Canada’s largest railways to resume service as work stoppage ends

Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City had shut down Thursday before a Saturday decision from the federal labour board

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Published Aug 26, 2024  •  Last updated 3 minutes ago  •  1 minute read

Railcars and locomotives sit idle at the CPKC railyard in Calgary on Aug. 22. Traffic at Canada's two largest railways is slated to resume Monday. Photo by Jeff McIntosh /The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Traffic at Canada’s two largest railways is slated to resume today as a rail work stoppage comes to an end following a Saturday decision from the federal labour board.

Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City shut down railways last Thursday, locking out workers and disrupting freight traffic countrywide and commuter lines in the Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver areas. The lockouts affected more than 9,000 railway workers amid an ongoing contract dispute between the two companies and the Teamsters union.

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The work stoppage came to an end at 12:01 a.m. on Monday based on a decision issued on Saturday by the Canada Industrial Relations Board ordering both companies and their workers to resume operations ahead of binding arbitration.

The president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference issued a statement Saturday protesting the CIRB’s decision and vowing to appeal the ruling in court.

That same day, Calgary-based CPKC said it anticipates several weeks for the railway network to recover, and more time after that for supply chains to stabilize.

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Meanwhile, the agency responsible for Ontario’s GO Transit system said a commuter line and train station will resume service. Metrolinx spokesperson Andrea Ernesaks said services on the Milton GO line and at Hamilton GO station will start to run again on Monday, but added there may be some adjustments to schedules throughout the day as the agency restores normal service.

Ernsaks said Metrolinx will also have additional staff and shuttles on hand in the event it needs to deploy them, which she said is standard practice with a schedule change.

Thousands of commuters were taken by surprise Thursday after the rail lockout affected travellers in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, who use trains running on CPKC-owned lines.

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