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GO train, UP Express service resumes with 'minimal disruptions' after major outage
Oct 03, 2023
GO and UP Express trains were running smoothly Wednesday morning after a major service disruption that lasted for hours Tuesday caused commuter chaos throughout the GTA.
In its latest statement, GO Transit said service on the lines has resumed with "minimal disruptions.
"While we do not anticipate further delays or cancellations, we are committed to providing as much notice as possible to customers in the event of any changes," the statement added.
On Tuesday, service was halted due to a network-wide Canadian National Railway (CN) system failure that affected all rail corridors. It gradually resumed throughout the evening hours.
"The outage was attributed to an internal system upgrade and affected CN's ability to connect to the internet," CN said in a message to employees.
CN apologizes, will review incident
CN's website also appeared to be offline for a period Tuesday afternoon, but was running again by 4 p.m. In a statement at about 8:15 p.m., CN said its internet connectivity has been restored.
"CN would like to apologize for the impact caused by this outage. While there continues to be no indication of a cyber security issue, the cause of the outage remains under investigation," the company said in the statement.
"During the outage, CN worked with GO to temporarily take over their train dispatching responsibilities," it added.
"This allowed for the partial resumption of GO and VIA services. GO Transit has now resumed dispatching their lines and they are working to resume their normal movements. CN will be working with GO to review the incident and put in place processes to avoid further disruptions."
CN said its customer service portal is working and its own trains did not experience any delays. No data was affected, it said.
Earlier, CN said GO trains, Via trains in and out of Union station, both of which require an internet connection to CN's services, were affected. EXO trains out of Montreal and Amtrak Trains were not affected.
Via Rail says service to return to normal Wednesday
Via Rail said in its own post on X that trains entering or leaving Union Station would experience delays Tuesday, and asked passengers to visit its website for updates on their trips.
In an email at about 9:45 p.m., Via Rail said it learned in the afternoon that operations were resuming.
"As of 3:45 p.m. today we were informed by Metrolinx that trains would slowly start to gain access to the infrastructure and that operations could resume. At the time of the events, 6 VIA Rail trains were running late and delays have continued throughout the night due to rail traffic on the infrastructure," Via Rail said.
"Operations should resume as normal tomorrow morning."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/go-transit-system-problem-1.6985282
Laurence Fox arrested over remarks on Ulez cameras as GB News sacks him
Wed 4 Oct 2023 11.59 EDT
Police have arrested the rightwing commentator Laurence Fox at his home after comments encouraging people to vandalise Ulez cameras.
On Wednesday morning Fox’s Reclaim party posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, which showed him sitting on the sofa in his living room, as several people dressed in police uniforms and wearing protective plastic gloves milled around him.
In the video Fox says: “Look how many coppers there are in my house, look at them coming to steal everything, take everything out of my house. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the country that we live in.” He then gives the camera a thumbs up.
In a statement, which did not name Fox, police said: “On Wednesday 4 October officers arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of conspiring to commit criminal damage to Ulez cameras and encouraging or assisting offences to be committed.
“He was arrested in Stockwell and has been taken to a south London police station, where he remains in custody.”
The Reclaim party posted on social media to confirm Fox had been arrested at his home and taken to a police station.
After the arrest, the broadcaster GB News, which last week suspended Fox after he made misogynistic remarks about the political journalist Ava Evans while on the Dan Wootton Tonight show, said it had “ended its employment relationship” with him.
In a statement, the broadcaster said its working relationship with the regular presenter Calvin Robinson, who had issued a statement expressing solidarity with Wootton, was also over. The internal investigation into Wootton, who was also suspended, was continuing, it said.
Fox’s arrest comes after he featured on a show on the video streaming site Rumble on Tuesday encouraging people to destroy Ulez cameras and saying he would himself take an angle grinder to them.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/04/laurence-fox-arrested-over-comments-urging-people-to-vandalise-ulez-cameras
https://twitter.com/thereclaimparty/status/1709504850885533934