Mass Transit Safety

Labour unrest in Britain as well as several western European destinations, notably France, Germany, Italy and Spain, could result in significant Easter travel disruptions. [node:read-more:link]

Effective Nov. 30, unvaccinated passengers over the age of 12 are unable to board an aircraft or train in Canada even with a negative COVID-19 test. The stringent requirement is in response to the emergence of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus. [node:read-more:link]

A decades-old and periodically revived proposal to upgrade passenger rail service between Toronto and Quebec City was brought back to life again July 5 by the federal government. Costing up to $12 billion and scheduled for completion by 2030, it would include some rights-of-way designated for passenger traffic rather than the current delay-plagued mix which gives goods traffic priority. [node:read-more:link]

A $900-billion COVID-19 relief bill designed to provide economic relief to individuals and business, and approved by Congress after months of political deadlock, has been rejected by President Donald Trump. Withholding his signature, he has demanded increased payments to individuals and wants Congress to remove “wasteful and unnecessary” elements which included several defence procurements and foreign assistance programs. [node:read-more:link]

Traffic jams and crowds paralysed the French capital Sept. 13 as transport workers went on strike. They were protesting President Emmanuel’s plan to consolidate dozens of pension schemes for different professions. [node:read-more:link]

The 2015 convictions of two men sentenced to life over an alleged terrorist plot against a Toronto-bound passenger train are entitled to a new trial, according to an Ontario judge. One of the men arrested by the RCMP in 2013 was successful in arguing that the trial judge erred in how jurors were selected. [node:read-more:link]

Television talk show host Jimmy Kimmel has been fined $395,000 for mimicking a presidential alert on his late-night program during a sketch mocking the warning system as the Federal Emergency Management Agency tested the alert system last October. It is designed to warn of natural disasters, terrorist activities or other attacks. [node:read-more:link]

As drones become cheaper and more accessible, they’re being used for everything from wildlife surveys to pipeline surveillance. But they also have the potential to dangerously clutter up airspace and experts say Canada’s regulatory system hasn’t caught up to the technology. [node:read-more:link]

RCMP believe someone deliberately cut the inch-thick cable of the two-kilometre Sea-to-Sky gondola line, a popular tourist attraction along Highway 99 north of Vancouver. Not operating at the time, it usually carries up to 240 passengers at a time on its 30 cars. [node:read-more:link]