VIA Rail Canada Reviews 296

Late, late and late this summarize their crap service.

Garbage the trains are always late and unreliable. It's actually almost funny at how shit the trains are compared to trains in Europe

We left Toronto Dec 14,2025 and enjoyed a great experience to Winnipeg with Haley, Jake and Colleen all excellent doing their best to host us Prestige passengers. The crew change in Winnipeg changed the experience into a nightmare with Lilly in the bar and Whaibi in the dining car and the service manager being totally inept and indifferent. We would have got off the train and flew back to Vancouver if we could. Via has responded to my concerns with thanks for your input but will not take any responsibility. There are many options to spend 3000 a day on a vacation look elsewhere!

Yesterday we were returning on train fifty-four, Toronto to Smith Falls. Departure from Union station was moved back from 05:50 to 06:30pm due to a significant winter storm, with a projected arrival time of 09:30pm. Before leaving we were already running one hour late. Long story short we arrived in Smith Falls at 03:35 am the next morning. We would like to give a shout out to the two ladies (T and E) I do not want to name them here, but you know who you are. You were amazing and took great care of everyone onboard. The 02:45 am pizza at the Kingston stop demonstrated your professionalism and great customer service.
You made the best for your customers of a difficult situation, and we appreciate you.

Kind regards,

Gilbert & Shelley

I cannot thank your company and all of its Staff enough for the incredible customer service I received on my recent trip to Toronto. (Trains #73/76)
Everyone I encountered was positive, kind and professional.
While in Toronto, I sustained an injury by falling on the ice which greatly affected my mobility. I called the station less than 24 hours before departure. They provided a wheelchair and personal assistance on and off the train.
The coordination and care
I received was unbelievable.
Their sole focus seemed to be to
get me home safety.
Please feel free to contact me for additional information and share this with your colleagues.
Thank you, kindly
Cindy Staggs.

We travelled from Windsor to Toronto on the 0845 train on Feb 21,2026... We were on Via One and had a wonderful experience...Irene was our attendant and was very pleasant & attentive... The train was about 15 minutes late coming in....to TO
Our return to Windsor on the 22nd was good as well however the train was 25 minutes late coming in.

I actually had a conversation with the presidents office 10 years ago and gave suggestions about the booking process on Via Rail and it's just as outdated as it was then. In these modern times booking travel with them is an 40 min process with all the glitches. The last glitch loses the reservation. Of course when you start over the price has doubled...Via preference member since 1995 and this is how it flows. Wow

Never on time. The old cars have uncomfortable seats but the new cars are decent. Someone needs to build a new railway so they aren’t using the CN tracks because there are always delays due to the freight trains.

The last three Via rail trains i have taken have been delayed. The first one was two hours the second one was over an hour and now the third train in two months we have been sitting in the middle of nowhere for over 1/2 an hour. What nonsense is this??? What is the problem? The trains are new. There is no excuse for this BAD service! Via you can do better!!! Much better.

hi went for short trip by via rail truro ns to moncton for 1 night we used to travel a lot but i must say the seats and comfort have improved so great trip there on way home the train we were suppose to get was in an accident in quebec so couldn't make it to moncon well what we thought would be a long night but via rail sent bus to take us to truro ns, and they also fed us pizza and water the bus driver and lady and young gentleman were so nice and made sure we were looked after then another delay on th PASS in wentworth ns due to an accident we were there for around 3 hours but the staff were tired but still made us feel like they had our needs to help with thank you via for promt service to get us a bus from moncton to truro we almost made it at schedule time but not due to the higway accident

Mathiw, the service manager in Quebec City, was absolutely amazing. He was incredibly helpful, kind, and friendly. He helped my friend when she lost her bag and went above and beyond to assist us. Thank you so much 10/10⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mathew the service manager on train 33 was absolutely amazing and extremely helpful . I left my purse at the via rail station and Mathew was quick to help me contact the other stations to get it back … life saver !!

VIA Rail has become completely unreliable. Trains are consistently late, with no meaningful communication, no accountability, and no concern for passengers who have planned their day around the schedule they advertise.
Traveling under these conditions is frustrating enough, but traveling with a child makes it almost unbearable. Long, unexplained delays, poor coordination, and a lack of basic consideration create unnecessary stress for families and anyone who depends on public transportation to function properly.
The level of incompetence is alarming. Delays appear to be treated as normal rather than a failure of service. There is no sense of urgency, no ownership of the problem, and no visible effort to improve. Excuses replace solutions, and passengers are left waiting, again and again.
For a service that positions itself as a national rail provider, this performance is unacceptable. Reliability should be the bare minimum. Instead, VIA Rail delivers chronic lateness, poor planning, and a travel experience that feels disorganized and careless.

This is not a one time issue. It is a pattern and a very bad one!

We had discounts as new citizens of canada but we were stopped by the via boarding agent and was checking our passport and made the scene more stressful. I do know that we were among the other white Canadian that boarded the business class in the train so i wonder if they were curious how we got the discounts for the business class. This feels like we were discriminated.

We took 4 trips with Via Rail and all 4 were full trains. 3 out of the 4 trips we were to put our luggage in the racks provided in the carriages. However our Quebec to Montreal leg we were told if our luggage would not fit in the overhead we should have to pay extra. We asked for an explanation but got nothing and we had to pay. This is a scam of the highest order.

Dirty. Do not travel with them.

As soon as we sat down in our seat it smelled like vomit and/or dirty diapers. The staff were not helpful and claimed they did not smell it (both my husband and I did).

We moved seats temporarily until another passenger boarded and it did not smell like puke, but there was garbage left in the seat pockets (we boarded at the very first stop so it clearly hadn't been cleaned since before that journey).

On top of all of this, none of the tray tables appeared to have been cleaned in days, there were crumbs all over them.

I'll give it 1 star instead of 0 only because the trains are newly renovated but it does not make up for their lack of cleanliness.

I’ve taken 15 trips with Via this year (out of necessity not choice). 14 were delayed for over an hour. One was only delayed for 35 minutes.
One was delayed for over 6 hours.
Via promises a partial discount off your next ticket if you encounter a delay but they don’t honour it, they have a phone line that is deliberately understaffed and require endless information which you definitely won’t have kept. You will also need to sign up for their rewards program and give them all of your information to sell indiscriminately. Truly an awful company that only exists because they have a monopoly. Fly, drive, walk, or swim and you will arrive faster.

Always late and always delayed every - single - time.

I don’t understand how a round trip with Via, in exactly the same conditions, has different prices between go and return - return being more expensive. Same train, same class, same conditions, same line, same 2 cities (Toronto and Montreal), the return is $70 more expensive. I call this a scam.