Ottawa

Full VIA Rail service on Ottawa-Toronto line to resume Sunday

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VIA Rail service from Ottawa to Montreal is running on-time. Feb 27, 2020. (Tyler FLeming / CTV News)

OTTAWA — VIA Rail says it will soon have full service restored to its Ottawa-Toronto line, which suffered weeks of cancellations because of a rail blockade near Belleville, Ont.

It's taken VIA some time since the blockade was removed by the OPP to get full service restored.

Partial service resumed Tuesday.

In a statement Wednesday, VIA Rail said service would resume in full on the Montréal-Toronto corridor Saturday, March 7, with the exception of trains 45 and 655. Those trains would starting running again in full on Sunday, March 8.

VIA is telling passengers there may still be trip delays, late departure times, and limited seat availability as full service resumes. Customers are being told to check VIA's website before departing. There may also be long wait times on the customer service phone line.

VIA says customers can cancel or modify their reservation at any time prior to departure during the month of March with no service fees.

"This includes all travel up to and including March 31, 2020 and any travel after March 31, 2020 if their outbound train is on or before March 31, 2020," VIA says.

Laid-off workers coming back

Full service has since resumed on other routes across Canada.

"VIA Rail confirms that the Canadian, which resumed operations with a first departure on March 4, is now back to its full and normal schedule," the company said in a press release.

As a result, VIA Rail says it will be calling back the "vast majority" of the 1000 employees affected by temporary layoffs in February.

The Prince-Rupert—Prince George—Jasper route between B.C. and Alberta remains suspended at this time. VIA says it is working with CN Rail on a timeline to resume operations.