OTTAWA, Ontario — Canada’s transport minister announced over the weekend that he would meet with representatives of VIA Rail Canada after two passengers on a Quebec City-bound train were stranded for more than 10 hours. One of them claimed that a train conductor acted “aggressively” in response to passengers’ complaints.

According to the Canadian Press, Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez plans to meet with VIA officials this week. In a post on social media site X, Rodriguez shared a French-language news report about the incident and wrote: “This is unacceptable and we will get to the bottom of this. … Passengers deserve better.”

CityNews reports that the incident occurred on Saturday, August 31, and that a train experienced two mechanical failures, causing the trip from Montreal, which was supposed to take 2.5 hours, to take 13 hours. Eventually, a visitor from Texas told CityNews, an employee shoved a passenger and ordered everyone to sit down, at which point others began recording the incident on their cell phones. This passenger, Chip Malt, was one of them and allowed the unidentified employee to take his cell phone.

Malt said the train ran out of food after about three hours and water after about six hours. The train finally arrived in Quebec City around 10 p.m.

VIA told the Canadian Press that passengers were offered drinks and snacks throughout the day and that a meal and additional water were delivered in the evening. No buses were available as backup transportation, the company said. Eventually, local firefighters were called to help passengers transfer to another train.

The company said it is investigating the report of the cell phone incident and will take appropriate action after reviewing it. It also apologized for the incident and announced that it will provide a full refund to those affected.