AMT commuter train service back to normal Tuesday morning

Service was back to normal Tuesday morning after a one-day strike on AMT commuter train lines.

After hours of refusing to confirm that normal service would be back, the AMT issued a tweet with the good news after 8 p.m. on Tuesday, followed by a news release issued a few minutes later.

Federal Labour Minister Kellie Leitch confirmed Monday afternoon that CP Rail workers will be back at work Tuesday morning after both sides agreed to mediated arbitration.

The AMT long delayed the confirmation of full service Monday because they said that the CPR had not confirmed the news with them.

The CP Rail strike wreaked havoc for about 38,000 Montreal train commuters Monday morning, who had to rely on shuttle buses to reach their destinations.

The Harper government was prepared to table legislation to put an end to the strike by 3,300 locomotive engineers and other CP train workers. Teamsters members walked off the job early Sunday after a last-minute negotiation blitz failed to see the two sides reach an agreement.

The strike led to disruptions in transportation of goods across the country, but also affected commuter services around Montreal. The Candiac, Vaudreuil-Hudson and St. Jerome rail lines from the Metropolitan Transportation Agency (AMT) were affected by the work stoppage.

AMT president Nicolas Girard said it was “unacceptable that our clients are taken hostage by this situation.”

The AMT provided free and continuous bus service Monday to compensate for the lack of trains, but Transport Minister Robert Poeti acknowledged that only about 70 buses were available when about 500 were needed.

There were long line-ups for shuttle buses coming out of the Beaconsfield train station, but CTV reporter Cindy Sherwin observed that the buses at Vaudreuil and St. Jerome stations were empty.

A shuttle driver told CTV Montreal, “Maybe everybody decided to take a long weekend,” to explain why some commuters, who were expecting the worst, were not using the alternative bus service in that area.

The AMT issued these instructions (in French) to commuters of the Candiac line, St. Jerome line, and Vaudreuil-Hudson line. Shuttle buses should be arriving about every 15 minutes.