'Can we send our Uber bills to CN Railway?': Train failure wreaks havoc on Toronto commuters
GO Transit says they are slowly resuming service, however, the transit agency is warning of potential cancellations
GO trains are slowly rolling back into service after a CN network-wide system failure brought service to a complete standstill Tuesday afternoon.
The outage, initially reported around 1:45 p.m., saw all GO trains as well as UP Express trains coming to a halt at the nearest station.
“GO trains, VIA trains in and out of Union station, as well as CN’s customer service portal, all of which require an internet connection to CN’s servers, are all currently impacted,” reads a statement released by CN Rail.
The CN networkwide system failure continues to affect all of our rail corridors. We intend to run limited service from Union Station but there will be ongoing delays and cancellations as we work to recover rail service. Check Union Station departures here: https://t.co/n8ELbTv4jf
— GO Transit (@GOtransit) October 3, 2023
GO Transit says they are slowly resuming service, however, the transit agency is warning of potential cancellations and delays into the evening.
“Our top priority is getting people home from Union Station, which is very busy tonight. We are beginning to run outbound trains from Union Station about every 30 minutes,” reads a statement released by Go Transit.
The TTC also announced that they are adding additional service to Line 1 and 2, as well as adding extra buses to assist commuters on their way home.
To assist with @GOtransit delays, the #TTC is adding service on Line 1 (+10 trains), Line 2 (+5 trains), 509, 510 and 501L.
As well we're staging extra buses at key stations like Kipling, Kennedy, Dundas W. We're also deploying station staff at key locations to assist.— TTC Media Relations 📰🚌🚋🚈 (@TTCNewsroom) October 3, 2023
The cause of the outage remains under investigation.
Commuters respond
The outage is causing a major impact to commuters heading home from work – many who have turned to social media to share their experiences.
NOW: Line 1 northbound to Vaughan as a result of suspended GO Transit service.
Hey, on the bright side, at least I can tweet this while on the TTC 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/kt82HBR7VJ— 🇦🇲•🇨🇦 (@kidanianTO) October 3, 2023
Reports from Union Station state that as restoration efforts are underway, crowds of people can be seen anxiously trying to make their way home.
No Go Transit pic.twitter.com/STl66JLEqn
— hamoody (@madzqt) October 3, 2023
Understandably, frustrations were mounting as the impacts of the outage linger on.
After 4 hours of zero service, Go transit’s “Customer ambassador” announcing:
Please have patience, when the train is full, train is full. Board the next train.
Like people understands you! 🤷🏻♂️😂#GOdown— Settling Nomad✨ (@SettlingNomads) October 3, 2023
Some commuters are turning to alternative ways of getting home.
Can we send our uber bills to @Metrolinx or @CNRailway for the outage and having to find another way home this evening?
Things happen but wow the entire @GOtransit coming to a grinding halt is something I've never seen since I think the G20 protest and transit shutdowns.— Mike C the Leafs fan! 🇨🇦🏳️🌈🇺🇦 (@LeafsFanMike17) October 3, 2023
As commuters turn to ride-sharing apps, Uber seemingly introduced surge pricing only adding to the frustration.
There's a GO train outage and look at the Uber fare surge pricing. This is from downtown to Scarborough. pic.twitter.com/cu5Y26U4w6
— Sam (@S_ammerz) October 3, 2023
Some commuters who are turning to the Metrolinx site to plan alternative routing share that there are limited updates on the site.
Great update. What a 5hitshow pic.twitter.com/9aDgt2KNPD
— Emran Aziz (@aziz_emran) October 3, 2023
