Top executives from VIA Rail Canada faced questions today from MPs on the House of Commons transport committee about prolonged travel delays over the 2022 holiday season that left passengers on some trains stranded for over 18 hours.
Martin Landry, VIA’s interim president and CEO, told the committee that VIA had storm-response plans in place prior to the delays, but said it’s now “obvious” that they need to be reviewed.
Landry said that fallen trees on the railway tracks, power outages, frozen rail switches, and the fact that VIA only owns three percent of the rail lines it operates on caused the extended travel delays between Dec. 23 and Dec. 26, 2022….