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Here's how the CPKC lockout will impact Tri-City commuters

TransLink is adding more bus services to help move local residents as national railway parties were unable to come to terms.
Tri-City News Staff
westcoastexpresstranslinktricitiestrainstock
The West Coast Express rolls through three Tri-Cities transit stations: Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam Central and Moody Centre.TransLink

Tri-City residents that rely on the West Coast Express (WCE) for their daily commutes will need to map alternate routes for the foreseeable future.

As of 12:01 a.m. today, Aug. 22, Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. (CPKC) has locked out 9,300 engineers, conductors and yard workers after the parties could not come to terms on a new contract before the midnight deadline.

In a statement, TransLink explained, even though it's not involved in the national dispute, the WCE shares the same rails as CPKC and, as a result, can not operate without its workers.

"The West Coast Express service outage would be indefinite until the CPKC lockout ends," a news release reads from the regional transit authority.

WCE has three stops in the Tri-Cities (from east to west): Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam Central and Moody Centre (Port Moody).

To mitigate the loss, TransLink is set to add more bus services from those stations. The alternatives are listed as follows:

At Port Coquitlam Station

  • The R3, Route 701, or 791 to connect to SkyTrain at Coquitlam Central Station
    • Customers at Port Coquitlam Station could also take routes 159, 160, 173, 174, or 175 to connect with SkyTrain

At Moody Centre or Coquitlam Central stations

  • Take the Millennium Line and transfer to the Expo Line at Commercial–Broadway Station (Vancouver)

According to TransLink, more than 3,000 Metro Vancouver residents utilize the WCE on a daily basis, recording more than 2.6 million boardings per year.

For more information and updates, you can visit TransLink's website.

With a file from Lindsay William-Ross, Vancouver Is Awesome

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