Via Rail ticket-holders refunded almost $1 million

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This article was published 30/07/2018 (2768 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Via Rail refunded almost $1 million to ticket-holders in the 12 months after the railway tracks to Churchill washed out in May 2017, the Free Press has learned.

A freedom-of-information request shows Via refunded 6,110 one-way fares along the route from Winnipeg to Churchill, totalling $938,251. Half of those fares were to start or end in Churchill, amounting to $782,177.

The train to Churchill follows a CN Rail line curving north from Winnipeg into Saskatchewan and back east to The Pas, where it switches to the Omnitrax-owned Hudson Bay Railway up to Churchill. The train links remote northern Manitoba communities along the line, in addition to sending tourists and academics to the “Polar Bear Capital of the World.”

The railway washed out just north of Gillam on May 23, 2017. The Free Press requested data on ridership, revenue and refunds along the entire line for 12 months following the closure.

The data appear to exclude bookings by tour operators who reserve sections of the train and sell seats, paying the Crown corporation for them 45 days in advance. Daryl Adair, owner and operator of Winnipeg-based Rail Travel Tours, said that could account for much more lost revenue.

It’s also unclear whether there have been more trips cancelled than normal along the part of the route that still operates, through The Pas and Thompson to Gillam.

The data also don’t describe how many tickets would have been bought on the train in a normal year. Adair said it’s common for locals living in remote communities to board the train and pay for tickets on the spot.

Meanwhile, some 969 tickets to or from Churchill were not refunded during those 12 months, netting Via Rail a $70,581 profit.

It’s unclear whether passengers are holding onto those tickets in the hopes of getting a refund later or if they forfeited their trips.

Generally, when a paper ticket is issued, Via Rail requires it to be returned to a station in order to issue a refund.

Adair said it’s possible some tour operators kept the ticket bound for Churchill, got off in Thompson or Gillam and then took flights north to Churchill.

He said his agency decided against doing so in order to preserve space on planes for food and supplies. (The railway is the only land link to Churchill, a town of 900 located 1,600 kilometres north of Winnipeg.)

Adair said this summer’s tourist season is lost, while the polar bear season, which occurs right before the freeze-up, might end by the time the railway is running again if it gets repaired this year. He said he is already speaking with Via Rail about summer 2019 fares.

“We’re trying to keep our fingers in the dike,” he said.

Earlier in July, the Free Press reported Via Rail had spent $607,089.39 on logistics, travel and contractors to transport two locomotives and five rail cars south from Churchill last October. The company argues it would’ve cost almost double to repair the train if it was left to deteriorate over the winter.

Adair wants both levels of government to do an impact study tallying the economic hit the lack of railway service has had on tour operators, Winnipeg companies that ship goods to Nunavut, and industries in the Town of Churchill.

Ottawa has topped up millions in stimulus funding it offered after the 2016 Port of Churchill closure to account for the lack of railway service. But Adair said all businesses that have been affected deserve some sort of subsidy.

“There’s very slow movement from the provincial and federal governments,” he said. “This needs to be resolved, and resolved yesterday.”

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

Via Rail revenue loss FOI