Here's how the railway work stoppage will affect your commute in and around Montreal

Thousands of commuters in and around the island of Montreal will have to get creative with their routes into the city afterCanada's two main railway companies locked out its employees Thursday.

Both theCanadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and theCanadian National Railway Company (CN)triggered the lockout at 12:01 a.m. after theyfailed to reach a deal or binding arbitration with the Teamsters workers'union. Workers have also threatened to strike.

This affects operations on Exo commuter train lines 11 Vaudreuil-Hudson, 12 Saint-Jrme and 14 Candiac, says the public transit authority.

It says service onlines 13 Mont-Saint-Hilaire and 15 Mascouche, which use the CN network, will continue as normal. CN railtraffic controllers are not affected by the labour dispute, saidExo spokesperson Eric Edstrmin a statement.

The affected trainlines combined serve approximately 21,000 passengers per day, saysEdstrm.

Shuttle service to start Monday

Exo will offer afree shuttle service that will cover part of the affected transit service as of Aug. 26, the company says on its website. They will not be equipped with bike racks.

The shuttles will serve most of the train stations outside the island of Montreal and Laval during peak hours.

The shuttle service will only begin Monday asExo needs time to hire and train new drivers, some of whom are coming from outside Montreal given a shortage of drivers, especially during the back-to-school period.

"There aren't many alternative options to replace a mode that enables up to 1,250 people to ride in a single trip without overloading the road network," he said.

In the meantime, commuters will have touse the bus network. Exo says it requisitioned additional buses to meet the potential increase in demand.

Starting Thursday, Exo staff will be at the affected train platforms to redirect commuters.

Users should plan their routes using the Exo trip planner and deselecting the "train" option given thatapplications like Google Maps will not show the shuttles.

Exo is encouraging commuterson the island of Montreal and in Laval to use the Socit de transport de Montraland Socit de transport de Lavalpublic transit networks as much as possible.