Commuters heading into Toronto from the west could be facing a travel dilemma Thursday as the effects of a historic freight rail strike also bite on passenger services.
Travellers who usually head in and out of the city on Metrolinx’s Milton GO train, and a small portion of its Hamilton GO train route, will find service suspended because of rail-sharing agreements.
All trains on the Milton line are suspended “due to the interruption of rail traffic services provided by Canadian Pacific Kansas City,” Metrolinx said. Meanwhile, service on the Lakeshore West line will terminate at West Harbour GO, around 1.5 kilometres east of its Hamilton GO terminus.
Some bus schedules have also been adjusted, the transit system said.
“Please note that service may be busier than usual on these lines as a result of additional passengers,” a Metrolinx spokesperson told Global News ahead of the strike, encouraging Milton passengers to find a way to ride either the Kitchener or Lakeshore lines into Toronto.
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About 7,500 people use the Milton Line — which runs through Mississauga — on a daily basis, while 600 people rely on the Hamilton GO station.
The suspension of some Metrolinx services comes as a result of a historic nationwide strike and railway shutdown.
Freight trains across Canada came to a grinding halt on Thursday morning when roughly 9,000 railway employees ceased work, with strikes and lockouts on the table.
A phased shutdown of the networks at both Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City began even before contract talks with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference stalled at a midnight deadline.
Experts believe a shutdown would mark the first-ever simultaneous work stoppage at the country’s biggest rail companies.
Both the Milton Line and Hamilton GO are managed by rail traffic controllers for CPKC, according to Metrolinx. Portions of the GO network running on CN lines will not be impacted.
The impact to commuter rail is limited to routes running on CPKC-owned tracks because dispatchers at CN, which hosts a greater number of passenger trains, are not part of the bargaining process and would not take part in a work stoppage.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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