A CN Rail engineer is dead after being hit by a passenger train while working on train tracks east of Toronto on Thursday afternoon, officials confirmed.
Durham Regional Police said the employee was working just east of Guildwood GO Station at about 1 p.m. when he was hit by a VIA passenger train from Montreal travelling to Toronto.
The worker died shortly after being hit by the train, VIA Rail spokesperson Ashley Doyle confirmed.
CN Rail identified the man as Rick McColl of Hampton, Ont. McColl, 53, has worked with the company for 32 years.
There were 170 passengers and six crew members aboard the train at the time, said Doyle, adding that no one on the train was injured.
Four shuttle buses were called to transport the VIA Rail passengers to their final destination.
When asked how often VIA Rail trains are involved in collisions, Doyle said she didn't have numbers available.
"Any time there's a train collision even one accident is one accident too many," she told ctvtoronto.ca.
Shortly after the incident, GO Transit stations plunged into chaos as service was temporarily suspended along the Lakeshore East rail line between Pickering and Guildwood.
Routes were closed late Thursday afternoon, just as many commuters were set to head out of the city.
Tempers flared as throngs of delayed commuters were forced to wait in long lineups for shuttle buses ferrying passengers between the two stations.
"Just have to be patient I guess, but this poor girl has to write an exam," a female commuter told CTV News, motioning to a girl beside her.
Full service resumed around 5 p.m. but GO Transit warned it will take a while to clear their backlog of trains.
Several GO Transit lines have experienced delays:
- The Union to Pickering train trip arrived in Pickering, Ont. 14 minutes late.
- The Union to Oshawa train trip was delayed 10 minutes at Eglinton to give police time to investigate the collision.
- The Oshawa to Union train trip arrived 12 minutes late.
With a report from CTV's Austin Delaney
