OTTAWA – Given the myriad of current issues with VIA Rail Canada performance, it would be reasonable to think that a parliamentary hearing entitled “Improving VIA Rail’s Safety and Customer Service” could lead to a substantial number of passenger rail questions for Canadian Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon.
That’s not the way things played out before the House of Commons Transport, Infrastructure, and Communities Committee on Monday, Feb. 23.
MacKinnon appeared during the second half of a two-hour session also addressing issues regarding Canadian ports, and as a result, the focus on VIA was completely overshadowed by port questions. Even the high-speed Alto project – only tangentially connected to the topics at hand – generated more questions from committee members (two) than VIA (one).
“I want to be clear,” MacKinnon said in his prepared opening remarks. “VIA Rail must do better. This service is essential for connecting communities across Canada. As minister of transport, it is my top priority to ensure that all Canadians remain safe in our transportation networks.”
MacKinnon also referred to the aftermath of a 2024 incident in which passengers were stranded on a train in Quebec for more than 10 hours – an incident similar to one last December in which passengers traveling between Toronto and Ottawa were stuck on VIA trains overnight. [See “VIA passengers stranded overnight …,” Trains.com, Dec. 11, 2025].
“After Transport Canada completed its own review, we made it clear that VIA Rail needs to strengthen staff training, address equipment failures, and keep passengers well-being at the forefront during any service disruption,” MacKinnon said. “In response to the government and the recommendations of the independent investigation, VIA Rail updated its response protocols and staff training, introduced new measures to improve communications with passengers, and established a new reporting procedure to involve Transport Canada officials sooner when major disruptions occur.”
The lone VIA question came from MP Dan Muys, the Conservative Party’s associate shadow minister of transport, who noted ongoing concerns about train delays, specifically with VIA’s corridor services. He asked what MacKinnon would do to address those concerns.
“Let’s agree that the service has not been as customer friendly, reliable, or as punctual in recent years as it’s needed to be,” MacKinnon said. “Now let’s also agree, I hope, that we live in a northern country with at sometimes unpredictable weather. We also live with a situation where along many segments of the so-called corridor, VIA shares tracks, and in fact does not have priority over those tracks, with a railway. …
“We certainly want VIA and CN to collaborate to the extent that it’s possible and make that situation better. But I’ve made, in no uncertain terms, my expectation clear to the new senior management at VIA Rail that this must improve – that customer service communication with customers must improve, that reliability of service, people want to know that trains are going to depart on time and arrive on time … the things that are controllable, I expect VIA Rail to control.”
Video of the full hearing is available here.