Canada's Winter Travel

Travelling anywhere in Canada during the winter months can be fraught with concern over whether the trip will be trouble free from weather concerns interrupting efficient, swift and safe passage whatever the means of travel, from air to rail to highway vehicle. Winter storms erupt without too much warning, often enough; nature is indifferent to the problems her frequent weather systems cause to mere humans and their puny infrastructures.

There is news of recent vintage that a trainload of people in Northern Quebec left Schefferville at eight in the morning to embark on a Christmas shopping expedition that would see them spending the weekend at that great shopping mecca in Sept-Iles, Quebec. A happy diversion in peoples' daily lives, anticipating the drawing nigh of Christmas and the joyful family scenes of gift exchanges.

From that news item the reader was made privy to some interesting facts. That, for example, a rail line, called the Tshiuetin Rail Transportation system, in operation since 2005 and owned by three First Nations, covering over 200 kilometres, connecting remote communities in Northeastern Quebec, beyond the reach of the national VIA Rail service is a going concern. And good for them!

tshiuetin.net

 

The only fly in that ointment is that on this particular occasion, as temperatures dropped below minus-30-degrees Centigrade, the train with its 270 passengers and plenty of children accompanying their mothers, suddenly came to a stop in virtually the middle of nowhere. They were two hours out from their start at Schefferville when the train crew reported generator problems.

The result of which, while the company and its employees were trying to figure out what the next mov -- concerning rolling stock that dated from the 1950s -- might be to rescue the passengers, the train and the company's reputation, let alone the plans of so many people looking forward to this pre-Christmas expedition to round out their gift-giving plans.

In later interviews, Annie Nattawappio, a passenger on the train with her three young children, expressed her concerns about others; her children were well dressed for the trip, their mother fully aware of the weather and the need to ensure they were adequately prepared to face it, with outer garments consistent with plans for young children to play outside in the snow.

They were not intended on this occasion, to play outside in the snow, but their mother's cautious preparations were certainly not misplaced; even with their snowsuits the children were huddling for warmth in the train under blankets. "I was more worried about the elders and the pregnant women" on board under the circumstances, said Ms. Nattawappio of the Friday ordeal they all shared.

And then the train was fired up to move a short distance, bringing the passengers close by a small trailer used as a makeshift train station with four 'rooms' available to accommodate the hundreds of stranded passengers who quickly lined up to use the functioning bathroom facilities, for those on the train had frozen solid.



As the sun began to set, officials in nearby Labrador City, Newfoundland, were informed of plans underway to bring the passengers away from their dilemma. Within 20 minutes of being informed, the city and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary had put in place their emergency response plan, sending out a fleet of buses to the rail siding, where the stalled train sat.

There were children crying with the misery of being cold and hungry. Arriving at a local high school gymnasium for registration with the Canadian Red Cross, the passengers were met with pizza and chicken wings to restore confidence and comfort. Passengers were divided between two mining camps at Labrador City, with a network of trailers to function as dormitories for an overnight stay.

The next day the rail company arranged for all its stranded passengers to be flown to Sept-Iles. And to be assured that when their week-end of shopping had finally concluded to their satisfaction the train would be there, in good shape, and prepared to confidently and expeditiously return them to their homes in Schefferville