VIA Rail Canada Bewertungen 

Commuter here. Always late, sometimes way more than an hour. For the price you pay, you expect a better performance and more accountability. If you can avoid it, do it.

International visitors should be extremely cautious when booking with this company. After experiencing a delay on a First Class journey (having booked two trips, one Economy and one First Class), delay compensation was offered as either points or a voucher. Since foreign travelers rarely return within a year, a cash refund was requested but denied, so points with unlimited validity were chosen instead.

However, when attempting to claim the points for both passengers on the booking, the companion was denied points and forced to accept a 1-year voucher instead. The company's reason was that no membership number was provided for the companion during the initial booking. Even when the companion offered to sign up for a membership right then to receive points, the company refused, stating membership details could only be added at the time of purchase.

Expecting first-time foreign visitors to know these fine-print rules in advance is completely unreasonable. Forcing international travelers into a short-term voucher—which will expire unused—rather than granting long-term points simply because of a booking account detail shows zero flexibility. Overseas travelers are far better off choosing airlines over this service.

I booked my VIA Rail trip well in advance and specifically selected a forward-facing seat because I have Ménière’s disease, a medical condition that can cause severe dizziness, vertigo, and nausea. Sitting in a rear-facing seat can make me physically ill, so choosing the appropriate seat was not simply a preference but a medical necessity.

Just as we were about to board, passengers were informed that we had to move to a different car and take whatever seats were available. When I boarded, I discovered there were no forward-facing seats remaining.

I explained my medical condition to a staff member and made it clear that sitting backwards would make me sick. Her response was simply that I needed to take whatever seat was available.

I even offered to pay the difference to move to Business Class so I could sit facing forward. Rather than offering a solution or showing any understanding, the staff member told me to just sit wherever. It was only after another passenger spoke up and asked whether we could sit elsewhere that we were able to find forward-facing seats in Business Class.

While I am grateful that we eventually found suitable seats, I am extremely disappointed by the complete lack of empathy, accommodation, and customer service.

I did everything I could to plan ahead and avoid this exact situation. I booked early, selected my seat carefully, explained my medical needs, and even offered to pay more for an appropriate seat. At no point did I feel that my concerns were taken seriously.

I understand that operational changes happen, but passengers with legitimate medical needs should not be made to feel like an inconvenience. A little compassion, communication, and willingness to find a solution would have made an enormous difference.

VIA Rail promotes itself as a comfortable and accessible way to travel. Unfortunately, my experience left me feeling that accessibility and passenger well-being were an afterthought.

Passengers should not have to rely on other passengers advocating for them to have their medical needs respected. VIA Rail needs to do better.

I was impressed by the combination of professionality, cheeful attitude and speed of responding by the service manager, Oumayma on Train 75 from Toronto on October 14,and equally so by the service manager Julie on Train 76 from Windsor, on Monday, Oct. 19. The attendants for special services both in Toronto and Windsor were also exemplary in the service they provided. Thank you, Rose

always terrible. everytime i take this train company, they stop for about 30 minutes randomly during the train ride, not at a train stop, just randomly stopping in the middle of nowhere and they never announce why it happens, they just start going again and then you’re about an hour and a half late to your stop by the time they start moving again.

Worst traveling experiences. Gave them a second chance, total regret

J'ai réservé mon voyage 3 mois à l'avance pour avoir un bon siège côté fenêtre et dans le sens du train. Via rail a modifié mon siège et m'oblige à voyager dans un siège allée à contresens et à côté des toilettes!👎👎👎

I've been using them for years because there's no other alternative. Trains never get to their destination on time. Not reasonable to expect customers to deal with this when they're so stringent about things like exchanging escape fare tickets.

Absolutely disgusting & disturbing to use the via rail app and website. Having my daughter commute from Queens University to Toronto is ridiculously painful. The app is complete garbage; the IT department should be ashamed of themselves. Constant errors!! Every month!

My assign seat was given to a non paying passenger. No explanation before hand and the minute I board the train I kinda surprised, a child took my seat and I must not make a big scene. So because of this I decided to upgrade my return trip to business class. And they slapped me with extra fees and whatever fees.. I am a senior citizen and I was not even given a senior price. All those kids were there for free.. it's not a nice experience for me.

Life is like a box of chocolates. VIA Rail is the melted one that arrives three hours late and won’t tell you why. Forrest ran across America faster than this train crosses Ontario. Lieutenant Dan outran it. Mama said, “Don’t travel VIA Rail.” She was right. Also, the Wi-Fi? A feather floated by faster. Run, Forrest. Run. Bubba agrees. Run!!!!!+

I have taken the train Via rails from Ottawa,ON to Toronto, ON. The ride was smooth, a bit of delay and it had to skip Guildwood which I have felt bad because a passenger beside me supposed to come off but now she has to get and pay for an uber to go home.
Also, during the long 5&1/2 hour ride, the staff who was offering beverages and snacks on the ride did not come once to pick up our trash. I had to hold on to my garbages for the whole ride which was fine but i needed the space to work and feel comfortable without hoarding my lunch mess that I had and paid additional $31 for it, at least offer to pick trash during the ride

If you want to spend 5x the money than the Go Train and have the trip take 3x the time - Via Rail is for you. I should have walked.

- VERY POOR ventilation.
- Flies in my area, probably because near washroom. Disgusting.
- Departure 45 minutes late. Then, additional 30 minute delay (due to " freight train traffic") -- total 1hr 15 min delay in what should have been 3hr 15 min trip = 40% longer than should have been!

Horrible! A simple trip from Kingston to Toronto was 2 hours late. They originally estimated 30-40 min, which is understandable. But 2 hours. Poor poor service.

Round trip windsor Toronto. Newer train was nice, but ride is rough loud (horn all the time) and slow (nearly an hour late. Apparently this is common). Why do freight trains get priority?? Do not expect to be on time!

Good service. Should have quiet cars. Loud Dude, get off the phone!

Carpool, take the bus, anything but Via Rail, forever delayed talking 45 minutes to an hour minimum guaranteed stuck on the tracks consistently!

An absolute garbage rail company. Dedicated to making train travel miserable.

First experience. Hopefully the last. Boarded at Quebec, train 29 10th Sept 2026. Completely disorganised, rude staff, no information about the late departure, no apology and had to pay a baggage supplement because my bag was too long (not too heavy, too long). I had expected better from A Canadian operator being from the UK, but have been very disappointed. Truly awful. Not planning to use ViaRail again if I can help it.

Booked a short trip with 3 adults and 4 children between the ages of 2 and 10 years old with confirmed seats in a ‘quad’ table for the kids and the adults sitting adjacent. The kids were excitedly looking forward to their train ride. The day before we received notice from VIA that our seats were changed. All 7 of us were scattered randomly throughout the car from row 5 to row 17 sitting with strangers…including the 2 year old, two 4 year olds and a 10 year old. When I called to see if this could be remedied we were told a computer had reassigned the seats due to a ‘change in equipment’ and no human agent can undo it or modify it. This is completely nonsensical to reassign young children to sit alone with strangers. We had to cancel our confirmed reservation and now have 4 very disappointed children.