Via Rail cuts all staff at Chatham station

A Via Rail sign is seen in Halifax on Thursday, June 13, 2013. (Andrew Vaughan / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The Chatham Via Rail station is moving to a completely automated system with no staff in October.

Via handed out layoff notices to three people Tuesday, including two full-time employees and one part-time worker.

The staff will be replaced by an automated kiosk on Oct. 25.

“People will still have the option to buy a ticket on site, but it will be through automation,” says Via Rail spokesperson Mylene Belanger.

She says some of the criteria impacting the company’s move towards modernization were the volume of passengers, sales at each station and proximity to the next station.

“Those decisions are never easy to make and we have to rely on criteria to make those decisions,” says Belanger.

The company also announced over 50 layoffs across the Toronto-Montreal corridor, most of them are ticket salespeople and red cap porters.

There will be no changes in staff in Windsor. It is classified as a complete service station with automation.