Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson calls the service cuts frustrating and disappointing.
VIA Rail will end its early-morning train service from Kingston next month, just two years after the service was restored following local pressure.
Train 641, which runs Monday to Thursday from Ottawa to Toronto, will be cancelled effective Oct. 25. The train currently leaves Kingston at 6:19am arriving in Toronto before 9 a.m.
VIA says the revised schedule is intended to better match passenger demand and improve reliability.
A later train will continue to serve Kingston, but it departs at 7:04am, arriving in Toronto after 9:30am.
The early service was restored in 2024 after being cut during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, VIA said eastern Ontario passengers had stressed the importance of an early Toronto connection for work and other purposes.
Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson expressed his disappointment of the news in a post on his Facebook page.
He says VIA Rail should be expanding service, not cutting it, as people are looking for reliable alternatives to driving.
Paterson says he plans to introduce a motion at the next Kingston Council meeting uniting communities along the corridor to sustain and enhance passenger rail service in Eastern Ontario.
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