Commuters exit and board a GO Train at the West Harbour GO station in Hamilton, Ont., on Aug. 22.Peter Power/The Canadian Press
The agency responsible for Ontario’s GO Transit system says a commuter line and train station will resume service as the work stoppage by Canada’s two major railways comes to an end.
Metrolinx spokesperson Andrea Ernesaks says services on the Milton GO line and at Hamilton GO station will start to run again on Monday, but adds there may be some adjustments to schedules throughout the day as the agency restores normal service.
Ernsaks says Metrolinx will also have additional staff and shuttles on hand in the event it needs to deploy them, which she says is standard practice with a schedule change.
Thousands of commuters who use the Milton GO line and the Hamilton GO station were taken by surprise Thursday morning after a countrywide rail lockout by Canadian National Railway Co. CNR-T, and Canadian Pacific Kansas City CP-T shut down lines in major metropolitan areas.
The lockout impacted more than 9,000 rail workers, triggering a national work stoppage that affected freight traffic as well as 30,000 commuters in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, who use trains running on CPKC-owned lines.
The stoppage is slated to end first thing Monday after the Canada Industrial Relations Board issued a decision Saturday ordering the companies and their workers to resume operations ahead of binding arbitration.