crs1026
Superstar
I have some sympathy for the train crew (not saying they handled it well, but....) as they were probably as frustrated as anybody about having to stand still with absolutely no means to take corrective action. It's actually pretty stressful to have no answers for people when you are the ones who have to deal with them face to face, and what you are telling them isn't sufficient.
The assumption I am making (based on the number of tweets that have turned up) is that the train stopped in an area with good cellular coverage. So my question is, was there clear, accurate, continuous and effective contact between the train crew and the operations base. And did anyone at the operations base have the mandate to actually operationalise a rescue, and did they have direct contact with the crew to feed them updates. Or was the crew simply given the usual corporatespeak and told to assure passengers that everything was being looked after.
I can understand that on the cusp of a long weekend, the bus supply might be limited....but.... what VIA needs is not simply a list of coach operators, but some sort of a retainer arrangement where the operators commit to give VIA priority over, say, the local football team.
I note that VIA's reply alluded to freight interference - I wonder if this was true or just blame shifting. If true, perhaps one needs to ask why VIA had to send a rescue train from further away, when a locomotive might have been borrowable. Perhaps there needs to be a time threshold where CN is obligated to halt a freight and send the power to rescue VIA. (Freight railways do this regularly when their own trains break down).
Some of the tweets indicate that the local fire department did respond and assisted with passenger transfers when the following VIA train turned up. I wonder whether there should be a legal threshold where a trapped trainload or planeload of people automatically becomes a "rescue" situation and authority passes to the fire or police. (Having said that, most police or fire chiefs would likely deem a trainload of people sheltering in an undamaged vehicle to be in a place of safety, so wouldn't take any action, but their response assures that peoples' condition will be checked on and any medical or similar issues would receive attention).
Similarly, in this world of non-redundant head end power - I wonder whether any situation involving total shutdown of HVAC and/or toilets ought to trigger "emergency" status.
A lot of the passengers' (and crew's) stress in this kind of situation derives from the belief that nobody out there is looking after things and giving the situation priority. VIa has the obligation not just to take action, but to demonstrate to passengers that help is on the way. Sure sounds like that wasn't accomplished.
- Paul
The assumption I am making (based on the number of tweets that have turned up) is that the train stopped in an area with good cellular coverage. So my question is, was there clear, accurate, continuous and effective contact between the train crew and the operations base. And did anyone at the operations base have the mandate to actually operationalise a rescue, and did they have direct contact with the crew to feed them updates. Or was the crew simply given the usual corporatespeak and told to assure passengers that everything was being looked after.
I can understand that on the cusp of a long weekend, the bus supply might be limited....but.... what VIA needs is not simply a list of coach operators, but some sort of a retainer arrangement where the operators commit to give VIA priority over, say, the local football team.
I note that VIA's reply alluded to freight interference - I wonder if this was true or just blame shifting. If true, perhaps one needs to ask why VIA had to send a rescue train from further away, when a locomotive might have been borrowable. Perhaps there needs to be a time threshold where CN is obligated to halt a freight and send the power to rescue VIA. (Freight railways do this regularly when their own trains break down).
Some of the tweets indicate that the local fire department did respond and assisted with passenger transfers when the following VIA train turned up. I wonder whether there should be a legal threshold where a trapped trainload or planeload of people automatically becomes a "rescue" situation and authority passes to the fire or police. (Having said that, most police or fire chiefs would likely deem a trainload of people sheltering in an undamaged vehicle to be in a place of safety, so wouldn't take any action, but their response assures that peoples' condition will be checked on and any medical or similar issues would receive attention).
Similarly, in this world of non-redundant head end power - I wonder whether any situation involving total shutdown of HVAC and/or toilets ought to trigger "emergency" status.
A lot of the passengers' (and crew's) stress in this kind of situation derives from the belief that nobody out there is looking after things and giving the situation priority. VIa has the obligation not just to take action, but to demonstrate to passengers that help is on the way. Sure sounds like that wasn't accomplished.
- Paul
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