Fuchsia Dragon | [email protected]
Jasper VIA Rail employees could be partially back to work this week.
Two trains are scheduled to run through town this weekend, one from Toronto to Vancouver, and one in the opposite direction.
VIA Rail said most of its services would be progressively back in operation as of Tuesday, March 3, and the Toronto-Vancouver train’s departure is confirmed to depart on Wednesday, March 4 goes - meaning it should be in Jasper by Saturday.
A second train departs Vancouver for Toronto on Friday, March 6, and should also be in Jasper on Saturday.
“We are protecting reservations as long as possible to prevent passengers from changing their travels plans unnecessarily,” said a VIA Rail spokeswoman in an email.
“Please bear in mind that these projections are subject to some adjustments since there are a lot of unknown factors that will have to be taken into consideration once we receive notice from the infrastructure owner that services can resume.”
The infrastructure owner is CN Rail.
About 1,000 VIA Rail employees, including all those in Jasper, have been laid off since February since pipeline protesters began demonstrating in the form of railway blockades.
But an Alberta justice has granted a province-wide injunction to CN Rail, after the company argued the blockade is a safety hazard and would have a significant negative impact on the business and its customers.
“We continue to work with the infrastructure owner, CN Rail, on making sure that normal service can resume on all routes and that passengers can be welcomed back on board our trains as quickly as possible,” said the VIA spokeswoman in a press release.
As of February 28, 940 trains had been cancelled because of the blockades and more than 164,000 passengers affected.
VIA would not confirm the number of employees affected in Jasper.
Further departures are expected to be confirmed this week and VIA said all current reservations on those segments will be protected.
Passengers are encouraged to visit VIA Rail’s website details on refunding procedure and other information.
