An empty commuter station on Aug. 23 in Montreal.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
Greater Montreal’s Exo transit system says commuter lines will start to run again on Monday morning as the work stoppage by Canada’s two major railways comes to an end.
Exo spokeswoman Catherine Maurice says service on its Candiac, Saint-Jérôme and Vaudreuil/Hudson lines will return to their regular schedule after coming to an abrupt halt Thursday morning that took many commuters by surprise.
Maurice says bus shuttle service will also continue Monday in order to handle “any issues that may arise” for the routes’ 21,000 daily riders.
She says Exo expects congestion on the tracks amid the operations ramp-up by Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City.
Select commuter lines in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver came to a standstill last week after the rail companies locked out 9,300 employees, including Canadian Pacific dispatchers who direct traffic on tracks owned by that company but used by commuter trains.
On Saturday, the federal labour board ordered railways to resume operations and employees to go back on the job starting at 12:01 a.m. Monday ahead of binding arbitration, which will aim to resolve a labour impasse that led to the unprecedented shutdown.