(The following story by Kevin McGran appeared on the Toronto Star website on January 23.)
TORONTO — A sharp increase in the number of service interruptions over the last month has led GO Transit to apologize to commuters, but chair Gordon Chong insists the problems are weather-related and have nothing to do with ongoing labour disputes at GO and Canadian National Railways.
“I’ve been assured that nobody is doing anything to sabotage our operations,” said the GO chair, trying to put to rest rumours among passengers that union unrest is the cause of the frustrating delays.
What is undeniable, though, is that interruptions to GO’s train service are sharply on the rise.
There have been 556 interruptions to GO service so far in January, ranging from 245 short delays of between five and 10 minutes to 50 partial or outright cancellations. That’s up from all of December, which saw 338 overall delays, ranging from 160 short delays to 30 partial or outright cancellations. Last January, there were 380 overall delays.
Chong insists it’s the weather.
“Things get iced over, things get stuck, switches freeze,” said Chong. “It’s a function of Canadian weather. It’s not just GO trains that are affected. Anybody who is out and about is affected, as well.”
GO experienced a number of long delays in early January due to problems with the signal system that controls trains. Canadian National Railway owns the rail corridors that GO operates on, as well as the computers that control the signal system. GO issued a public apology on Jan. 12 and CN said it had fixed the problem.
Chong and CN spokesperson Mark Hallman insist contract negotiations have nothing to do with the recent slowdowns.
“It’s been cold and we have experienced some signal problems,” said Hallman.
GO workers are in a legal strike position, having been without a contract for about a year, but talks are continuing. The sticking point for some has been problems with their pension plan. Both sides seem content to give the Liberal government in Queen’s Park time to address the issue that both sides say the former Conservative government created when GO was downloaded to the cities and then later uploaded back to the province.
Meanwhile, CN faces a possible strike as early as tomorrow unless “round-the-clock” negotiations with its freight workers produce a settlement. The strike deadline has been delayed twice.
“There is no labour issue with CN with the crews that are manning the (GO) trains,” Hallman said.
If CN workers strike, causing delays of its freight service, that will affect GO service, since freight operations have priority over passengers on CN’s rail lines, Chong said.
“If there’s a delay in the freight trains, it’s going to affect VIA and GO,” Chong said. “That always happens. It would happen more if they go on strike. So it will indirectly have an impact on us.”
A strike at CN would affect shipping in this country, from wheat in the west to the auto sector in Ontario. Salary and pension are at the heart of the CN dispute for the 6,000 workers represented by the CAW.
“There’ll be a full-fledged strike Saturday morning at 12:01 a.m. if we don’t get a settlement,” said CAW president Buzz Hargrove. “It’ll have a pretty serious impact.”
Hallman said CN has a “well-developed contingency plan to continue” full service in the event of a strike.