VIA Rail Canada Reviews 297

Parking problems
train trip was fine but the new parking system using QR codes was disaster. The site was down when I first tried and then would not complete the registration, resulting in a $50 parking ticket.
For anyone not fully smart-phone literate, or new to dQR codes, beware

Wow we just had an excellent experience travelling across Canada in a birth with Via. The train was tidy, the service was superb, the food was surprisingly amazing, and the attendants were attentive and super helpful. Thank you for making this experience incredible!

Terrible train service. Never on time. And $140 to get from Toronto to Windsor. Disgusting.

Really a sad business. 2 of my last 3 trips have been delayed. There is no way to get a receipt online via your profile. Via sends the receipt via email but you need to print off the email (no attachement). Finally, Via does not have an 'App'. This is 2024!!!! WOW

Our first time traveling home from Toronto Union station to Perth On, in BUSINESS CLASS, was a great experience. Our Senior Service Attendant, CESAR was incredible! He took the time to chat several times with us. He was courteous, friendly, interesting, and joked along with us. He is very proficient in mixing drinks. We asked for an extra spicy Caesar drink, it was spot on! He also makes the perfect gin and tonic. Service was always with a smile. He made us feel very welcome. Big thank you to CESAR.
Our meal was delicious! We chose the cod with lobster sauce, rice, vegies. A chick pea salad and apple pie square was also on the tray. This meal far exceeded our expectations. Not only very tasty, but perfectly hot. Wine, Chardonnay was also very good, and a nice accompaniment with the fish.
The seats are comfortable and roomy, the foot rests were a good idea as well. Charging ports between the seats, also a good feature.

I’ve taken Via Rail a few times in my life and each time has been alright. Train is usually on time. Seats are not comfortable enough to sit still in for 4 hours. Transferring trains in London was confusing for me so I missed my train. But this time when boarding from Windsor on Christmas Day, our train was over 1 hour delayed. And we never got a reason why, we never got an ETA. We just kept getting announcements about instructions for what to do when “the bus” arrived. I have never seen a train be late and then replaced by a bus. So I was also confused about this. There was no explanation through an announcement like “the train is NOT COMING so we have arranged for a bus to take you”. So I was expecting the train to arrive late meanwhile everyone was lining up by the doors opposite the train tracks. I was so confused I thought they all decided to go home and travel to Toronto a different way. But the announcement kept saying “you can board NOW” and there was no train there. So I figured it out through logic rather than helpful announcements. They did order 4 pizzas for all the waiting individuals but do u think anyone ever remembers the vegans ? Ofc not. So no I couldn’t even benefit from the free food. By now there is a giant line to get on the bus and I’m straggling at the end. Via rail did nothing about our seats. I’m picky about my seating and in this case it became first come first served T^T I needed the space on the train to use my laptop onto study on the whole ride.

it’s not like I will ever benefit when I get off the bus by grabbing my luggage first which is at the front cuz I placed it in last, because I know I will get off last. They should empty the bus by the back first since we have already been the less fortunate.

And I want my money back now. I was supposed to be in Toronto on time to feed my friend’s pets and to attend an important meeting at 6:15 and now I will arrive after 8. This is so ridiculous. They need to compensate us for our lost time and dirty bus. The bus still had garbage in it, like it wasn’t even cleaned before we got on. And the bathroom stinks like heavy chemicals. I’m glad I have my mask but even still, the stink seeps through so I have to wrap my face in my sweater

Update: they did inform us that we can use our booking info to get credit off of our next train ride because our train was late. But I didn’t pay much for this ride ($50ish) and I don’t want to ride on the train again. Refund would have been better.

Worst first time experience!!!!!
We were travelling from Toronto to London early morning on Christmas day 12/25/2023 and end up stranded at Brantford station.
Train scheduled on final destination to Windsor became out of service at Brantford due to techical issue related to engine.
We were advised by the crew that alternate transportation arrenged and get off the train.
In addition to the long wait in the train we had to wait for more than two hours to get the replacement bus.
Train became out of service due to major technical issue (engine failure) not even half way to scheduled final destination🤔 wondering about pre departure safety check???
Customer service, recovery plan and management of irregularity was the worst.
Finally arrived at destination after more than 4hrs delay 😔 Not reliable and recommendable service provider at all ⛔️

I am currently on the train from Toronto Union station to Montreal. I am still fuming! When boarding the train I was notified I was 3 lb overweight. This is Christmas, I'm sure everybody is a couple of pounds overweight. They actually made me remove three pairs of jeans from my suitcase, and I had to carry them in my arms up to the train. All this could have been avoided if business class did their job properly, and weighed my suitcase while I was in the lounge. I would have had time and space to organize my luggage. And not get blocked going up the escalator to the train.

There is a little blonde French lady who works for via rail at the Toronto Union station, who was a mouthy piece of work and a bully! I had told another lady this was horrible! And the blonde French lady kept yelling. We're not horrible. Do you hear me? "We're not horrible! I will stop you from traveling!" And put her arms out to block me from the escalator making a big scene. So I carried my jeans in my arms and my suitcase up the escalator. While on the platform, a dark skinned lady approached me and said if you put your jeans in your suitcase, I'm going to prevent you from traveling! Wow! I have never experienced such aggressive behavior in my life!

I travel with via rail about 5 or 6 times a year. I will start reconsidering flying. It is no longer a pleasant experience.
I don't understand the issue..... Whether I have an extra 3 lb in my suitcase, or I'm carrying them in my hand, what's the difference? And as soon as I got on the train I put my three pairs of jeans back in my suitcase. Completely rude at Toronto Union station via rail! Especially the short blonde French lady. You will not bully anyone! I will be calling via rail

Since my train journey had a 7 hour delay (3 hr journey), I was told that I would get reimbursed with viarail credit. Fine, I'll just use that for my next train ride then. However, it is only reimbursable through calling their service line - where I've now been on hold for more than 50 minutes. Horrible customer service!

I use Via Rail very often and need to book a one way ticket for next week. I have been ON HOLD FOR 55.08 MINUTES. The trains are NEVER on time lately but HOW do I get someone to help me. I’ve tried booking ON LINE but there is a new website that is very confusing. Whatever happened to CUSTOMER SERVICE?

Me and my girls traveled to Montreal via Toronto. We left straight from work and so excited to experience the via train. Boy were we disappointed!! It was uncomfortable l, cramped, hot! 5hr travel felt like 24hrs! The return trip was more or less the same, the chairs were quite old but a bit more comfortable than the previous train, it was still cramped and too warm. You’d think that for a train that makes so much money they’d invest in comfort of their passengers, customer service isn’t the best either…

Terrible service! Can’t get through on the telephone to get information on a ticket and the updated website is now worse than before. This on top of the fact the trains are NEVER on time. The truth is if the government cared about our carbon footprint they would improve Canadas rail service.

Practically never on time on the Toronto-Montreal line. Expect delays of at least 30 min, if not an hour. Don't be surprised if you get stalled for hours if bad weather. No liability whatsoever on the part of administrators and company.

Everything was fine cept my last coffee late at night on a 10 hr trip, bottom of the barrel like, gotta drink it need liquid

Same old story, leave late, arrive later. Always an apology. Freight congestion, Red light, you name it. Arrived 1.5 hours late for Toronto to Ottawa. Supposed to take 4.3 hours. Milk run. Stops everywhere. Should arrange a non stop between the cities at least once a day. Makes you want to take an airplane.

Wife's train was four hours late. FOUR HOURS. For a five hour trip. The customer service people were rude and dismissive. She sat on the train in Cobourg for four hours sending us updates. Apparently an engineer was speeding? so they had to replace him but no replacement was available. So they waited for the next train to come along and push them to the destination. AVOID.

Excellent until it all goes wrong!
Just back from eastern Canada where we used via rail on 4 separate occasions. The journeys between Toronto and Ottawa and Ottawa to Montréal were excellent. Clean and comfortable and very punctual.
However from here onward it went exceedingly downhill and Via Rail couldn’t care less!
The journey from Montréal to Quebec was 2.5 hours late arriving in Montréal (having left bang on time) which is a huge delay given the journey should only be 3.5 hours in total. As consequence we missed our tour departure and had to get a taxi to join later. Via rail did offer compensation for the delay but only in the form of discount voucher off next trip and had to be used within 6 months. Explained we were from UK and therefore voucher worthless to us - could they not simple pay us the additional taxi costs so that we weren’t out of pocket - no! Surely you could reconsider given approx 40% or more of travellers from outside Canada - No!
Oh well perhaps the trip from Quebec to Halifax would be better? Eh no - actually it was even worse, arriving nearly 6 hours late and incurring more costs. Bizarrely they didn’t offer any compensation for this one and even now refuse to assist.
Will definitely not be using again and will flyninstead

Avoid Train 14 from Montreal to Halifax on 4 October we arrived at arrived at 23.34. Nearly 6 hours late, staff on train advised us it’s been delayed for last 6 months due to track works not being fixed so speed limits in place

Lounge in Montreal very hot and uncomfortable to wait. train very dated
Wifi only available in 2 carriages on train & poor,
Ran out of drinks in morning from bar.
Queue at bar long & very slow service, unhelpful staff in restaurant car.
Lounge carriage not enough seating packed people sitting on floor
Ran out of food and wine in restaurant
No hot water in shower (cabin manager did not inform but said oh yes I have same problem) We paid extra for a room with a shower.
Windows dirty spoiling the view

Not even $1 of compensation for 6 hour delay very poor customer service

Honestly pretty disappointed with the service. I’ve been on the train for almost 5 hours and the staff has come less than once or twice. No water was offered. It’s the absolute bare minimum.

Like most things here in Canada, useless services provided by a dated infrastructure. I was on the 6.51am train this morning from Montreal and was meant to disembark at Cornwall. Stood up before we got to station as I had a suitcase and waiting for train to come to a stop once we arrived. Upon arrival, the inept staff, allowed passengers to board with those of us disembarking, creating chaos especially me, hanging on to a large suitcase. Long story short, was unable to get off as train started moving, literally. I confronted the staff noting why was I not let off afterall, I was being shoved by other passengers they had let in not taking into consideration, those disembarking. Now, I have to endure almost 2hrs to Kingston and then, wait another couple of hours for the return train. Ineptitude at its height. What happens when there aren't alternatives in the country for most services.