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Via Rail passengers travelling from Toronto to Ottawa were stranded for 12 hours overnight after an earlier train broke down near Brockville, Ont.
Via said Train 669 from Montreal to Toronto "experienced a mechanical failure" Wednesday evening. Its passengers were transferred to another train.
The breakdown disrupted two later trains, 48 and 54, both bound for Ottawa from Toronto. Those passengers were stranded from about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday until 10:30 a.m. Thursday when they were finally transferred to another train.
"We were waiting and had this hope that it was going to be resolved within the next hour, half-hour," Train 48 passenger Kiyavash Parvar told CBC News.
"You have that feeling that it's just going to be resolved, it's just around the corner, but no. It never happened. With the sunrise we were like, this is not going to be a problem that can be solved anytime soon."
Parvar said Train 48 was at least heated, but he was unable to sleep.
"Today is a complete write-off for my work because I didn't sleep," he told CBC.
Morgan Davis told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning that he and other passengers on Train 48 were frustrated by a lack of clear information.
Alan Drummond, a doctor in Perth, Ont., told CBC he waited at the Smiths Falls train station for about six hours to pick up his daughter, but gave up around 3 a.m.
A Via Rail spokesperson would not tell CBC News whether the mechanical problem had anything to do with the snowfall warnings in place across eastern Ontario on Wednesday. The Via statement said the problem is under review.
The spokesperson said devices needed to fix the broken train were on the way on different trains.
Before passengers were picked up, Via Rail was allowing people to get off the train in Brockville, but is not providing alternative transportation, the spokesperson said.
Via apologized in its statement, saying it's offering passengers a full refund and travel credit toward a future trip.
"Obviously, Via Rail has had incidents like this in the past and we have directed that they get much better at issues that may arise on a line," federal Transport Minister Steve MacKinnon said Thursday.
"We understand … it's a Canadian winter and things happen. However, when these things do happen, the response is critical and we want Via Rail to continue to improve on that.”
WATCH | The transport minister's comments:Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon was asked Thursday about a Via Rail train that was stalled for at least 12 hours, leaving passengers stranded. MacKinnon stressed that in situations such as this, 'the response is critical' and that the government wants Via to 'continue to improve.'