Strike Delaying Trains at Halifax

Port operations at Halifax, N.S., are feeling the impact of a locomotive engineers strike against Canadian National Railway.

Canada’s third-largest container port depends on trains to haul about 70 percent of its boxes from ocean ships into other parts of the country.

But Metro News, citing a port official, reported that daily train service was delayed by 16 hours on Nov. 29, the second day of the strike. In turn, that delayed some shipments until the evening of Nov. 30.

The government introduced legislation in Parliament to order strikers from Teamsters Canada Rail Conference back to work, but the earliest it could pass would be Dec. 2.

The measure would also send contract disputes between CN’s management and train engineers to binding arbitration. Some opposition legislators have questioned the need for federal intervention.

Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.