Increase in delays for commuter trains: a class action is possible

ZECHARIAH GOUDREAULT / 24H

Zechariah Goudreault

Thursday, 15 February 2018 21:16

UPDATE
Thursday, 15 February 2018 21:21

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A class action to seek redress for the users of suburban trains in respect of delays and cancellations suffered since the beginning of the year is “plausible”, according to an organization defending the rights of transit users.

• READ ALSO:commuter rail: 20% increase in delays last year

“This is a situation that may arise. […] It is plausible. It is sufficient that a citizen decides to do so,” said the president of Trajectory, Québec, François Pépin.

The director of the same organization, Philippe Cousineau Morin, request the metropolitan transit system (RTM) to put in place a compensation policy that enables users to be compensated when delays and service major affect the network.

“This would not be at each delay, but if we had three days in a row of delays, the compensation would apply,” he detailed on Thursday, stressing that such a measure, which is not currently in the plans for the RTM, would reduce the risks of a possible class action.

“Nothing on the horizon”

In 2009, a group of citizens had filed a class action against the Agence métropolitaine de transport, which has become the RTM last year, after many delays and breakdowns of trains in the first two months of the year. In 2014, the AMT was paid several hundreds of thousands of dollars to compensate them for the thousands of users.

“There is nothing on our immediate horizon”, however, has shown Me Normand Painchaud, who had acted as prosecutor of this collective action.

According to the lawyer, the delays of the last few weeks can’t be compared to the situation “horrible” lived in 2009. Currently, “there is a problem that is less grouped, it is more spread out [in time] and we seem to no longer blame the weather”, he noted.

Target to comply with

As of the date of the 24th January last, the punctuality, network average was about 79 %, or 16% below the target punctuality as the RTM, which is 95 %. “January’s figures are very alarming,” responded Mr. Cousineau Morin.

“It is nice to have a target, but there are no constraints, no penalties at senior level [if it is not respected],” said the mla for deux-Montagnes, Benoit Charette.

The rate of punctuality of the line of Two-Mountains, where several trains were delayed Wednesday because of mechanical problems, has reached only 69.5 per cent last week. It is also on this line that nearly a third of the cancellations have taken place last year.

“My fear is that one leaves the line of Two-Mountains deteriorate. It is passengers who will pay the price”, has dropped Mr. Charette.

The trains cancelled by line (2016 / 2017):

Two-Mountains 13 / 41

Mont-Saint-Hilaire 1 / 17

Mascouche 3 / 7

Candiac 12 / 10

Vaudreuil-Hudson 17 / 23

Saint-Jérôme 21 / 29

A Total of 67 / 127