Name: Via Rail passenger stranded for 12 hours overnight
Uploaded: 2025-12-12T14:15:53.933Z
Duration: 2 min 1 s
Description: Via Rail passengers travelling from Toronto to Ottawa were stranded for 12 hours overnight after an earlier train broke down near Brockville, Ont. The breakdown also disrupted two later trains.

Via Rail passengers travelling from Toronto to Ottawa were stranded for 12 hours overnight after an earlier train broke down near Brockville, Ont. The breakdown also disrupted two later trains.

Brockville

Passengers on Via Rail train 669 were stranded for more than 12 hours overnight near Brockville, Ontario, after a mechanical failure halted their journey from Montreal to Toronto. During the ordeal, passengers endured a lack of heat, running water, and spent at least an hour with only glow sticks for light. 

The breakdown also disrupted two other trains, which were used to shelter the stranded passengers until alternate transportation could be arranged. Via Rail has announced it will review its response to the incident, refund all affected passengers, and provide travel credits. The company has faced similar incidents in the past and is under pressure to improve its contingency plans.

Via Rail passenger stranded for 12 hours overnight

After hours stranded on a broken down Via Rail train, this is the moment Isabelle LeDuc and her fellow passengers were finally able to hop off. But it wasn't the end of their ordeal. We had no running water or heat. We were at least an hour with like glow sticks. Train number 669 was heading from Montreal to Toronto when it experienced a mechanical failure near Brockville, Ontario. At first we were going to wait and there was all kinds of like miscommunication, not miscommunication, but there was going to be a train to come to push us and then that didn't work. Two other trains numbers 48 and 54 traveling from Toronto to Ottawa were also disrupted. They stopped in Brockville and sheltered the initial stranded group for several more hours. In all, passengers stuck for more than 12 hours waiting for a way out. Unfortunately this night there were no buses available through the whole region. One train eventually headed to Toronto in the morning, another to Ottawa. Passengers arrived exhausted. I didn't get to sleep at all. Very surprised that it took this long to figure out a solution. Many now questioning the company's response to the incident. We'll do everything we need to do to review the sequence of events and see where we can improve. The response is critical and we want Via Rail to be to continue to improve. There have been similar issues in the past. Just last year another Via train was also stuck in Brockville for several hours because of mechanical issues and a train headed for Quebec City from Montreal broke down for 10 hours. Having a more robust network, having the ability to have a bit more flexibility would certainly make the responses a lot more flexible and a lot quicker. Via Rail says it will refund all affected passengers and provide a travel credit. Michelle Song, CBC News, Toronto.

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