MONTREAL — Via Rail's on-time performance hit new lows in recent months, internal documents show, a decline the Crown corporation blames largely on new rules from Canadian National Railway Co.
Files obtained through an access to information request show that Via trains, which run mostly on CN tracks, arrived late along its Windsor-Quebec City corridor 80 per cent of the time in February and two-thirds of the time in January.
That's a significant leap from late-arrival numbers below 30 per cent during the same two months last year, though the heavy snowfall was also a factor in last month's figures.
In court filings in November, Via said that recently imposed speed restrictions on its Venture passenger trains were causing delays along its busiest corridor, affecting thousands of customers daily. It is seeking an injunction to have the restrictions lifted.
CN responded that it implemented the new rules at rail crossings due to risks associated with similar trains.
It said in an email on Friday that safety was the chief concern behind the restrictions, which require engineers to slow down at each crossing to visually confirm the safety barrier was lowered.
"They are asking CN to gamble with safety. We will not," said spokesman Jonathan Abecassis.
Via spokesman Karl Helou said the service will "never compromise on safety." But he argued CN has failed to furnish "valid proof and precise justification" for the updated regime.
Travellers are taking note of the constant delays. Passenger satisfaction "plummeted" in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to a Via summary of the restrictions' effects.
"We are seeing drops in ticket sales and passengers switching from the train to other travel modes," the document states.
The plunging performance numbers come as Via Rail continues a years-long push to overhaul its contract with CN, which owns the vast majority of the tracks traversed by Via. It asked the Canadian Transportation Agency in 2023 to impose a new track-access agreement that sets their relationship on a more even footing, cuts the rates it pays and allows smoother traffic flow on tracks where CN's slower freight trains have right of way.
The new rules hurting Via's on-time performance boil down to detection of trains as they approach a crossing. The 24 axles on Venture train sets fall short of the 32 that CN required at crossings starting on Oct. 11 to ensure barriers lower, bells ding and lights flash.
"Well before the purchase of the trains by Via, CN flagged the ... issue with the Venture trains and reserved the right to impose restrictions should the issue arise. Via was made aware of the issue repeatedly and chose to move forward regardless," Abecassis said.
Via points out that widespread limits on movement through crossings only came down last fall, about two years after the first Venture train hit the tracks. CN was aware of the new arrivals, issuing a bulletin in December 2021 authorizing the Ventures to operate between Toronto and Montreal, according to Via court filings.
Via argues that the real problem lies in rail infrastructure owned by CN, which has an obligation to maintain the line. A notice issued by the country's largest railway in March 2024 reveals CN's awareness of subpar tracks, Via said in Quebec Superior Court filings earlier this month.
The special instruction for passenger trains — regardless of model or axle count — stated that "automatic warning devices are defective" at a crossing along a stretch of track between Quebec City and Montreal — a subdivision hosting many of the detection issues cited by CN.
It then revised the order to "avoid using the word defective crossing," a CN official said in an affidavit cited by Via in its filing.
CN, not Via, must make changes to allow trains to proceed through crossings more quickly, the passenger service said.
CN has rejected that argument, and suggested it had no choice but to impose the restrictions.
"CN has no interest in arbitrarily slowing Via trains down as this reduces our ability to run our trains, which power the economy," Abecassis said in an email.
Either way, the correlation between the effective speed caps — applied in mid-October — and on-time performance is hard to miss.
In September, before the restrictions came down, the percentage of late arrivals along the Windsor-Quebec City corridor was 43 per cent. By November it reached 73 per cent and in December it was 69 per cent. A year earlier, the late percentage was 43 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively.
Last month, the Ottawa-Quebec City route saw fewer than six per cent of trains pull into the station on time — within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival — versus 86 per cent a year earlier. Only 17 per cent of Montreal-Toronto trains were on time compared with 72 per cent in February 2024.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:CNR)
Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press
