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Commuter train service 'back to normal' in southern Ontario

Commuter train service is "back to normal" on Friday afternoon following a temporary stoppage in service on Friday morning, a Metrolinx official says.

Greg Percy, chief operating officer for Metrolinx, said GO Transit is not expecting any further problems. GO train and Via Rail service was disrupted earlier Friday due to a power outage that affected the CN Rail traffic control centre.

"We're ready for the rush hour. Service is back to normal," Percy told reporters at Union Station.​

"We've been working closely with everyone involved to bring our service back up," Percy said.

He said 18 people were stranded on the Union Pearson Express, which links Union Station to Toronto's Pearson International Airport, and some missed their flights due to the disruption.

About 2,000 people in all were affected by the temporary stoppage in service on GO Transit's train service Friday morning, he said. The UP Express resumed service after 2 p.m.

"You cannot have trains moving if you do not have an active signal system. Like traffic lights, if everything turns red, you sit until it all comes back up together."

Trains on all seven GO Transit lines and nine Via Rail trains were stopped for more than an hour before service resumed as power was restored to the control centre.

Some Via Rail passengers reported delays on Twitter of up to three hours.

Percy said a power failure in the area of Highway 407 and Keele Street in Toronto caused the outage at the CN Rail traffic control area at about 9:30 a.m. The outage affected GO trains, UP Express and Via Rail.

He said there have been a couple of cancellations of service of GO trains on Friday afternoon but Metrolinx is not expecting any more.

Once the CN Rail traffic control centre had its power restored, GO Transit had to reboot its own computers, he said.

"When you bring them back up, you can't bring them all back up together," he said.