Some 2,500 Via Rail passengers were delayed for hours when First Nations protesters blocked the rail tracks in the Marysville area between Kingston and Belleville Sunday evening.
The protest appears to have started around 5:30 p.m. and affected passengers on 12 trains travelling to and from Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.
A passenger who identified himself as Christopher told CP24 he had been sitting on a stationary train near the Belleville Station for over three hours.
“After about 10 minutes of being stalled here they told us there were issues in terms of the train moving forward,” he said in a phone interview from the stationary train shortly after 9 p.m. “When the train had been stuck for about half an hour they did come on the system and announce that there were people blocking the tracks, that there were protests and there was some kind of conflict resolution going on.”
Outside Toronto’s Union Station, Via Rail customer Cathy Ramsay told CP24 she cancelled her ticket to board a 6 p.m. train for Montreal and booked a flight instead when she heard about the delay.
“There are people in line still sitting there waiting,” Ramsay said. “I can’t imagine what it’s like for people who have kids.”
Around 9 p.m., the company said buses had been dispatched for customers stuck in the Cornwall area.
By around 9:30 p.m., the company said all trains had started moving.
But dozens of complaints still inundated Via Rail social media staff as agitated customers took to twitter to find out what was going on and whether their tickets would be refunded.
Via Rail said most passengers would be offered a credit worth 50 per cent of their ticket value because of the delay.
“VIA wishes to apologize for any inconvenience this disruption may cause to its passengers,” the company said in a release Sunday evening.
The company told CP24 the protest had caught them off guard.
OPP said the demonstration involved about a dozen protesters burning objects and blocking the tracks. No arrests were made and the incident ended peacefully when they decided to leave.
First Nations people have been staging protests across the country in recent weeks as part of Idle No more, a movement seeking to raise awareness about the plight of First Nations communities in Canada. Similar protests have also blocked highways in other parts of the province.
The movement has been ignited recently by a hunger strike being undertaken by Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, who is demanding Prime Minister Stephen Harper meet with First Nations leaders to discuss treaty rights and the state of native communities.
Several hundred members of the movement also staged a flash mob protest at The Eaton Centre Sunday afternoon. The peaceful demonstration lasted about an hour.
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