gritchik

I decided to head to Ottawa for the last day of the LPC policy convention (I have no love of policy but my partner was there and I’d get to see old friends that I never get to otherwise). So, after debating whether to travel Via Rail or Porter (train won because I missed the Porter seat sale), I grabbed my devices and headed toward the freezing cold hell that is Ottawa.

The trip was uneventful until we hit Smiths Falls at around 4pm. And there we sat for hours and hours. I, a bored blogger, who had lots of juice in her iPhone thanks to the nice guy across the aisle who leant me his charger, decided to tweet about our broken down train.  You can find threads here.  Also check out my fellow #vialrail tweeps @kateASzy and @PhillyDoucet. Other hash tags being used: #viajail and #viafail.

After our predicament was broadcast across the twitterverse, journos from the Star and Ottawa Citizen began contacting us. And thus this story appeared above the fold in today’s City section of the Cit. Also, this one in the Star. Unfortunately, the Via Rail handlers’ accounts of events last night seem to be hugely different from ours. You know, the actual passengers.

I’ll take you through a few, but first, so you know, before I took to Twitter, I called Via Rail.  Three different numbers.  All had recordings saying the offices were closed at 5 pm and to call back tomorrow.  It was 5:27 pm and we’d been sitting on the train, parked in Smiths Falls, since just after 4 pm.  We’d been told an hour earlier that a repair was needed and it should be fixed in about 10 minutes.

• Via Rail says “regular announcements” were made to keep us up to date. Not true! After that initial announcement above, we heard nothing again until the gentleman working our car came through with crackers – no water – telling us Via Rail was going to be making a decision on whether to get buses to take us to Ottawa or send another train. Next contact with Via Rail staff was about a half hour after this when our predicament was gaining momentum on Twitter and two women, seemingly from the first class cars, came through offering us free pop.
• A Via Rail spokesman said that while there were initial problems with the washrooms but they were “eventually solved.” This could be true if “eventually” means “after the passengers got off the train.” But, if the bathrooms got fixed, I didn’t hear about it.  And the pregnant woman and her husband, two rows up, left shortly after six in part because of the state of the toilets. And the stifling heat.
• A Via Rail spokesman said anyone who wanted to leave the train could do so. Not true! The nice guy who let me charge my iPhone, and who was reading a quit smoking book, started prowling the train about an hour and a half after stopping in Smiths Falls.  Being in the last car, he went up the train. He said that he was able to walk through Car 6 (ours), Car 5 and Car 4.  When he got to Car 3, the door was locked and he reported that there was not a single Via Rail staff member in any of these three cars. We could not leave the train for the first half of our stay in Smiths Falls.

At around 6:40 pm we heard that buses were en route and would be arriving in 20 minutes.  Not trusting much we were being told at this point, @KateASzy and I grabbed a cab and headed to Ottawa (had I realized that @PhillyDoucet was in the car with me, I would’ve invited him!). Turns out we made the right call because despite Via Rail’s declaration that buses would be there at 7 pm, they weren’t.  They arrived at the Smiths Falls station at 8 pm, getting passengers to Ottawa for 9:30pm. Over 9 hours after we left Toronto’s Union Station. To make matters worse, @PhillyDoucet tweeted that when the buses did arrive he had to help several seniors with their bags because “all staff already bailed.”

Not that Via Rail cares but here’s some free advice:

• When breakdowns, malfunctions and other problems occur, communicate early, regularly and accurately. The Star story states that Via Rail claims they ordered buses at 4:40 pm. If, at 4:40 pm, I knew that our train wasn’t going to move again, I would’ve then called the cab. Had Via Rail actually told us this, I would’ve gotten into Ottawa in time for dinner with my partner saving myself and Via Rail a ton of bloody aggravation. And the other passengers, too.
• Almost everyone around me had some sort of PDA, cell phone or laptop.  This means we could communicate with others off the train. In real time. You know, like on Twitter. And we could counter Via Rail’s failed attempts at spinning the Train 644 events.  At one point, Via Rail tweeted that train travel is a beautiful way to see Canada. (I’m sure it is, but at that moment, I really didn’t care about the views).
• Lastly, don’t call your passengers liars in newspaper columns and “dispute” their claims. One of them might be a pissed off blogger.