Carmel Tanaka’s journey from Montreal to Quebec City was supposed to take about 3½ hours, but it took 14 hours before she finally arrived at the station.

Ms Tanaka was one of 214 passengers stranded for 10 hours on a Via Rail journey on Saturday, and at times she and her fellow passengers had no access to working toilets or water.

“It was pretty crazy,” said Ms. Tanaka, who was on her way to meet a long-lost cousin.

Via Rail said two consecutive mechanical problems were the cause of the delay. There were no other options to transport passengers, it said. Shuttle buses, for example, were not available in the region and leaving a train – outside a station – was dangerous and a last resort, it said.

The company said that drinks and snacks were offered to passengers throughout the day and a meal was delivered towards the end of the trip. However, there was a 90-minute period when the engine was shut down for repairs. During this time there was no running water, no air conditioning and the toilets did not flush.

As the delay increased, the anger grew, says Tanaka, and reached a boiling point when an employee snatched a passenger’s cell phone.

Eventually another train arrived and the fire brigade was called to help with the reloading.

Ms Tanaka said the situation was not a matter of “life or death” but it was “extremely frustrating” to be trapped in the train car, sitting for hours and not being able to stretch her legs or go outside.

She said she was also upset because she would only be staying in Quebec City for two days. “I missed a whole day that I could have spent with my cousin.”

On Sunday, Federal Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez said he would meet with Via Rail management to find out how the delay came about.

“This is unacceptable and we will get to the bottom of this,” Mr. Rodriguez said on X. “I am meeting with VIA management this week. Passengers deserve better.”

Via Rail has offered passengers on train 622 a full refund and 100 percent travel credit.

“VIA Rail recognizes that this unfortunate situation has impacted its passengers’ travel plans and sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience caused,” the company said in a statement to The Globe and Mail.

The event was a big challenge, but that was to be expected, said Jonathan English, a fellow at New York University’s Marron Institute of Urban Management. Mr. English lives in Toronto.

According to a report by The Globe, only 59 percent of Via Rail’s trains were on time in 2023. Mr. English said this is partly because much of Via Rail’s infrastructure is aging and prone to mechanical failure. For example, some of the trains on the Montreal-Quebec line are 50 to 70 years old, he said.

To minimize delays, fleet modernization is needed, Mr. English said, and fortunately that work is already underway. In 2022, Via Rail began deploying a new fleet of trains on the Quebec City-Windsor corridor.

While this should reduce delays caused by mechanical problems, delays will continue on Canada’s passenger rail lines, says Barry Prentice, professor of transportation studies at the University of Manitoba.

This is mainly because, unlike passenger services in most European countries, Via Rail does not own the tracks. Most of the tracks used are owned by the Canadian National Railway Co. This means that passenger services are constantly stuck behind heavier and slower freight trains.

Although Saturday’s delay was not due to track sharing, Via Rail still needs passenger-specific rail lines and a modern fleet, Prof. Prentice said.

“If you want to spend the money, you can have a nice rail system,” he said. “But you can’t just rebuild the old trains and use freight rail lines and expect the same reliability.”

In 2022, the federal government founded VIA HFR Inc., whose mission is to develop and implement high-frequency public transport on the 1,000-kilometer corridor between Toronto and Quebec City.

Ottawa still has to approve funding for the plan.

With reports from the Canadian Press