CN Rail says outage that sparked rush-hour travel chaos in Toronto resolved

TORONTO (Reuters) -Canadian National Railway Co (CN) said on Tuesday evening an internet connectivity failure that led to signal issues and long delays and cancellations for Toronto rush-hour commuters had been resolved.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of train commuters in Canada’s biggest city Toronto were forced to make alternative arrangement to reach home after Ontario regional transit operator Metrolinx temporarily halted its Toronto-area commuter trains and warned travelers to expect further disruptions through the evening.

In a late evening statement, CN, Canada’s biggest railroad, said its internet connectivity had been restored.

“CN would like to apologize for the impact caused by this outage. While there continues to be no indication of a cyber security issue, the cause of the outage remains under investigation,” the company said in the statement.

Some 190,000 passengers use GO trains and buses every day, which connect Toronto’s downtown core to suburbs and small towns in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area, according to GO Transit’s website.

Hundreds of frustrated home-bound commuters were stuck at Union Station in downtown Toronto.

“This is just crazy, whatever it is, they (GO) need to do better,” said David Miller, a coffee shop worker who saw three trains he planned to take being canceled.

GO Transit urged travelers to seek alternative arrangements but the sudden demand for taxis tripled fares on ride-share service Uber, according to several people who tried to book rides.

An Uber spokesperson said prices temporarily increase when there are more ride requests than drivers.

“In response to this afternoon’s GO transit situation, Uber capped surge pricing,” spokesperson Keerthana Rang said in an email.

(Reporting by Denny Thomas and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Murali Anantharaman and Jamie Freed)