MONTREAL — A lot is riding on the line for 19,000 daily passengers who use Montreal’s commuter train service.
A Quebec judge refused to grant the Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT) an injunction which would have forced the Canadian Pacific Railway and its unions to keep its passenger rail service in the event of a strike.
READ MORE: CN gets strike notice; government preps legislation to prevent walkout
The CP employees are threatening to walk off the job effective midnight, Sunday, Feb. 15, which could jeopardize passenger service for AMT riders on three lines: Vaudreuil-Hudson, Saint-Jérôme and Candiac.
“It’s a big crisis for our organization.”
AMT president Nicolas Girard told Global News that the AMT is putting into place a contingency plan effective Monday morning in the event there is no passenger rail service.
Girard said the AMT plans to add more buses to serve the riders but he noted as many as 700 would be needed to transport all passengers — and that’s impossible.
”I demand formally to the CP and the union to find a solution to offer service to our clients Monday morning,” he said from the AMT’s downtown head office.
READ MORE: Supreme Court strikes down Sask. law that prevents the right to strike
Girard said both sides are equally to blame if service is not maintained Monday morning.
”This situation is not acceptable.”
“I do not accept it as CEO of AMT,” he said. “I will defend the interests of our clients.”
CP Rail told Global News in an email that the company is not in a position to provide service in the event of a strike.
”We do not have managers properly trained to safely operate AMT trains,” Jeremy Berry, a CP Rail spokesperson wrote.
The workers’ union, Teamsters Canada, issued this statement in a press release:
”Our members will not be operating these trains (AMT) during the time of a strike.”
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