TORONTO - Tens of thousands of rush-hour commuters in Canada's largest city were told to find a different way home Friday afternoon after a freight train derailment disrupted commuter train service from Toronto.
GO Transit, which runs the trains, said at around 3.30 p.m. (1930 GMT) that it had suspended all train service, affecting an estimated 65,000 commuters, because seven empty cars of a Canadian National Railway freight train had derailed in the city's western suburbs.
At around 6 p.m. it said limited service had resumed on all routes from Union Station, in the city core.
A CN Rail spokesman said the company was working to clear the area of the derailment, but he couldn't estimate when the track would be ready for commuter trains and VIA Rail inter-city passenger trains.
"We're working as quickly as possible to get this situation rectified because we know of the significant inconvenience this is causing," CN spokesman Mark Hallman said.
GO Transit runs 180 commuter trains a day that carry about 160,000 passengers, according to its Web site.
VIA Rail officials were not immediately available for comment, but a notice on the VIA Rail Web site said "all rail traffic in the Toronto area has been affected" by the derailment.
Feeds