Spotty train service forces Mathias Colomb to fly stranded members home for holidays

There's a scramble in The Pas to get people home for the holidays, as Mathias Colomb Cree Nation members struggle with spotty train service.

The last train before Christmas to Pukatawagan from The Pas left Thursday morning with room for only 40 passengers.

Leona Dumas says she was one of about 70 people who lined up in bitterly cold weather early in the morning to buy a ticket. There were only a few people ahead of her in line when train officials said tickets were sold out.

"I woke up extra early so I could go line up outside in the cold with the rest of the people. Some people were lined up already … they're the lucky ones that got on."

Needed at home

Dumas has been trying to get home with her two-year-old grandson since Saturday. Adding to the pressure: She's recently become the primary caregiver for her mother, 83, and brother, 65, both of whom have health issues.

"My mom is terminally ill," Dumas said. "They need us for cooking and cleaning, and just being there."

Mathias Colomb Chief Gordon Bear says getting his members home to Pukatawagan is a priority. He says those who didn't make it on the train Thursday will be flown home by Missinippi Airways — which is owned by the First Nation.

He says his nation will pick up the cost to get at least 30 members home on flights. The Missinippi planes don't have a large carrying capacity so people's luggage will have to go by train to meet them in Pukatawagan.

"We shouldn't have to do these things," Bear said. "This has been going on now for a long time."

He says service providers should have the resources needed to maintain train operations, which are frequently hindered by aging equipment.

The train is operated by the Keewatin Railway Company (KRC). CEO Anthony Mayham says there are normally three passenger coaches on The Pas-Pukatawagan route, but two are currently unusable because the heating systems are broken, and can't keep people warm during the roughly seven-hour train ride.

Mayham says KRC runs operations for the train line, but the passenger coaches themselves are owned and maintained by VIA Rail. He says VIA Rail often doesn't have enough technicians to send to The Pas to maintain the coaches.

Hope for the new year

However, Mayham is hopeful as the new year approaches: KRC will be buying and maintaining its own coaches thanks to recent funding from Transport Canada.

"We are being funded to get refurbished passenger coaches along with locomotives, but they won't become available until at least late spring or summer of 2023," Mayham said.

The chief says demand for the train line has more than doubled since it began operations in 2006, but its capacity hasn't increased to match population growth.

"These lines started out with 1,500 people, total," Bear said. "Today we speak of 3,700 people."

When operations began there was "lots of elbow room" on the trains, he said, but in recent years more and more people are travelling to The Pas. 

"There's 120 people on a given day that come shopping. They bring their children, then they bring everybody home because The Pas can accommodate us — we have hotels now."

Dumas is grateful for any help she can get from Mathias Colomb. She says she hasn't been home for the holidays in a long time, and being there this year would mean a lot.

"This would be my first time home for Christmas with them in 10 years," Dumas said. "I'd really like to get home to them."