A union rep says makes no sense for Via rail to cut its Eastern Canadian service from six days a week to three.

The reduction is included in a package of changes rolled out Wednesday to cope with a reduction in government subsidies.

Via Rail says it expects to cut 200 unionized jobs, or about nine per cent of its positions, across Canada.

No whole routes will be cut, but there are reductions to some of the major lines, including the “Ocean” line from Halifax to Montreal.

VIA says customer traffic on the Ocean route has fallen by 50 per cent in recent years, prompting the decision to halve the number of weekly trips.

However, the union representing Via employees disputes that claim. Heather Grant with the Canadian Auto Workers tells News 95.7 the numbers show ridership has been increasing in recent years.

“Lots of days, the train is sold out and you can’t get on the train, so you have to go the next day,” she said.

Grant says the union will meet with via to try to mitigate the damage, but admits there’s really nothing it can do to stop the service cuts and layoffs.

“We are going to meet with the company and we are going to try to reason with them, but I don’t really have much hope for that,” she said. “So it’s one of these things, I hate to say sit back and take it, but that’ll probably be the outcome.”

VIA president Marc Laliberte says most of the job cuts in the coming months will not result in a layoff. He says normal attrition runs around eight per cent of the workforce, so most of the affected employees will be kept in the company.

The company is planning to expand track capacity along the busy Montreal-Toronto corridor, but service from Toronto to Vancouver will be reduced to two trips a week in the off-season.

The service adjustments will be implemented between July and the end of October.