The pedestrian incident happened just after 11:00pm Friday on the Lakeshore West Line and resulted in westbound service between Union Station and Mimico GO being shut down for more than two hours. At one point there were thousands of stranded travelers waiting on the Exhibition Station platform. The crowds eventually dispersed. However, it was a much more intense experience for passengers trapped inside the westbound capacity train, which Stride said did not run for more than two hours. Stride, who was in town for the weekend and was staying with some friends at an AirBnB in Oakville, said they were literally minutes into their roughly 30-minute ride home when the train they were on came to an abrupt halt. He said several riders eventually became agitated and some even became agitated and tried to open doors and windows. “The mob mentality was going on in the train,” he told CP24. “People were banging on the windows, shouting and shouting. Tempers flared. … It was so scary.” Stride, who noted that staff scolded her for “being impatient,” told CP24 that several people on the train became thirsty and began to feel sick. One person even had a seizure, he said, noting there were pregnant women and disabled people on board who also needed help. “It just wasn’t a good experience. … We could have gone home faster,” said Stride, who was one of several passengers who took to Twitter to talk about the situation. Metrolinx posted an initial tweet about the incident on its Lakeshore West Train (@GOtransitLW) at 11:19 p.m. on Friday, informing passengers that the train would not be able to run in the area for about two hours. A subsequent post at 1:14 am. let people know the investigation is over. “The tracks have been cleared and reopened. We will return to regularly scheduled #GOtrain service with some minor delays,” they wrote. In a follow-up email to CP24.com, Metrolinx spokeswoman Suniya Kukaswadia said throughout this incident safety has always been their “highest priority.” “Emergency personnel were on scene and we worked with them to move passengers as quickly as possible,” he wrote. “Once the train was freed, crews found that several doors had been opened by customers and had to be secured before the train could operate.” Kukaswadia said their policy after any serious incident is to conduct a “thorough review of all actions implemented to determine any lessons learned.” “We appreciate the patience of our customers during a difficult time. All feedback from customers will be reviewed,” he added. The collision and long delays on GO’s Lakeshore West line came during an already busy weekend as more than 80 events were scheduled across the city.
