VIA Rail to bypass Toronto Union Station for conference

[RTOlson]

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (among others) is reporting that VIA Rail will not stop its trains at Toronto Union Station while the G20 conference takes place near the station from June 24-27. It appears that this change will impact the Maple Leaf (which VIA Rail operates within Canada).

I tried to test reservations for Maple Leaf from TWO to NYP during those dates. For both northbound and southbound, all trains north of CBN (Canadian Border) say they're "sold out." However, passengers book travel to and from the next stop at Oakville, Ontario (about 30 km, or 19 miles, west of Toronto).

I believe someone in reservation system blacked out travel to Toronto during the days of the conference (especially because I can book trips there in the days leading up to and following the conference). There are no passenger service notices on the Amtrak website at this time.

I don't know when the changes were enacted, but a little more explanation would be helpful to people trying to book travel during those days. They might not be able to get to Toronto, but there's no further information about the conference and that Oakville may be an alternative.

 

[Eric S]

Didn't Amtrak do something similar a year or two ago when the G20 or G8 held a summit meeting in Pittsburgh?

 

[Eric S]

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (among others) is reporting that VIA Rail will not stop its trains at Toronto Union Station while the G20 conference takes place near the station from June 24-27. It appears that this change will impact the Maple Leaf (which VIA Rail operates within Canada).
I tried to test reservations for Maple Leaf from TWO to NYP during those dates. For both northbound and southbound, all trains north of CBN (Canadian Border) say they're "sold out." However, passengers book travel to and from the next stop at Oakville, Ontario (about 30 km, or 19 miles, west of Toronto).

I believe someone in reservation system blacked out travel to Toronto during the days of the conference (especially because I can book trips there in the days leading up to and following the conference). There are no passenger service notices on the Amtrak website at this time.

I don't know when the changes were enacted, but a little more explanation would be helpful to people trying to book travel during those days. They might not be able to get to Toronto, but there's no further information about the conference and that Oakville may be an alternative.

After reading the linked article, it seems odd that VIA Rail (and Amtrak) will not serve Toronto Union Station, but GO Transit (with many more trains and many more passengers) will serve Union Station throughout the summit.

 

[RTOlson]

That is interesting about GO Transit, I missed it earlier. Here's GO's travel update on the summit, including some of the security restrictions.

The congestion around Union Station may be a greater impact for VIA because it only has one real Toronto station while GO passengers have several options. Also, GO's system really depends on traveling through Union Station as the hub for its routes.

Yes, Amtrak did something similar in Pittsburgh. IIRC, the platforms were closed, but through trains were allowed (but no passengers could disembark or board at Pittsburgh).

Back to the upcoming conference, VIA Rail has information on how it will accommodate passengers during the service interruption.