Montreal commuters have been taking the “A” train this winter — as in angry, aggravated and ready for aggressive action against the local rail transit authority.

Since mid-January, it’s been commuter chaos on trains bringing workers to and from downtown. Scheduling snafus, equipment breakdowns and the resulting delays have left passengers cold and angry on platforms or squashed into cars for long rides.

Feelings have boiled over with shoving matches between passengers and a heated public outpouring aimed at the Agence métropolitaine de transport, the agency in charge of operating trains on five lines.

It all began with a much-ballyhooed revamp of train schedules involving the addition of 76 new departures to ease crowding. But that turned into disaster on heavily travelled lines taking passengers to and from destinations west and northwest of downtown.

Mechanical breakdowns caused long delays and some schedule changes led to unforeseen crowding. The AMT blamed the breakdowns on the combination of cold weather, aging rolling stock and signalling systems and unsatisfactory maintenance.

To make matters worse, when trains were delayed or cancelled, passengers were often left to figure things out for themselves without an explanation from the AMT. Their only choice was to force their way onto the next packed departure, or make last-minute alternate travel arrangements at high cost both in terms of money and lost time.

The response has been petitions, protests and exasperated letters to the editor.

Train rider Steven Niemi wrote to The Gazette: “Well, after waiting once again for the no-show 5:40 train on Monday at the Lucien L’Allier station, I looked at the AMT board and thought: A M T, hmmmm. Ain’t Moving Train. A Motionless Train. Any Moment Train. Sigh!”

Another rider, Yves Boyer, went so far as to file a $65-million lawsuit on behalf of 45,000 commuters who use the AMT’s Deux-Montagnes and Dorion-Rigaud train lines. Provincial Transport Minister Julie Boulet left no doubt about her displeasure. She demanded that the AMT, a branch of her department, do something.

The AMT made its first mea culpa on Jan. 18, promising to add some cars and make sure more staff was on platforms to communicate with passengers. “It was a week of nightmares, especially on the mechanical side and the communication to our customers,” AMT president Joël Gauthier told CTV news, “and I sincerely want to apologize.”

Amid continuing problems in February, Gauthier was soon before the cameras again. Seemingly fighting for his job, he announced more measures to improve the situation. They included rebates on monthly passes on the most affected lines, the introduction of shuttle buses and a retreat on particularly contentious schedule changes on one line.

But Gauthier also threw the ball back into Boulet’s court, appealing for more public money to revitalize the train service — more than $150 million to be exact. He said the AMT has to modernize equipment, add extra tracking and sidings, acquire garages to house trains when they aren’t in service and have its own maintenance facility. Currently, it subcontracts maintainance to CP and CN — one source of the problems.

Help will arrive eventually. Thanks to a $622-million investment by Quebec, the AMT is to receive 160 new double-decker train cars beginning next year. It will have to wait until 2010-2012 to receive 20 new locomotives.

The train to better commuter service in Montreal is on the track but it is going to take a while to arrive. IE