VIA Rail Canada Arvostelua 

Train # 53 on March 2nd from Ottawa to Windsor.
The server obviously doesn’t enjoy his job. He raced by us with the food/beverage cart. When I asked for a diet beverage he blurted out, “We don’t have anymore”. He didn’t even give me any eye-contact, How rude…. He wasn’t sociable at all. He could have been nicer. Taking the train is not cheap. I was disappointed.
I take Via often. The servers are usually kind and friendly. 👎

I would give no stars of possible. They do not take cash on the train. Rude staff. They changed the baggage policy just before my trip but months after I booked it so they now have charged me extra for a bag 2 inches taller than what they changed the height to.

Je sens que VIA Rail veut s’améliorer, sincèrement. Le système de point et l’app est une belle amélioration. Et quand un train a plus d’une heure de retard, on peut se faire dédommager avec un rabais de 50% sur le prochain tronçon équivalent ou bien des points sur notre compte. Cependant, il demeure plusieurs irritants. Le prix des billets et de la nourriture à bord sont très élevés de sorte que bien souvent, j’apporte ma nourriture dans le train, café compris! De même, quand vous êtes dans le train en principe silencieux (utile pour travailler), vous entendez constamment un BANG BANG. C’est l’entre-deux wagon dont la housse en accordéon comporte une poignée lousse qui frappe contre le bord chaque fois que le train prend une bosse. Soit votre oreille parvient à l’ignorer, soit… vos nerfs rendent l’âme!
Malgré tout, le personnel est vraiment gentil, dévoué et… font leur possible avec les retards et les BANG BANG pour lesquels ils n’y peuvent rien.

On February 10th I departed Brockville on train#52.When I finally arrived in Ottawa Melissa was at my train with the wheel chair and she took me right out to the taxi .A very pleasant and considerate young lady. I always appreciate such great employees and the great service they provide for me. Melissa is for sure an asset to Via Rail. Many Thanks Melissa.Take care and stay safe.Sincerely Carole K.

sleeper class +, tor to vancover everything was first class, food was excellent, service was great, remember its a train so space is limited but acceptable. after leaving in Vancouver i found i had left a valuable personal item on board, Via contacted me i couriered item to my home, now thats service

super bon service client de Gabriel, montreal ottawa 21fev2026, depart 12.22h train 35. super avenant, souriant , tres sympa , notre premiere experience de voyage en train en classe affaire. excellent repas chaud.. pour le retour. c etait un rapas froid par contre.

Fell asleep on via rail only to be awakened by a staff member telling me that im snoring very loudly,well i have no control over my snoring when i sleep,what a stupid idiot!!!!!!

Sore ass! Ottawa to Quebec.
67 yrs old, and I find the seats hard and uncomfortable after a couple hours.
Otherwise, an enjoyable experience.

I bought a round trip ticket from Toronto to Ottawa. The departure trip went fine, minus a minor delay. It was relatively comfortable.

The return trip was cancelled last minute and we had to rent a car to get back to Toronto. The refund process was relatively straight forward to be fair. It would’ve been nice if we’d been given a bit more notice.

So overall, a mediocre trip experience from a company that excels at mediocrity.

Tried 25 times to book on line and each time won't follow through with credit card payment. So frustrating and keep changing pricing which is also frustrating

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