Via Rail

I took the train from Toronto to Montréal and it was more than 50% cheaper than a place. Sure it takes a lot longer, but if you add it all up, it probably takes about 2.5 hours via plane (screening, boarding, taxi, etc) and it takes about 4 – 5 hours via train.
However, here’s what I liked about Via and taking the train to Montréal:
–Easy to board from Union Station
–Once you buy online, they will email your boarding pass right away to you
–The train is a nice smooth ride and you get to see the country side.
–You get to bring food aboard so you don’t have to settle for bad, insanely overpriced food.
–Nice leg room
–Wi-​fi on board.
What I didn’t like:
–No free drinks — you have to pay.
–The Wi-​Fi won’t let you play tv shows/​movies from Netflix or Youtube videos. You’ll have to use your data plan.
That’s really about it. If you want a nice ride and have some time, I’d recommend taking the train over driving and flying as it’s so much more relaxing and convenient. Pretty smooth ride as well.

I feel like every time I come here, the escalators to get to the other track are broken. This is pretty inconvenient when you have suitcases. It’s also bad for seniors and others who have difficulty with stairs.
The reason why it’s still 3 stars and not lower is because there are lots of seats in the station. This is unlike Toronto Union Station where you need to stand for over half an hour if you want to get a good seat on the train.

The VIA train service has comfortable ride
And the seats are comfy.
I was traveling in a freezing winter season
And the Cabins were warm and quite and
Clean.

Does the job but could be a lot better. On the plus side, the staff are friendly and helpful, and they’ve recently upgraded their snack bar. On the minus side the ATM seems to be permanently out of order, the two monitors that should be displaying arrival and departure times never seem to work, and getting from the station side to the opposite side of the tracks is a hassle, especially for the elderly or handicapped.

Small but friendly VIA station with free wifi (I guess they all offer that now, but it’s worth mentioning because it’s an awesome perk).
Here’s my advice for travelling to and from the Kingston location: don’t chance the train times by not arriving early enough. The reason? You never know what track the train you need will be on, and sometimes it changes, so if you need to be waiting at track 2, you also need time to go through the underpass and up the other stairs to the other side.
I’ve had a few close calls here, can you tell? Luckily I’ve always made my train!

The staff are really quite friendly at this station. In fact most of the people who work for Via Rail (that I have encountered, at least) are friendly. We had a twenty minute delay (that turned into two hours) and they found a way to keep the natives from getting restless.
As Todd mentioned I almost wish this wasn’t in the –burbs but rather downtown Kingston in a glamourous Victorian Confederation-​era train station that would give more justice to this wonderful (and historically significant) city. Alas this is out in the West End in the middle of nowhere, and yet just a quick Amey’s cab away from the action of ‘downtown.’

After departing Union Station (
) in Toronto, all the stations that Via had to offer would be equally appointed and be a focal point to the city or area they were in. Not quite. Kingston has no vaulted ceilings, no stone work, and really nothing to distinguish itself from a bus station. There’s nothing really bad about it but nothing that good about it that would make you think, «Hey, I’ve got some time to kill before my trip, I’ll go to the train station.»
There’s a snack bar and news shop to pick up magazines or candy before your trip and surprisingly clean bathrooms, so you can take heart in that. Also be aware that the train station is not central to Kingston. Getting to the city core will require a car or cab ride out to the core. Best save some cash for that end of the trip. You’ll find more fun on Princess and Ontario streets than you will sitting in the station reading a newly purchased copy of People Weekly.