was brutal yesterday and there probably where lots of locations where trees were down. This is why proper tree trimming during the warmer months is essential. They don't even trim the tree around London station and it scratches the windows of every train that passes. It's such a simple thing.

Also there should be some kind of emergency plan. Some type of procedure to put in place or at least have a bus company be on standby incase such an incident. Also negotiating with CN that releasing trains with passengers on board with priority to at least the closest road crossing to get on a bus.

I know CN doesn't give a F if VIA passengers are stuck for 18 hours but in some ways it's an actual emergency. Some people may not have enough medication for 18 hours.

It's not like this happened In the middle of the rocky mountains, it's the Kingston Sub.

Also makes the case that we need our own high speed corridor that we control.
 
Bordercollie said:
Honestly the weather was brutal yesterday and there probably where lots of locations where trees were down. This is why proper tree trimming during the warmer months is essential. They don't even trim the tree around London station and it scratches the windows of every train that passes. It's such a simple thing.

Also there should be some kind of emergency plan. Some type of procedure to put in place or at least have a bus company be on standby incase such an incident. Also negotiating with CN that releasing trains with passengers on board with priority to at least the closest road crossing to get on a bus.

I know CN doesn't give a F if VIA passengers are stuck for 18 hours but in some ways it's an actual emergency. Some people may not have enough medication for 18 hours.

It's not like this happened In the middle of the rocky mountains, it's the Kingston Sub.

Also makes the case that we need our own high speed corridor that we control.
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CN may not give an F if VIA trains are delayed but falling trees also fall on CN trains and a stalled VIA train blocks CN trains so, indirectly (at least), I bet they DO care. Having a separate HSR corridor may well be a good idea but I doubt it will avoid this kind of event or result in it being handled any better than the situation now.
 
DSC said:
CN may not give an F if VIA trains are delayed but falling trees also fall on CN trains and a stalled VIA train blocks CN trains so, indirectly (at least), I bet they DO care. Having a separate HSR corridor may well be a good idea but I doubt it will avoid this kind of event or result in it being handled any better than the situation now.
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It's just a lack of having a plan of any kind to deal with this type of situation for both VIA and CN. Holiday mode?
 
DSC said:
The more common excuse these days is "covid'.....
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Even if you can't take people back to Toronto you could take them to another train that was freed and have them take that train to their destination by bus.

Really in 18 hours you couldn't charter a school bus to detrain those passengers and take them to the closest train station? Belleville is less than an hour from Cobourg. Or even Cobourg station. At least you could get the passengers food and water and access to a washroom. Yes it would cost you money to keep the station open until morning but it's better than being stuck for 18 hours. And maybe they thought it would only be another 30 minutes and then another 30min. But at some point someone has to step up and do something.

If the supervisor was not working because it was xmas EVE then someone should called him on his/her and told them about the situation at the 4 hour mark.

There should be an SOP (Standard operating procedure). It's pathetic to not have one at an organization of this size.
 
There is a certain point where confinement in a passenger coach, even with heat and light, becomes a "persons trapped" scenario, just like confinement in a broken elevator.

In the midst of a raging blizzard, there may not be a lot of options to address the situation, and hunkering down on the train may be the safest option, but once the toilets are disabled and food/water has run out, something has to be done.

- Paul
 
This all reminds me of the movie, Trains, Planes, and Automobiles. I sympathize with all who are caught up in this mess. But, it sounds like the highways are in bad shape as well. Highway 401 has been closed between Highway 416 and Trenton. It is not a day to be travelling anywhere, sadly on Christmas Eve.
 
I'm certainly not going to defend VIA for not having contingency plans in conjunction with CN - this type of thing seems to be hardly an isolated incident for them.

But . . .

It's not always as easy as it seems. This was not the only stranded train, so maybe their ability to send a rescue train was hampered by other causes. Could it not move because of the tree or was it not allowed to move by RTC?

If they want buses on stand-by, they would have to pay for it. School bus companies would have to find drivers; where would coach companies have to come from. My brother used to driver for Trentway-Wagar and did the odd run to Sudbury to get Via passengers - from Toronto. On a night like that, would a bus company even allow their fleet out? The fact that it is on the Kingston sub doesn't guarantee that every part is road-accessible. I understand this one (55?) was, but probably not all were. The proposed route for the HFR has a lot of inaccessible stretches so I'm not sure it would necessarily fare much better except that all decisions would be VIA's (not necessarily a guarantee of a good thing)..

CN trains were also stranded, but their concern is purely economic.
 
^From photos, the tree was a very large one and the train came to rest with the tree lying on the second coach, after having gouged the roof of the locomotive and first coach. Nothing short of a rescue train was going to solve that problem in a hurry.

CN has since had a derailment at Grafton, creating a second blockage.

This was indeed a “perfect storm”, but a business such as VIA should have been able to mobilise decisionmaking and should have a contingency plan for immobilised loaded trains in bad weather.

This was a corridor event and not a remote service.

- Paul.
 
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