A chaotic 13-hour VIA Rail train ride to Quebec City – delayed by two mechanical issues – reached a boiling point Saturday after an employee allegedly pushed a passenger before grabbing another’s phone right from his hands while he filmed the situation.
What should have been, at the most, a three-and-a-half hour train ride from Montreal to the provincial capital took a turn halfway in when the train broke down.
What followed, as described by passenger Chip Malt – an American from Texas on vacation with his wife – was a more than 10-hour ordeal that involved poor communication from employees, a lack of food and water, restless passengers and an aggressive staff member.
“They didn’t really give us much information,” Malt said. “They said it was a mechanical issue to start, which was probably about the first hour in, but then they go multiple hours without any information. The staff clearly had no information. They went over the radio multiple times saying we have no plan and we have no information. And so the crowd was actually pretty OK. Obviously, they started to get a little bit claustrophobic because there’s no windows, can’t open anything on a train.
“They tried to move us about 10 feet and then stopped again and continued to kind of leave everyone there with no information. They tried to bring a train to push us. That didn’t work either. And just really had no plan.
“They ran out of food about three hours in. They ran out of water about six hours in. And so luckily people had brought some food, but people were getting hungry, starving. They were getting dehydrated.”
The situation’s prompted Canada’s transport minister, Pablo Rodriguez, to schedule a meeting with VIA Rail leadership this week. Rodriguez says he is determined to get to the bottom of the train delay, adding passengers deserve better.
Employee grabs passenger’s phone
The alleged push and phone grab from the employee, who Malt believes was an engineer, was the boiling point after tensions had simmered for already eight hours at that point. He described the employee as “aggressive.”
“I don’t know why he was so angry. We weren’t doing anything,” Malt told CityNews from Quebec City on Sunday morning, where he was visiting his father for his 70th birthday. “People were standing in the aisles chatting and he just started yelling, ‘everyone sit down,’ and pushed a lady.”
Malt described it as “not a hard push” but rather a “forearm push out of the way as he barrelled down the aisle.” He says the woman, “who may have been half his size,” did not fall over.
But it got people to pull out their cell phones and start filming.
“Because it seemed like things were escalating,” Malt said. “And he just started yelling, ‘sit in your seats, sit in your seats’ in both English and French. People were – at that point they hadn’t had water for multiple hours – they were already quite frustrated with the staff and the lack of information, and they weren’t ready to just go sit in their seats. Their legs were hurting. They had all sorts of issues. There were arthritic people. And he just continued to yell at us.”
The worker, who was wearing an orange and yellow vest, can be heard talking to a passenger on the video.
“I’ve been on this train since 6 a.m.,” he tells her. “We have a riot situation and everyone is complaining. That’s not a way to do things. Everyone sit down, please.”
That’s when Malt began filming – a selfie-style video that included both his and the staff member’s face.
“I was standing right there. He was screaming at me to sit down and I was like just telling him, ‘hey, our legs are tired. We’re trying to stand and stretch our legs.’ And he snatched my phone from my hand.”
“Get that out of here,” the employee says as he pulls the phone from Malt’s hand.
The moment, which was caught on video by multiple passengers, was followed by an uproar. “How rude,” one person says repeatedly. “But what’s wrong with you,” shouts another.
WATCH: Worker grabs cell phone from tourist Chip Malt
The man then walks away down the train to another compartment. It’s not clear if he is a VIA Rail employee, as CityNews’ specific questions to VIA Rail about him went unanswered.
Instead, a spokesperson for the railway said: “The incident involving the agitated passengers will undergo a thorough investigation, and appropriate measures will be taken based on the conclusions of the review.”
After the worker walked away, other staff members intervened.
“They came over, apologized that that was completely out of hand and what he did was not right and not policy,” Malt said. “That’s when other guests on the train started to complain saying, ‘hey, as soon as the staff starts to lose it, that’s when all things kind of break loose and we don’t feel safe anymore on this train. You guys need to come up with a plan. We need to start calling the cops.’”
WATCH: Aftermath of man grabbing phone on VIA Rail train
Firefighters eventually showed up, some four hours after that altercation.
“They ended up pushing us back into a parallel train track and bringing a second train up and firefighters came, helped evacuate people from the train into the other train,” Malt recounted. “And then we finished the about 45-minute train ride into Quebec City kind of all standing amongst a bunch of other passengers who on that train got delayed because of our problem as well.”
They arrived in Quebec City around 10 p.m., roughly 10 hours after they were meant to.
“Québec train 622 experienced two consecutive mechanical issues between Drummondville and Québec, in addition to delays due to freight congestion,” VIA Rail said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the mechanical issues could not be repaired on-site, and no buses were available in the region to offer alternative transportation.
“Passengers were safe at all times and were offered beverages, snacks and a meal before being transferred to Ottawa – Québec train 24.”
Alcohol given to passengers?
Malt is also questioning the decision by staff members to apparently hand out alcohol to passengers during the lengthy delay.
“People started to get belligerent, and one of the ways they tried to pacify them was giving away free stuff,” Malt said. “And one of the things they were giving away was vodka and beer. And it’s like, 101 angry crowd and angry mob, don’t pacify them with alcohol. It just made no sense.
“So clearly, clearly the staff needs more training. And hopefully they can do so in the future. So if a real incident comes up, the patrons can be safe.”
In their statement to CityNews, VIA Rail said “passengers in business class may have been served alcoholic beverages as part of regular service during the trip, but we do not distribute alcoholic beverages when providing meals due to prolonged delays.”
Malt says the entire situation demonstrated how “completely unprepared” VIA Rail were to handle such a situation.
“I mean they could barely handle a simple breakdown in a simple crowd management when people were passive for eight hours. What would have happened if there was an actual incident that was a little bit more scary on that train.
“Definitely not feeling great about VIA Rail overall.”
Bronx cheer for discount
After being transferred to the second train – with Quebec City finally within reach after some 13 hours – Malt says an automated VIA Rail message announced all passengers would receive a 50 per cent discount for a future trip with the railway company.
“In New York, they have the saying ‘a Bronx cheer,’ where everyone’s sarcastically cheering for a bad player on the field. The train erupted in a Bronx cheer. Like, thank you so much for our 50 per cent credit for a future trip on VIA Rail. ‘I will never go on this rail ever again’ was the attitude on the train.”
VIA Rail later told CityNews impacted passengers will be compensated with a full refund and a 100 per cent travel credit.
“VIA Rail understands this unfortunate situation impacted the travel plan of its passengers and offers its deepest apologies for the inconvenience caused,” the company said.
While he eventually did make it to Quebec City to celebrate his father’s 70th, Malt says the delay and missing an entire day in the historic city was “not great.”
“Not feeling great about VIA Rail and the policies.”
