MONTREAL — VIA Rail Canada has now canceled 19 trains today (Feb. 19, 2025) in its Windsor-Quebec City corridor, and continues to cite a Tuesday CN derailment near Montreal as contributing to ongoing delays.
Much of the corridor area is still digging out from storms that brought almost 30 inches of snow in a four-day period. That, and the derailment at CN’s Taschereau Yard, led to 14 cancellations yesterday [see “CN derailment adds to VIA Rail corridor operating woes,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 18, 2025]. There were 16 cancellations Monday. On Tuesday, VIA had announced 10 cancellations today.
The updated list, as of 12:45 p.m. ET, includes:
— Ottawa-Montreal trains 22 and 38,
— Quebec-Montreal trains 33 and 39;
— Toronto-Ottawa trains 40, 44, 50, and 52;
— Ottawa-Toronto trains 641 and 643;
— Toronto-Montreal trains 60, 62, and 68;
— Montreal-Toronto trains 63, 69, and 669;=
— Windsor-Toronto trains 70 and 72,
— Sarnia-Toronto train 84 (with alternate transportation).
A notice on VIA’s website says the operations are “still significantly affected due to the compelte shutdown of rail infrastructure west of Dorval on Feb. 18. This shutdown was caused by severe weather conditions and a CN train derailment.”
Nationwide, the tracking information at transitdocs.com currently shows 10 of 21 VIA trains as “very late” or “extremely late.” Those extremely late include the westbound Canadian, more than 16 hours late at Viking, Alberta, and three corridor trains more than an hour late. The very late trains include the eastbound Canadian, currently estimated to be 3 hours, 7 minutes late at Watrous, Saskatchewan.
