VIA Rail to resume Kitchener service

A Via Rail train heading to Toronto is seen at the Dorval station Tuesday, June 25, 2019 in Montreal. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)

KITCHENER — VIA Rail plans to resume service on its line through Kitchener on Thursday, one week after a nationwide shutdown over the ongoing anti-pipeline blockades.

However, anyone catching a train may have trouble making connections to other parts of Ontario.

The company announced on Tuesday that service on the following routes will resume on Thursday:

·         Toronto – Kitchener – London – Sarnia

·         Toronto – London – Windsor

·         Toronto – Niagara Falls

However, east of Toronto, service is not yet scheduled to resume along the Toronto – Kingston – Ottawa line.

That’s the railroad that runs through the Belleville area, where Mohawks from the nearby Tyendinaga Territory have set up a camp alongside the railroad tracks for the past 12 days, expressing solidarity with the movement of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs in British Columbia.

The partial resumption comes after VIA announced on Tuesday that the track owners, CN Rail, sent VIA a notice announcing that they are allowing service to resume once again on some rail corridors.

VIA says since the blockades began, 18,352 trains have been cancelled because of the blockades, affecting more than 103,000 passengers.

Officials also say refunds are still being provided in some cases.

Details can be found at https://www.viarail.ca/en/travel-advisory-information