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Some Via Rail passengers are frustrated they will have to spend the night in Winnipeg after their Vancouver-bound train was forced to turn back because of mechanical issues.
The train — which was already delayed for about 10 hours — came to a halt by a field near Portage la Prairie after departing Winnipeg’s Union Station Friday evening.
Passengers slept in their train cars only to be notified Saturday morning they were headed back to Winnipeg on Saturday — with the rest of their trip to the West Coast being cancelled.
“There were people that were very angry,” said Joyce Recoskie from Cochrane, Ont., who was travelling to Chilliwack, B.C., with her grandchildren.
“They’re upset,” she said. “They’re [like], ‘We don’t want to go home. This is our holiday,’ you know. ‘We left school a week early to be able to do this trip.'”
Joyce Recoskie, who was travelling to Chilliwack, B.C., with her grandchildren, said the cancellation was very frustrating. (Kevin Nepitabo/CBC)
Patricia Kane, from Denver, said the experience was “very frustrating.”
Kane and her husband, Joel Schuster, were travelling across Canada to celebrate their 40th anniversary. The couple said it was not the celebration they were envisioning.
“They did the best they could and they were trying to make it work. But I think they could have communicated better,” she said. “It was a bad situation.”
Via Rail apologized for the disruption in a statement Saturday.
The company said the train — which left Toronto Wednesday — experienced significant delays due to mechanical issues, with more problems developing after it left Winnipeg.
Via said all affected passengers will receive a refund for the untravelled portion of their trip, in addition to travel credit equal to the entire value of their journey.
Joris Crol, from the Netherlands, won’t let the delays and the cancellation spoil his months-long trip through Canada with his family.
“The saying I’m using a lot: it’s not the destination, it’s a journey,” he said.