Weeks after travellers were left stranded and scrambling due to train delays and cancellations over the holidays, Via Rail's president and CEO is saying sorry for letting its passengers down.
Citing "a severe winter storm" and the derailment of a freight train as the source of the disruptions between Dec. 23 and 26 along the Quebec City鈥揥indsor corridor and in Eastern Canada, president and chief executive officer at VIA Rail Canada Martin R Landry offered an apology:
"We appreciate that passengers were looking forward to holiday celebrations and family get-togethers, and we regret that for many, those plans were disrupted. We didn鈥檛 meet your expectations and for that we apologize."
This apology comes on the heels of Via Rail being called to testify before a parliamentary committee鈥攁longside airlines and other transportation officials鈥攖o explain what happened, and to seek assurances that further travel issues would be handled differently.
Frustrated passengers reported being stuck on stalled , with minimal updates or access to food, while those at train stations waited for clear information about whether they鈥檇 be able to get to their destinations.
In the statement, is to put passengers first, and it "should have done better in dealing with the situation."
"We are truly sorry for letting our passengers down," said Landry. "We know, we should have been more forthcoming in sharing information about trains that were delayed and in communicating updates. We also know we should have adopted a different approach in supporting passengers on trains that were delayed for lengthy periods."
Via Rail says it will be offering a full refund to passengers and travel credits to those whose trains were immobilized, and will be "reviewing" its performance.
Bringing in outside experts for this review, the rail company says it will be considering its pre-storm planning, operational response, customer care protocol and communications.
"Beyond not having met the expectations of our customers, we have not lived up to our own standards. Despite weather events and a freight train derailment beyond our control, it is clear that lessons will be learned, and changes will be made," said Via Rail.
Via Rail wasn鈥檛 the only transportation giant to come under fire this holiday season. Hundreds of Sunwing passengers were stranded in Mexico after the airline called off flights. For this, the airline issued an apology last week, stating that 鈥渨hile most of our customers enjoyed their holidays with minimal disruption, we had clear failures in execution.鈥
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