Lack of food, water and toilets: Via Rail passengers fume after being stranded 10 hours in Quebec

Via Rail passengers are speaking out after their train from Montreal to Quebec City broke down, leaving them stranded for about 10 hours over the long weekend with a lack of food, water and access to a toilet for prolonged intervals.

Rudy El Maghariki says what he expected to be a three-and-a-half-hour trip on Saturday became a 14-hour ordeal.

"We were just tired. We were hungry. We were thirsty. We couldn't go out," he said, saying it became almost impossible to breathe after so many hours without fresh air. 

Like many others on train 622, El Maghariki expected to arrive in Quebec City around noon for a weekend visit. But he says the train came to a stop about 45 minutes away from the destination. 

He said staff members initially told passengers the train was having some mechanical and technical issues, but he said after hours, there was still no update — and people were getting upset and restless. 

"There was no communication … nobody was telling us anything," El Maghariki said.

Via Rail confirmed that passengers were stuck for 10 hours on Saturday when a train broke after experiencing two consecutive mechanical issues. The company said the situation was particularly complex because the train was on single-track territory in an isolated area and no buses were available in the region to offer alternative transportation during the long weekend. 

Electricity, air conditioning and washrooms were shut down at times to allow for repairs and coupling with another train, the company said.

In an interview Monday afternoon, Via Rail CEO Mario Péloquin apologized for "all the inconvenience that was caused."

He said the situation "is not acceptable from a customer service point of view and the values that we have at Via Rail."

Péloquin said the initial cause of the delay was damage to the train's brake system, which caused the air brakes to engage and stopped the train as a fail-safe measure.

Engineers found a way to fix the issue, however the sophistication of the system detected less than optimal conditions of the train and stopped the engine again, he said. 

"It was a pure, relatively simple mechanical failure that snowballed into, you know, a 10-hour delay for the passengers," Péloquin said. 

He insisted that passengers were offered beverages and snacks throughout the day, noting that there were "issues with the food" for about 90 minutes, and that a meal was delivered on board with additional water in the evening.

El Maghariki, however, said five hours into the delay, he still had to pay $6.50 for a bagel for his sister. 

"It's not about the value, it's about the principle," he said. 

Eventually, staff began handing out free snacks and water — but supplies quickly ran out. 

'I have this much water left' 

Vancouver resident Carmel Tanaka, who was on board the train to Quebec City to meet a cousin for the first time, says at one point, a staff member came around showing passengers a jug with a limited amount of water. 

"'I have this much water left. Are you really dehydrated? If so, I can give this to you,'" she recalls them saying. "That's how dire the situation was." 

Tanaka, who has a master's degree in emergency and disaster management, says everything that went wrong was "textbook" poor emergency preparedness. 

"I said [to a staff member], 'Before the tide changes and people start to fight back, you need to feed us, you need to order pizza now. You need to order buses, Ubers, whatever you need,'" she said. 

But frustration had already started to boil over. A video posted to social media shows a Via Rail employee snatching a passenger's phone from his hands. The passenger appears to be filming in the aisle as he's told to sit down by the employee. 

Péloquin said Via Rail is investigating that incident and says appropriate measures will be taken following a review.

"I really, sincerely apologize for what we've seen on the video, [which] looks like not the kind of thing we want to to do," he said. 

Around 8:30 p.m. — more than nine hours since the train stopped — staff members bought pizza, but not enough for the whole train, El Maghariki said.

Tanaka said two rows in front of her, an individual with diabetes reached a point where they needed medical attention. She said an ambulance was called and they were escorted off the train.

"They were trying to fix [the train] instead of finding solutions," she said. 

"I mean if you can call a pizza delivery, you can also call shuttles and buses, you can do other things and you can figure out a way to get us to our next destination." 

On Sunday, Federal Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez said he is determined to get to the bottom of the delay.

On Tuesday evening, a spokesperson for the minister said in a statement that Rodriguez met with VIA Rail executives and told them the way passengers were treated was unacceptable.

"To make sure this doesn't happen again, VIA Rail has been asked to provide an independent report on what happened, improve training for their employees and review their breakdown procedures," the statement said, with those improvements including keeping passengers better informed, ensuring they have access to better services and providing alternative options for reaching their designation quickly.

Unusable credit for ride home

The fire department was eventually called to help transfer passengers from one train to another, with passengers reaching their destination 10 hours late.

In a statement on Sunday, Via Rail said it offers its deepest apologies for the inconvenience caused to passengers and will provide a full refund to anyone affected.

Passengers say the company is providing a cash refund equivalent to to the price of their one-way ticket. A credit for the same amount to buy a future trip will also be provided, but it can't be applied to an existing ticket. 

"So you cannot use that credit to let's say go back [to Montreal]," El Maghariki said, saying the financial compensation is already too little. 

Péloquin said passengers are encouraged to contact Via Rail's call centre if they are not happy with the compensation they've received. 

Still, El Maghariki planned to travel back to Montreal with his pre-booked ticket on Via Rail Monday, but he says he's not yet recovered from his trip up. He planned to stock up on food and water just in case. 

Tanaka, who also already purchased her return trip, wished Via Rail had made an exception to their policy to allow people to use the credit for those returning to Montreal. 

Or, "they should have paid for my poutine when I got to Quebec City," she said with a laugh.