Canada’s national rail passenger service, VIA Rail announced on Saturday – Feb. 15 that they are canceling all of its services on the network with the exception of Sudbury-White River (CP Rail) and Churchill-The Pas (Hudson Bay Railway) due to a notice from the infrastructure owner, CN Rail.
The notice was saying that CN Rail is no longer in a position to fulfill their obligations under the Train Service Agreement between VIA Rail and CN Rail.
VIA Rail received a notification from CN on February 18 allowing a resumption of service in Southwestern Ontario.
Beginning Thursday morning, February 20, all trains running between Toronto-London-Windsor, Toronto-Sarnia and Toronto-Niagara will resume service. For operational and safety reasons, please note that trains may encounter certain delays.
Furthermore, between Québec City-Montréal-Ottawa, partial service will resume during weekdays and full service will be offered during weekends.
Overview of service resumptions | ||
Route | Service | Starting Date |
Toronto- London-Windsor | Full | Thursday, February 20 |
Toronto-Sarnia | Full | Thursday, February 20 |
Toronto-Niagara Falls | Full | Thursday, February 20 |
Québec City-Montréal-Ottawa Weekdays | Partial
| Thursday, February 20 |
Québec City-Montréal-Ottawa weekends | Full | Saturday, February 22 |
CANCELLATIONS
Since all other VIA Rail services are not operating until further notice, with the exception of Sudbury-White River (CP Rail) and Churchill-The Pas (Hudson Bay Railway), VIA Rail has canceled all affected departures until the end of the day on Thursday, February 20, and all customers will be receiving a cancellation notice.
Cancellations are made on a progressive basis, depending on the evolution of the situation. As soon as we confirm that a train will be canceled, passengers on that train will be notified by email and will be automatically reimbursed. Due to the volume of transactions that we process in these exceptional circumstances, reimbursement can take a minimum of 15 days.
REFUNDS
Passengers holding a ticket for which the first trip’s scheduled departure has not yet passed and is no later than Monday, February 24, have the option of autonomously canceling online for a full refund with no service charges, even if additional segments fall after February 24. Passengers may also get a refund for a return ticket scheduled after February 24, as long as the first portion of the trip was scheduled no later than that date.
All details on the refunding procedure are available on the website: https://www.viarail.ca/en/travel-advisory-information.
As of February 18, 532 trains have been canceled because of the blockades. More than 103 000 passengers have been affected.
Our passengers rely on VIA Rail for regular and safe intercity rail service and we are eager to resume operations.
We remain hopeful for an end to the situation as soon as possible and encourage all relevant parties to continue their efforts towards a peaceful resolution.
We thank our passengers for their continued patience and understanding.
