The Canadian now leaving on Dec. 25???

Just saw this announcement on VIA'S WEBSITE!!!
I wonder how late the "Canadian" was arriving in Toronto today?
I guess VIA will take a hefty hit in the pocket book by having to put up the passengers in hotels for the night?
Does anybody have any info????

The Canadian was 24 hrs late and as you say.......passengers are being accommodated in Hotels until the delayed departure tonight. In Montreal, passengers from the Ocean who missed corridor connections on Monday were put-up in the Queen Elizabeth with meals provided and sent on to their destinations yesterday.

Meanwhile out at the airport......people sleeping on floors and benches!....and some have been there for over 24 hours.

And there are areas of Toronto and southern Ontario that won’t have power for at least a couple of days yet.

I’m sitting here in a warm house.....writing this, just waiting for the others to get up......Merry Christmas!

gaspeamtrak wrote:Just saw this announcement on VIA'S WEBSITE!!!
I wonder how late the "Canadian" was arriving in Toronto today?
I guess VIA will take a hefty hit in the pocket book by having to put up the passengers in hotels for the night?
Does anybody have any info????

Just talked to a VIA agent and it arrived at about 08:56 this morning! Ouch! Almost 24 hours late!!!
That would have been a neat experience in my eyes but not anybody elses! You can call me weird!

NS VIA FAN wrote:The Canadian was 24 hrs late and as you say.......passengers are being accommodated in Hotels until the delayed departure tonight. In Montreal, passengers from the Ocean who missed corridor connections on Monday were put-up in the Queen Elizabeth with meals provided and sent on to their destinations yesterday.

Meanwhile out at the airport......people sleeping on floors and benches!....and some have been there for over 24 hours.

How late was the "Ocean" into Montreal?

The Canadian which left 24 hours late on Christmas day was summer-length according to the consist posted on a Yahoo site. It had three Skyline cars and two dining cars amongst the 18-car consist.

From various on-line postings the Ocean that left Halifax on the 22nd broke down (despite having three units) near Matapedia. Passengers were sent by bus, arriving Montreal about 11 1/2 hours late. According to VIA, no replacement train could be put together for the departure from Montreal on Monday the 23rd. That is not a normal day for departure of #14, but adjustments in days of operation are made for the Christmas-New Year's season. Passengers were sent by bus to all stations up to and including Halifax. What a lovely Christmas treat.

marquisofmississauga wrote:...........What a lovely Christmas treat.

At least they were moving towards their destination......unlike those stuck in an Airport for a couple of days not knowing when they would get out.

And VIA put those requiring overnight accommodations up in the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth. Which is certainly not an EconoLodge and definitely not an airport bench.

NS VIA FAN wrote:

marquisofmississauga wrote:...........What a lovely Christmas treat.

At least they were moving towards their destination......unlike those stuck in an Airport for a couple of days not knowing when they would get out.

And VIA put those requiring overnight accommodations up in the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth. Which is certainly not an EconoLodge and definitely not an airport bench.

Indeed, VIA tends to look after its passengers no matter what the cause of the problem is. Airlines tend to look after you well if it is a mechanical delay (which is considered to be their fault) but if the delay is weather-related they may or may not provide you with any assistance, saying "It's not our fault". I say that from personal experience. From what I read the passengers who were accommodated at the Queen Elizabeth were those who had been sent by bus from Matapedia due to the apparent failure of three units on #15. The replacement of #14 on Monday by bus all the way to Halifax is regrettable. I wonder how many people who had paid dearly for sleeping car rooms will ever again book a train trip after 24 hours on a bus. The horrendous flight delays were not Toronto or Montreal to Halifax. There may be good reasons why VIA could not put together a train in Montreal, but I suspect it was a lack of on-board crew (Halifax-based) more than the lack of equipment. It is reported elsewhere that the stranded train was sent deadhead to Halifax so the next departure from there would not be replaced by another overnight trip by bus. There should be plenty of Renaissance sleepers around as only two consists are needed instead of the previous three, and there is plenty of stainless steel equipment unused by the fairly short twice-a-week Canadian. Although a good deal of that is in Vancouver, there is some in Montreal and Toronto. Over the years I have seen CN, CP and VIA put together replacement trains that may not match the originally-scheduled train but would be a reasonable facsimile. A recently retired VIA employee told me: "Nowadays the attitude is 'it can't be done' so get buses".

Once again, the Canadian is expected to depart the day after its scheduled departure. The notice appears on VIA's site:
"Train 1 scheduled to leave Toronto for Vancouver on Dec. 31th, will now be departing on Jan. 1st at 09:00am."
The departure is only a half day late, which is better than the Christmas departure which was a full day late. I hope the passengers get a decent hotel for New Year's Eve. Until around the turn of the century, VIA had a deal with the Royal York Hotel for both crew and stranded passengers. Some lucky people still get the Royal York, but that is not usual.

Similar to what happened over Christmas, the Canadian #2 is expected 20 hours late in Toronto. The departure set for 22:00 on New Year's Eve has been postponed until the same time on New Year's Day.

marquisofmississauga wrote:Similar to what happened over Christmas, the Canadian #2 is expected 20 hours late in Toronto. The departure set for 22:00 on New Year's Eve has been postponed until the same time on New Year's Day.

Via should have had a protect train in Toronto and Montreal for the Christmas holidays! It's not like they didn't have the spare equipment with the Canadian running only two times a week.
I know the Ocean's cars are different configuration than the(Renaissance) cars.
This just shows very poor judgement from the top management in Montreal! It just shows that they don't really care about there passengers.
It's great that they put them up in hotels and paid for meals, but how much did this cost Via?
Via is slowly going down the toilet I'm sorry to say...

gaspeamtrak wrote:

marquisofmississauga wrote:Similar to what happened over Christmas, the Canadian #2 is expected 20 hours late in Toronto. The departure set for 22:00 on New Year's Eve has been postponed until the same time on New Year's Day.

Via should have had a protect train in Toronto and Montreal for the Christmas holidays! It's not like they didn't have the spare equipment with the Canadian running only two times a week.
I know the Ocean's cars are different configuration than the(Renaissance) cars.
This just shows very poor judgement from the top management in Montreal! It just shows that they don't really care about there passengers.
It's great that they put them up in hotels and paid for meals, but how much did this cost Via?
Via is slowly going down the toilet I'm sorry to say...

With VIA only running the Ocean three times a week, they only need two Renaissance train sets - yet they have three on hand. Frankly I am not sure what they plan to do with the third set year round, other then cycle it into the regular consist. Thus why no spares?

Also one would think VIA should have the Budd equipment spread between Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Toronoto/Montreal, now that it is only running twice a week. The lion's share seems to be in Vancouver -warmer there?