Canada: Actualizare feroviară ca răspuns la COVID-19

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To support the ongoing efforts deployed by the public health authorities across Canada to limit the COVID-19 propagation, including recommendations for social distancing and in order to further reduce health risks to our passengers and employees, VIA Rail Canada (VIA Rail) announces a reduction of some of its services as well as additional preventive measures.

As a result of significant reductions in passenger volumes experienced in the last week, combined with the need to deploy our resources to more effectively deal with the pandemic, as of Marți, martie 17, services will be reduced by 50% in the Québec City-Windsor corridor.

Regional services (Sudbury-white River, Winnipeg-Churchill, Senneterre-Jonquière) will continue to operate according to their respective schedules with no change.

As well as the schedule changes, VIA Rail will be introducing a modified meal service aboard its trains. In line with the health authorities’ social distancing guidelines, we will limit the amount of staff and passenger interaction to a minimum, including our meal service. Passengers in economy class will receive a complimentary snack and water. In business class, the regular meal service will be replaced by a light meal and water. In both classes, no other food or beverage service will be offered and passengers with food restrictions are being asked to plan accordingly.

Additional onboard employees will be deployed on all of our trains in order to sanitize our coach cars while in operation. This is in addition to the previously announced enhanced cleaning protocol in effect at terminal stations. Via Rail continues to deploy additional strict cleanliness and hygiene protocols for its other trains in operation as long as they are in use.

Passengers showing symptoms similar to a cold or flu (fever, cough, sore throat, breathing difficulties) are asked not to travel aboard VIA Rail. If those symptoms develop on board, they are asked to immediately report it to one of our employees.

“As a public passenger rail service to all Canadians, we remain committed to providing as much services as possible under the circumstances, as well as a safe travel environment for our customers and our employees. As we are already seeing an important reduction of ridership, these additional measures will help to allow us to maintain the service”, said Cynthia Garneau, Presedinte si CEO.

“We are deploying these additional precautions knowing that they will have an impact on our capacity to run our trains on time. We thank our passengers for their patience and understanding during this challenging period for all Canadians and want them to know that all of us at VIA Rail remain dedicated to offer the best possible service and travel condition, especially on board our trains, in our stations and our call centres”, continued Cynthia Garneau. “Until the situation returns to normal, I invite all our passengers to consult our website to get the latest updates about our operations”.

VIA Rail continues to closely monitor the development of COVID-19 and we remain in close contact with public health agencies and the federal and provincial governments.

Overview of services*

rute

Servicii

Montréal-Toronto

Reduced services

până pe 27 martie

inclusiv

Toronto-Ottawa

Québec-Montréal-Ottawa

Toronto-Londra-Windsor

Toronto-Sarnia

Servicii regulate

Winnipeg-Churchill-The Pas

Senneterre-Jonquière

Sudbury-Râul Alb

Ocean (Montréal-Halifax)

ANULATĂ

până pe 27 martie

inclusiv

canadian (Toronto-Vancouver)

Prințul Rupert-Prințul George-Jasper

Passengers who choose to change their travel plan will be accommodated. For maximum flexibility, passengers can cancel or modify their reservation at any time prior to departure during the month of March and April and receive a full refund in addition to not incurring any service charges, regardless of when they purchased their ticket. This includes all travel up to and including Aprilie 30, 2020, as well as any travel after Aprilie 30, 2020, if their outbound train is on or before Aprilie 30, 2020.

Întrucât Martie 13, these changes to our services results in the cancellation of 388 trains and affects over 20 000 passengers.

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Despre autor

Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz a lucrat continuu în industria turismului și turismului de când era adolescent în Germania (1977).
El a gasit eTurboNews în 1999 ca primul buletin informativ online pentru industria turismului turistic global.

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