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On Friday night I went to Union Station to meet my mother, coming in for Mother’s Day on train 47 from Ottawa, scheduled to arrive at 5:07 p.m. As I stood at the VIA arrivals level I noticed a message on my telephone.

“Hi Peter, it’s your mom. It appears that someone was hit by the train, he crossed the rails and was hit. He’s not killed, but there’s a big to-do, and we will probably be up to an hour late. I hope you’re alright, and hope you get this message.”

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I walked upstairs to the information wicket in great hall. They had no information. A screen said train 47 was now “expected 17:40.”

I asked the gentleman where I could get a beer.

“You have to leave the station,” he said. “There are bars on Front Street heading west.”

OK. Now we have a problem. Union Station, the busiest transport hub in the nation — far busier than Pearson Airport — has nowhere to buy a beer.

Six years ago, I reported on plans to remodel the station. The city said it would complete the job in 2014 for $640 million. The budget is now $796 million and the job is far from done.