GO train riders on Lakeshore East line to be compensated after major delays

Metrolinx says they are looking into compensating riders that were stuck on GO trains for hours on the Lakeshore East line yesterday.

On Tuesday afternoon, a GO train heading toward Oshawa broke down, leaving passengers stuck on the train for more than three hours.

“It doesn’t happen very often where we can’t get a train going to at least hobble into a station but it broke down completely,” Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins told CP24 Wednesday morning.

A few minutes later, a gas leak near railway tracks in Aurora forced GO Transit to suspend all GO trains on the Barrie line.

“The corridor was shut down because there was … a major gas leak that was very close to the rail line. It was not safe to travel on the Barrie line so we couldn’t operate any trains on that line,” Aikins said.

The gas leak was repaired last night and Aikins said all routes would be back to normal today.

However some passengers were still upset on Wednesday. One transit user called the ordeal a mess.

“I was stuck at Union Station for about an hour. I had to take the bus home,” he told CTV Toronto.

Riders on the Lakeshore East line were stuck for around three hours without air conditioning and lights.

“It was pretty horrific for them during those few hours,” Aikins said.

“Some people were pretty frustrated, especially those that have to pick up kids at the daycare. They were not too happy,” one woman told CTV Toronto on Wednesday.

Following last night’s issues, Aikins said Metrolinx will be discussing “at length” what went wrong.

In a written statement, Aikins said it would not have been safe to evacuate the Lakeshore East trains because “it was 150 metres from platform; passengers would be leaving the train from an elevated position with no platform and each would need assistance to get off the train safely; we didn’t have the personnel to safely evacuate due to the emergency situation on the Barrie line that occurred at the exact same time.”

In the statement, she added that the situation on the Barrie line was an emergency and not within GO’s control. Therefore, riders stranded on that line are not eligible for compensation. However the service on the Lakeshore East line was “within our control and our service recovery didn’t meet our own standards.”

Customers affected by the disruption on the Lakeshore East line are encouraged to apply for a refund under the Fare Guarantee program, Aikins noted.

Metrolinx is working on compensation packages for each individual rider and will verify to see who was on the train by checking if they tapped their PRESTO card.