CN Railway says it must shut down its entire train network in Eastern Canada due to on-going blockades by anti-pipeline protestors.
The company says that means stopping all transcontinental trains across its Canadian network and it may lead to temporary layoffs.
As a result, VIA Rail says it will have to shut down its entire passenger service in Canada, because it mostly uses CN track.
That includes all trains in Windsor until further notice.
VIA says there will be no more departures, all trains currently en route will be brought to the closest major station, and it apologizes for the disruption.
CN Rail says while the blockades have been dismantled in Manitoba and may be ending soon in B.C., the court order in Ontario has yet to be enforced and continues to be ignored.
The Teamsters Canada union, which represents 16,000 rail workers, has issued a statement calling on the federal government to intervene and find a solution to the blockades which it says have paralyzed the rail network.
“These blockades are having a catastrophic impact on ordinary, working-class Canadians who have nothing to do with the Coastal Gaslink pipeline. Hundreds of our members have been out of work close to week. Now up to 6,000 of our members risk not being able to support their families or make ends meet this month, and they are powerless to do anything about it,” said the national president of Teamsters Canada, François Laporte.
Protesters across Canada say they're acting in solidarity with those opposed to the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which crosses the traditional territories of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation in northern B.C.
-- with files from The Canadian Press