Sudbury Ontario - Passenger train providers in Ontario and B.C. are warning of potential disruptions to service as Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) and two of its unions negotiate ahead of a midnight deadline to settle contract issues.
 
VIA Rail is telling passengers it may have to cancel morning trains on Saturday and Sunday between Sudbury and White River, if the labour dispute results in a shutdown of CP services.
 
Greater Toronto transit operator Metrolinx says there could be delays for customers on its Milton and Barrie lines if CP managers filling in for union workers are unable to address signal or switch issues on CP owned portions of the corridors.
 
Metrolinx added CP also owns a section of corridor leading into the Hamilton GO Centre and train service to and from this station would not be provided, although regular GO bus service would continue and extra buses would be put into service.
 
The BC Rapid Transit Company says it will provide buses if a CP disruption stops its West Coast Express train service in the Greater Vancouver area.
 
Meanwhile, in Calgary, union and company sources say marathon contract talks are ongoing but no progress can be reported as yet.
 
On Wednesday, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents over 3,000 CP conductors and engineers, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), with about 365 signal and communications workers, gave the railroad 72 hour notice of strike action.
 
CP says it is preparing with its customers for a possible strike by executing a "safe and structured shutdown of its train operations in Canada" to take effect as of midnight tonight.
 
OKthePK Joint Bar Editor:  The strike deadline WAS 00:01 - 21 Apr 2018.
 
VIA Rail and Metrolinx advised customers to check their websites for updates.
 
Author unknown.