VIA Rail continues to use aging equipment on The Ocean which includes Moncton on its trip between Montreal and Halifax according to a transportation advocate.
Ted Bartlett, past president of Transport Action Atlantic, said the rail cars issue has reached a crisis level.
“The newest ones were built in the 1990s for a British consortium and are unsuitable – really always were – for use in Canada. They’ve now reached the end of their working life.”
Bartlett said these cars were supposed to have been retired a year ago.
He adds some of the stainless steel rail cars date back to the 1940s.
“The Government of Canada has chosen for whatever reason not to give any funding to VIA for long haul equipment financing. And it’s urgently needed, or everything we have outside the Corridor (central Canada) is just going to crumble into dust.”
Despite the old equipment, Bartlett believes VIA Rail is doing everything it can to ensure safety.
But he adds new rail cars are needed and it takes time to get passenger rolling stock built.
Follow
