Storm impacts rail services between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick

While New Brunswick didn’t see any of the weather or damage from this weekend’s storm, impacts from Nova Scotia are being felt in the neighbouring province.

With significant damage closing a section of CN Rail between Moncton and Halifax, officials say it’s just too early to say when services will resume.

In a statement to CTV News, CN Rail said in part that, “As of Monday morning, all CN tracks are passable in Nova Scotia except for a significant washout that occurred just south of Truro.”

“CN crews have already restored much of the damaged infrastructure, but some repairs will be delayed until the floodwaters recede,” the company added.

The unexpected closure has temporarily cut off the Port of Halifax’s only rail link.

“We are a rail-based port. Over 60 per cent of the cargo that moves through Halifax moves via rail,” said Lane Farguson, the communications and marketing director for the Port of Halifax.

However, what this closure means moving forward is still up in the air.

“Right now, it’s really too early to say just how big the impact is going to be because it’s too early to say how long it’s going to take to fix the line,” he said.

“I know that CN is doing everything that they can to assess the situation and then make those repairs when it’s safe to do so. Supply chains do have a little bit of flexibility to deal with minor bumps and that kind of thing and we’ve seen that before. A storm can blow in through Halifax and put a pause on things for two to three days and cargo backs up a little bit and then we are able to work quickly to move it through and get things back to the levels that we like and we need to be at.”

In the meantime, Farguson says they are working closely with their partners and taking steps in the short-term to manage the situation the best they can, including finding ways to maximize yard space to handle the additional containers.

“The terminal operator can stack them up a little bit higher if it’s safe to do so and we can also take some of the empties out of the yard and move them into strategic areas along the seaport and we’ve seen that before through other supply chain disruptions,” he said.

VIA Rail has also been forced to make adjustments. Its ocean route stops fully in Moncton for the foreseeable future instead of continuing through to Halifax.

In a statement to CTV News, VIA Rail Canada said that right now they are “waiting on CN to provide an estimation as to when tracks will be passable.”

However, with services stopping a province too soon, some passengers are left frustrated.

“I think that in the future, I probably will not take VIA Rail ever again,” said Troy Ivy, who arrived in Moncton on Monday around 5:30 p.m.

After arrival, he says that he was told that he’s on his own to get to his final destination.

“I’m not really happy with the Crown corporation and the lack of service, but the employees were super, they made the trip worth while and thank goodness for them,” he said. “Thank goodness for my mom and for other people, I feel bad for them because it’s unfortunate and it’s not right.”

VIA Rail did say on their website and confirmed in a statement to CTV News that “no alternative transportation will be provided and impacted passengers are being contacted directly to inform them of the situation.”

Due to the circumstances, Harry Watson has been travelling across Canada for the last five weeks by train and is now hoping that a bus will take him to the end of his journey.

“I’m so close to the end that I don’t want to tarnish that with getting really stressed and sort of angry at it all because it’s a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things,” he said while still in transit to Moncton on Monday.

His trip started in Vancouver and is expected to wrap up in Nova Scotia, but he says this has been one of the only obstacles.

“VIA Rail has been excellent. They’ve been really good in terms of letting us know about cancellations and delays, so I couldn’t have asked for anything more from them,” he said, not regretting his decision to see Canada from a train window.

He added that this bump in the road did give him a chance to experience true Maritime hospitality.

“I sent a message into the Moncton Facebook community chat, just asking if anyone could help us out, that had a spare room or anything like that and the response that we got was amazing. Everyone was so friendly and outgoing and wanted to help us out,” he said.

As work continues for CN Rail, officials say that the track is being inspected to ensure safety of all rail traffic and movement in the future.