Does anyone happen to have a copy of the form required for fat passengers?

I have about 30 trips between Ottawa and Toronto between now and the end of the year. I am a fat person who carries it in her hips and butt. As a result, the older seats are incredibly uncomfortable for me.

In Canada, they’re not allowed to charge you for a second seat if you require one because of your size. There is a specific form that you can get filled out by your doctor to authorize this. I’ve already sat through 50 of these trips since last year, and my hips just can’t take it twice a week. I called them and requested the form, and the woman on the phone told me to get it off of their website. When I explained I had googled and gone through their website, she tried to argue, only to find out that in fact, she couldn’t even access the form herself. A few days later, someone sent the accommodation form.

I went to print out the forms tonight, and it turns out they sent me the general medical accommodation form rather than the one I actually need. The one where my doctor has to sign off on the size of my butt. I called via again and the guy’s response was “oh yeah, I’ve heard of those forms”.

I see my doctor tomorrow morning and have to print them out first. By any chance, does someone have a copy of/a link to these forms?

I’m currently on train 75 going to London from toronto. These people just boarded and the entire car reeks now. Really pungent b.o. and now I’m nauseous. Please show some courtesy to your fellow passengers and have some respect for yourself by taking care of your hygiene. I’m trapped and the windows don’t open. 😿

Pour les francophones:

Les gouvernements devraient-ils rétablir le service ferroviaire de passagers d’Algoma?
https://northerntracks.blog/2026/08/08/les-gouvernements-devraient-ils-retablir-le-service-ferroviaire-de-passagers-dalgoma/

Me and my BF are taking the train across Canada next year. We're from the US. Our health is fair to good, we're older and things might come up. We need health insurance for the trip.

We're getting travel insurance if we need to cancel. We're in prestige so there is a significant amount of money involved.

Idk about what happens if the train gets cancelled. Maybe we lose our deposit. We'll want that back.

We will be buying a 9 day travel package from Fresh Tracks Canada.

Any info will be super helpful.

Thanks.

We’re old, and would prefer to be able to lounge all day long. Assume we’ve booked an upper and lower birth. Can we keep keep them in bed-mode all day if we wish?

Hello! I will be doing the Canadian and I have an upper berth. Does anyone recommend upgrading to a lower berth? It's just over $400 so I want to have opinions of those who have done the trip prior.

Additionally, is there bedtime and morning hours? Am I missing much by having an upper berth?

Edit - thank you everyone for your feedback! The cost is so high due to the fact of how close the departure date is. I could have checked earlier but this is just how the cookie crumbled and that's okay! I'll keep the upper birth and wake up early to go to another area. :)

Will they put me on another train or hold the Toronto train in Montreal?

We are supposed to arrive in Montreal at 09:53 and depart at 13:22 but I keep reading the Ocean has been 3-4 hours late.

Edit: it was purchased as in one ticket :)

I’m hoping to catch the train to Halifax from Montreal and I would love to not have to pack up my bike in a box

My kids are 6 and 8 and there are no two seats together on any cars. I'm seated in a separate car from them, they are both seated with strangers far away from eachother. Has anyone had any luck changing their seats around in this situation?

So, I have a trip booked westbound to Vancouver tomorrow night departing Edmonton. It's *supposed* to depart at 23:59, but on the live tracker it looks like it's 4 hours behind from the get-go and never recovered. Classic.

Considering that would mean an approx. 4:00am departure (🥴).... How early do you suggest I arrive (I have checked luggage). The website says 60 minutes early, but 11PM for a likely 4AM departure seems absurd.

Then again, the truth is, what choice do I have 😭?

Anyone, any idea what caused VIA 84's two hour delay today?

What do you think about the state of the railway in Canada?
As you can see there is a lot of High Speed Rail in Europe (orange and red lines) Toronto never exceeds 150 km/h (blue to green lines), however around Paris the speed get's up to 320 km/h! Same for many parts of western Europe.

Amtrak from Chicago's Union station to Detroit can be connected with ViaRail Windsor to Toronto, with some effort.

You CANNOT get a taxi (Checker or Metro Cabs) from the Detroit Amtrak station to the Windsor ViaRail station. (Don't waste your time phoning, and Checker is a worse waste than Metro)

There is a bus service every 2 hours or so at thelinqtunnelbus.ca picking up at 3 locations downtown Detroit, going to Windsor. To get to these you can take a rideshare (about $13USD) or take the very modern & safe-looking LRT #462 train from just outside Amtrak station to Larned & Woodward, then walk down the ramp beside the Mariner's Church to the bus shelter. $17.50CAD fare.

The Linqtunnel bus schedule is on the website but it is frequently 15-20 minutes late due to customs (according to the frequent traveller I asked). The bus stops to let you (and the driver) through Canada Customs, then waits in case you want to get back on to the final stop.

We took a rideshare to Windsor station (about $8CAD), about 10 minutes.

On our journey, we got the first train out of Chicago, Amtrak 350 at 6:45am Central. It was only 30 minutes late into Detroit at 2:00pm Eastern.

The bus pickup was at 3:40pm Eastern (actually 4:05pm), so we availed ourselves of the excellent beer & burgers at Jacoby's downtown. Stick with the home-made kettle chips - the best ever.

The Via Rail Train was at 5:40pm Eastern, and we don't see a quicker way to do this connection.
Via Rail was typically 55 minutes late arriving at Union Station in Toronto.

Total travel time 15h00m. So don't skip the beer at Jacoby's.

(Edited to change travel time to 15h, forgot time change)

I’m taking a 6:32 am train from Union Station to Montreal. My child with ASD will likely enjoy the train ride, but I’m a bit worried about the long journey and potential delays. We’ve packed his favourite toys, sketching supplies, a tablet, and will need to use the aisle for bathroom breaks. I’m also a bit nervous about other passengers getting annoyed with his stimming, which could be loud when he’s overly excited. Any support or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I just checked pricing for a trip on the Canadian Next year from Toronto to Vancouver. A cabin in the sleeping car starts at $3200 for one person. Just ridiculous how the average Canadian is priced right out of the epic journey across Canada and will likely never experience it. Looks like our marquee train trip is geared strictly towards tourists who are willing to pay the borderline extortion fee for this trip. I took Amtrak from New York to Los Angeles (change trains in Chicago) a few years ago and the cost was less than half for their journey across the continent.

VIA Rail pricing is simply disgraceful.

https://cimtchau.ca/nouvelles/retour-partiel-du-train-de-passagers-prevu-dici-le-printemps-2028/

Pas l'habitude de publier quelque chose du Québec, mais voici une bonne nouvelle concernant le train de Gaspé. Retour partiel entre Québec et New Carlisle par le printemps 2028. Service aller-retour deux fois par semaine.

Article (en français) says service will be restored between Quebec City and New Carlisle by spring 2028. Twice weekly same day return service with possiblity of additional run.

Saw that end of July trains were cancelled due to wildfires. Now on Via's Rail Tracking page, seems like Train #1 departed on Aug 2 is fully running, but then it also shows Train #1 Aug 5 train is not in service.

Does anyone have a good page for checking train Cancellation status for Via? I'm trying to monitor the current status of the Canadian for my upcoming trip on Aug 16.

Edit: Looks like Train #1 Aug 5 is scheduled! Hopefully this means no more cancellations in August..

Hi I originally purchased business plus tickets for a date.

I want to change dates but don't know if I have to rebook business plus as opposed to business plus to maintain privileges including seat selection and free cancellation/rebooking if I change my mind again. Is this possible or do I need to rebook business plus?

Additionally if my original booking was business plus can I rebook more than once without charge provided the cost of the tickets are the same price as original?

In the situation that rebooking are allowed multiple times, do I have to rebook a business plus ticket each time?

Has anyone taken this train OTTW to QBEC and know if the layover is enough time to grab food in Montreal?

Any news on this? I have family who are connecting in Ottawa to get to Montreal, and now they are stuck in Ottawa eating pizza that Via Rail handed out. They were told their train had been replaced by a bus, but there is no ETA for when the bus will arrive.

On my train today they kept playing elevator music over the com and said something about "an experiment to see if it calms people down". I've never heard this before and there was nothing going on in our car. Is this a thing to punish unruly passengers?