It was Gilon James’ first time riding the GO train, but after a train wreck turned an hour-long ride into a nearly five-hour “nightmare,” it was likely her last. She was one of the commuters on the transit system heading west from Toronto Friday night when several trips faced long delays after a train struck and killed one person west of Exhibition Station. Several passengers said their waits were made worse by a series of technical difficulties afterwards. Metrolinx spokeswoman Suniya Kukaswadia said GO Train service on the Lakeshore West route was suspended around 11 p.m. due to the incident. Toronto police also said officers were at the scene to investigate. Ms James said she was returning from the Rolling Loud music festival and was on a train behind the one that hit the person. She said she was stuck in the vehicle between stations for more than three hours without water. “I was on GO for the first time, I thought this was the worst experience ever,” said Ms. James, noting that passengers could not get off the train while it was stuck between stations. Ms James said at one point, a passenger in her carriage had a seizure and emergency personnel had to force their way through the doors to get to the passenger and get him out. He described how a door malfunctioned and was left open after the rescue. She said her carriage was instructed to move to adjacent cars due to a malfunctioning door when people became upset as it became even more crowded. Ms James said she had to stand for the last hour and a half of the nearly five-hour delay. “I felt like I was in a sardine can,” he said. Ms Kukaswadia said she was unaware of any injuries other than a fatality on the track on any train and attributed problems with train doors to passengers who had opened several during the delays. “Crews found that several doors had been opened by customers and needed to be secured before the train could operate,” Ms Kukaswadia wrote in a statement. Another passenger, Matt Johnson, said he was on the train involved in the derailment and described a jolt to the train when it hit the brakes after the incident. He said passengers were stuck on the train for two hours as police boarded to investigate. The train then went out of service at the next stop, so passengers were forced to board another one. To Mr. Johnson’s dismay, that second train also went out of service after just two stops. The final straw for many passengers was when the third train also had to stop and make them disembark for 15 minutes due to technical difficulties. “People were starting to get real voices on the platform,” said Mr. Johnson, who was traveling further afield in Burlington. Finally, Mr. Johnson said he arrived home at 4:20 a.m., after first boarding at 10:45 p.m. Both he and Ms James said they were frustrated by the lack of information throughout the ordeal and were often told the train would start moving in minutes when in reality it took hours. When asked about the lack of information to passengers, Ms Kukaswadia thanked people for their patience and said all customer feedback would be reviewed.
