CN Initiating Progressive and Orderly Shutdown of its Eastern Canadian Network
MONTREAL, Feb. 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) announced today that the Company has been forced to initiate a disciplined and progressive shutdown of its operations in Eastern Canada. This will include stopping and safely securing all trans-continental trains across its Canadian network and may imminently lead to temporary layoffs within the company’s Eastern Canadian operational staff.
CN sought and obtained court orders and requested the assistance of enforcement agencies for the illegal blockades in Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia. While the illegal blockades have come to an end in Manitoba and may be ending imminently in British Columbia, the orders of the court in Ontario have yet to be enforced and continue to be ignored. The Company has tried to adjust its operations to serve customers in the face of these challenges, it is now left with the only remaining responsible option: progressively shutting down its Eastern Canadian operations until the illegal blockades end.
“With over 400 trains cancelled during the last week and new protests that emerged at strategic locations on our mainline, we have decided that a progressive shutdown of our Eastern Canadian operations is the responsible approach to take for the safety of our employees and the protestors,” said JJ Ruest, president and chief executive officer at CN. “This situation is regrettable for its impact on the economy and on our railroaders as these protests are unrelated to CN's activities, and beyond our control. Our shutdown will be progressive and methodical to ensure that we are well set up for recovery, which will come when the illegal blockades end completely.”
“Unfortunately, intercity Via Rail service will be discontinued across our Canadian network. However, commuter rail services, such as Metrolinx and Exo, can keep operating so long as they can do so safely. I would like to thank our customers, international supply-chain partners, and industry associations for their support to get this unprecedented ordeal resolved,” concluded Ruest.

MONTREAL, February 13, 2020 - Following a notice from the infrastructure owner, CN Rail, that they are no longer in a position to fulfill their obligations under the Train Service Agreement between VIA Rail and CN Rail, VIA Rail has no other option but to cancel all of its services on the network, effective immediately and until further notice.
Passengers are being informed that as of 4pm EST, there will be no more train departures.

[media.viarail.ca]

Zitat

MONTREAL, February 13, 2020 - Following a notice from the infrastructure owner, CN Rail, that they are no longer in a position to fulfill their obligations under the Train Service Agreement between VIA Rail and CN Rail, VIA Rail has no other option but to cancel all of its services on the network, effective immediately and until further notice.
Passengers are being informed that as of 4pm EST, there will be no more train departures.

Ich gehe davon aus, dass die Aktion von CN den Hauptzweck hat, maximalen Druck auf die Protestierenen sowie die Behörden auszuüben, damit die Blockaden möglichst rasch beendet werden. Denn der Schienen-Güterverkehr von CN und CP ist für die Wirtschaft von Kanada absolut essentiell.

MONTREAL, February 13, 2020 - Following a notice from the infrastructure owner, CN Rail, that they are no longer in a position to fulfill their obligations under the Train Service Agreement between VIA Rail and CN Rail, VIA Rail has no other option but to cancel all of its services on the network with the exception of Sudbury-White River (CP Rail) and Churchill-The Pas (Hudson Bay Railway), until further notice.

We started informing passengers earlier this afternoon that there will be no more train departures.

Upon infrastructure owner instructions, all VIA Rail trains currently en route will be able to reach the closest major train station.

Beginning Thursday morning, February 20, all trains running between Toronto-London-Windsor, Toronto-Sarnia and Toronto-Niagara will resume service.

Furthermore, between Québec City-Montréal-Ottawa, partial service will resume during weekdays and full service will be offered during weekends.

Due to a new blockade near St-Lambert (Québec), VIA Rail Canada (VIA Rail) has no other option but to cancel the resumption of its service between Montréal and Québec City, which was initially scheduled for Thursday February 20.

Wegen einer neuen Blockage mußte VIA Rail die Betriebsaufnahme im Abschnitt Québec City-Montréal-Ottawa auf das Teilstück Montréal-Ottawa begrenzen ([media.viarail.ca]):

Zitat:

Due to a new blockade near St-Lambert (Québec), VIA Rail Canada (VIA Rail) has no other option but to cancel the resumption of its service between Montréal and Québec City, which was initially scheduled for Thursday February 20.

TRAVEL ADVISORY
February 23, 2020 - 6:00PM
VIA Rail will resume full services between Québec City – Montréal – Ottawa beginning Monday morning, February 24.
Furthermore, trains 26 and 28 from Ottawa to Québec City will resume service on Sunday, February 23.
VIA Rail is reaching out directly to passengers with reservations to update them on the latest developments. All other passengers are encouraged to visit our website for more information.
As we continue to monitor the evolution of events across the country, the situation remains the same regarding VIA Rail other services.
Please find below a summary of routes in service, including as of Monday:

Overview of service resumptions*
[Tabelle]

*This information is subject to change without notice.

Since all other VIA Rail services remain cancelled until further notice, with the exception of Sudbury-White River (CP Rail) and Churchill-The Pas (Hudson Bay Railway), VIA Rail has cancelled all affected departures as per the table below.
Please note that the cancellation window of the different services is based on the minimum expected time it would take to resume the service once the line reopens.
Accordingly, we are protecting reservations as long as possible to prevent passengers from changing their travels plans unnecessarily.

Overview of service cancellations*
[Tabelle]

*This information is subject to change without notice.


REFUNDS
Passengers holding a ticket for which the first trip’s scheduled departure has not yet passed and is no later than March 4, have the option of autonomously cancelling online for a full refund with no service charges, even if additional segments fall after March 4. Passengers may also get a refund for a return ticket scheduled after March 4, as long as the first portion of the trip was scheduled no later than that date.

Damit fährt soweit ersichtlich einzig zwischen Prince Rupert-Prince George-Jasper noch nichts