Travellers stranded as more than a dozen Via trains between Windsor and Quebec City cancelled or immobilized

Hundreds of passengers ended uptrappedon ViaRailtrains runningbetween Windsor, Ont., and Quebec City throughFriday night and into Saturday afternoonafter several tripsexperienced significant delays.

Seventrains in the Quebec City-Windsor corridor were cancelled and another nine were immobilized,ViaRail said in an email statement.

ViaRail listed power outages, downed trees on the tracks and one tree that fell on a trainas being among the reasons for the delays.

Shortly before 5 p.m. on Saturday, Via Rail said all passengers on those immobilized trains had reached their final destinations.

Due to a derailment involving a CN Rail train, Via said all of its trainsrunning between Ottawa and Toronto, and Montreal and Toronto would be cancelled on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

WATCH | Stranded passenger talks about situation on Viatrain:

Passengers trapped on Via Rail trains running between Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto

2 years ago

Duration 4:55

Hundreds of passengers have been trapped on VIA Rail trains running between Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. Kelly Crowe, who is stranded on a Via Rail train, talks about the ongoing situation.

CBC heardfrom passengers who were eitherstranded on trains or had finallyarrivedat their destinations after major slowdownsin some cases nearly a full day after their scheduled arrival.

Passengers described cramped conditions, out-of-service bathrooms and a lack of food and water.

Some people, fed up with the conditions, gathered their luggage and disembarked to continue their travels on foot, according to accounts from witnesses atthe scene.

Kasper Baryninboarded Via Railtrain 55 headed to Toronto at the Viastation in Ottawa onFriday afternoon.

Barynintold CBC on Saturday morningthat shortlyafter passingthrough Cobourg, Ont., a tree fellon top of the train. Once Viastaff realized the train had sustained damage, Baryninsaid, theypulledoff toa sidetrack.

As of Saturday morning, Barynin had been waiting onboard for more than 12hours since the tree fell, turning what was supposed to be a four-hour journeyinto one lasting more than 20 hours.

Baryninsaid passengers had difficulty sleeping in the fully lit cabinand describeddirty, unhygienic bathroom conditions, as toilets stopped flushing shortly after midnight.

Another passenger on the same train posted a series of tweets on Saturday morningthat showedthe arrival of first responderswhohelped transfer passengersto another rescue train.

Bolaji Laflamme-Lagokelikewise travelledfrom Ottawa to Torontobut on adifferent train. He said his train car passed thesame towns several times, movingback and forth alongthe track and extending histrip to 16 hours.

"The official messages we got were very infrequent," he toldCBCNews. "Why are we going back? Why are there not crews on hand?"

'It's very frustrating'

Others never left the station.

RichardCraig arrivedat Toronto's Union Station for a scheduled10:30 a.m. departure with thehopeoftakingthe train to Ottawa'sFallowfieldstationand continuingby car to his family home inRenfrew, Ont.

After learning his train had been cancelled, he waited for hours at the station,unable to get anyinformation from staff.

"It's very frustrating at the lack of information," he said. "ViaRail unfortunately just doesn't seem to care very much about the customers."

Stephanie Green, a student at the University of Ottawa, had already arrived atthe trainstation when she learned that her trip originallyscheduled for 5:30 a.m. on Saturday had beencancelled.

"My mom even said that she's willing to pay business class just because she wants me to be home for the holidays," Green said. "We're trying ourbest to make it work."

Transport Minister Omar Alghabracalledthe ViaRail situation "unacceptable" in a Twitter post on Saturday afternoon.

"We are in contact with them to resolve all issues safely and efficiently," he wrote.

Viaoffers full refund but not everyone receives it

Viasaid it apologizesfor the situation andwill providepassengers who were delayed overnight a full refund and a travel credit.

"We deeply regret the stress this has caused our passengers," the company said in its Saturday afternoon statement.

University of Ottawa studentHamda Omer, however, said earlier Saturday that she had onlyreceiveda discount of 50 per cent off.

Omer leftfrom Ottawa at noon on Friday to visit family in London, Ont. She arrived in Toronto at 7 p.m.,and after a four-hour delay, departed for the final leg of hertrip.

By the time the train arrivedin London at 4 a.m. on Saturday, staff were overworked and supplies offoodand water were getting low, Omer said.

Viasaid itis aiming to get passengers to theirdestinationsas "quickly and as safelyas possible."