Via Rail restores full service between Windsor, Toronto

Via Rail passengers now have more options to get from Windsor to Toronto.

With the reintroduction of trains 78 and 79, service has been upgraded from three to four Toronto-Windsor round trips per day.

"From Windsor to Toronto, you're back to full service pre-COVID-19," said Vladimir Jean-Pierre, a senior manager for Via Rail's west corridor.

When the pandemic began, Via Rail suspended some routes. Over the last two years, it adjusted its train schedules in southwestern Ontario several times as COVID-19 fluctuated. 

Via Rail stopped operating Windsor's evening train, which departs at 5:41 p.m., amid the Omicron variant.

But now, the restoration of full service is being welcomed by Chloe Lee and Michael Schifanelli, who are in a long-distance relationship.

The evening train is convenient for them — it means they will get to spend a bit more time together, they said at the station on Thursday.

"We usually travel to Toronto and to Windsor because we're in a long distance relationship. Sometimes we like to stay for the later train, just because if one of us are going home, we want to spend as much time together as possible, so it's easier," said Lee.

They rely on the train, whatever service is scheduled, to get between the two cities.

"It just makes things a hundred per cent more convenient and easier to see each other and for longer too, so it's just better," said Schifanelli.