COVID-19 Important Updates - A VIA Rail Employee in Montréal Tests Positive for COVID-19

27/04/2020 17:51

MONTRÉAL, April 27, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - VIA Rail Canada (VIA Rail) has been informed that a Montréal employee has tested positive for COVID-19 on April 27, 2020. The employee was working at Montréal Central Station's service centre. The employee has not been at work since April 26, the day he started to develop symptoms.

As the health and safety of our employees is our number one priority, we immediately took the appropriate measures:

We have informed employees, that might have been in direct or indirect contact with their colleague, of the situation and we will remain in communication with them in the coming days.
Passengers that took trains 63 and 22 on the morning of April 21 and April 26 were informed, although the employee's work was limited to carrying material on board and was not in contact with passengers at any point.
In the last few weeks, we have deployed measures to ensure physical distancing in our stations and on board our trains to better protect our employees and our passengers. Furthermore, the employee's work environment has been closed for a complete disinfection.
In accordance with the guidelines from the Public Health Agency of Canada, we conduct strict and regular cleaning on board our trains, in our stations and in our call centres and our hygiene protocols include the use of cleaning products approved by Health Canada that have proven to be effective against COVID-19.

We remain in close communication with our employee and are providing all the support he needs to recover in the best possible conditions. Our thoughts are with him and his family during this difficult time.

REMINDER

VIA Rail is adjusting its operations and deploying a strict protocol of sanitary measures on board its trains, in its stations, maintenance centres and call centres in response to the pandemic and in order to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

Furthermore, we constantly remind our passengers and employees of the importance of following the recommendations of the public health authorities, to stay at home, avoid non-essential travel, practice physical distancing as much as possible, and to strictly follow good hygiene practices (wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, cough or sneeze into a tissue or the bend of their arm, avoid touching their eyes, nose or mouth without first washing their hands). We also encourage passengers who travel with us to wear a mask to help reduce the accidental spread of COVID-19 through respiratory droplets from asymptomatic persons.

We continue to monitor the developments of COVID-19 and we remain in close contact with public health agencies and the federal and provincial governments.

The most recent updates are available on our website.

About VIA Rail
As Canada's national rail passenger service, VIA Rail (viarail.ca) and all its employees are mandated to provide safe, efficient and economical passenger transportation service, in both official languages of our country. VIA Rail operates intercity, regional and transcontinental trains linking over 400 communities across Canada, and about 180 more communities through intermodal partnerships, and safely transported over 5 million passengers in 2019. The Corporation has been awarded five Safety Awards and three Environment Awards by the Railway Association of Canada since 2007. Visit the "About VIA Rail" section at https://www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail.

VIA RAIL CANADA WILL BE PUBLISHING REGULAR MEDIA UPDATES TO KEEP ITS CUSTOMERS AS WELL AS THE GENERAL PUBLIC INFORMED ABOUT ITS RESPONSE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. PLEASE VISIT OUR MEDIA CENTRE TO GET THE LATEST INFORMATION

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