VIA Rail cancels Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal service for 3rd straight day
Posted February 9, 2020 7:59 am.
Last Updated February 9, 2020 11:39 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
For the third straight day protesters halted train travel along two of VIA Rail’s busiest Ontario routes as they continued to demonstrate against a natural gas pipeline project in British Columbia.
VIA Rail cancelled 27 trips scheduled for Sunday and 10 trips for Monday, as there was no sign the blockade near Belleville, Ont., would end anytime soon.
FEBRUARY 9: Due to the protesters currently blocking tracks near Belleville, Ontario, train service between Montreal and Toronto and between Ottawa and Toronto is affected in both directions. See https://t.co/HAPXhFBRbH for a list of cancellations.
— VIA Rail Canada (@VIA_Rail) February 8, 2020
“Services continue to operate between Ottawa and Montreal, between Montreal and Quebec City, and west of Toronto in Southwestern Ontario,” said VIA which added passengers affected by the cancellations would be automatically issued refunds within 10 days.
Canadian National Railway traffic is also affected by the blockade, which sprung up Thursday in support of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation, who faced raids on Friday from the RCMP on camps set up to stop a natural gas pipeline in British Columbia.
CN says it has been granted an injunction order to remove protesters from the site near Belleville. Ontario provincial police say they’re continuing to monitor the demonstration.
Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs have been working to stop construction on the $6-billion natural gas pipeline and their efforts have spurred a national protest movement.
The pipeline is part of the massive $40-billion LNG Canada liquefied natural gas export terminal project and runs from Dawson Creek to Kitimat on B.C.’s northwest coast.
Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report
