Canadian Railroads > Policy for Late No. 1 Departures from Toronto

Against my better judgment, I'm considering doing my annual trip on the Canadian this Summer. There is space available on most days, albeit it at a much higher than off season. So question: When No.2 gets in so late as to make for a next morning departure of No. 1, what happens to the passengers? Are they left to wait all night in the Union Station lounge (nice, but not that nice for sleeping), or does VIA provide a hotel for the night? Locals can of course just come to the station the next day once notified. But if coming from Windsor, it's either the last train of the night or first of the morning which would most likely be too late. Any first hand experience or info appreciated. (I did call VIA but the agent was clueless).

My "contacts" at Toronto Union Station have told me there is no official policy, but the reality is that if the departure time is morning sleeping car passengers are provided hotel accommodation as close to Union Station as possible. Prestige passengers get the Royal York and lesser mortals may be sent there but are more likely to get the Strathcona if there is availability there. Morning departures are rare. The delayed departure time is usually midnight or 1:00 a.m., sometimes 2:00 a.m. There is no "official" time when the departure will be set for the morning (8:00 a.m. or so) as opposed to the middle of the night. I have been told that Prestige passengers are sent to the Royal York even if the delayed departure is only a few hours. For a fare of $9,944 (including tax) I should think so. I don't know where they are booked if the Royal York is full.

The VIA staff hope there are no morning departures during peak season because of the number of passengers who must be provided with accommodations. This can be difficult in downtown Toronto. One supervisor told me three years ago there was one delayed departure in summer that required about 250 passengers to be given accommodations. It was impossible to get all of them a hotel in downtown, so they were scattered as far as Oakville in the west and Oshawa in the east. Taxis were sent to bring all these passengers to Union Station in the morning rush-hour. Delays due to heavy traffic caused the Canadian to depart much later than the 8:00 a.m. target.

DrawingroomA Wrote:
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> It was impossible to get all of
> them a hotel in downtown, so they were scattered
> as far as Oakville in the west and Oshawa in the
> east. Taxis were sent to bring all these
> passengers to Union Station in the morning
> rush-hour. Delays due to heavy traffic caused the
> Canadian to depart much later than the 8:00 a.m.
> target.


Seems to me VIA would've been a LOT better off bringing the passengers in using GO Transit trains...

...just sayin'.

The Strathcona is very nice. I have stayed there twice.

Michael

TheCurator Wrote:
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> Seems to me VIA would've been a LOT better off
> bringing the passengers in using GO Transit
> trains...
>
> ...just sayin'.

I mentioned that to a supervisor and she said the difficulty would be getting people in taxis to the nearest GO station, then arranging payment from multiple GO stations, and expecting passengers - many of whom are elderly - to get their own luggage on to platforms and up on to the train which may be standing room only in rush hour, then making their way through Union Station.

An update for today: I was at Toronto Union this evening when the Canadian arrived at 20:00. (10 hours, 30 minutes late). I have never seen such a long queue for retrieving checked baggage. Due to construction, only a third of the baggage conveyor is accessible. At 20:15 baggage was still being unloaded from the train. Departure time for train 1 is listed as 02:00 tomorrow.