Dozens of passengers were left stranded Wednesday as VIA Rail cancelled service on Montreal-Toronto and Ottawa-Toronto routes until at least the end of Friday due to a blockade of the tracks in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en chiefs.

The crown corporation said that since the start of the blockade Friday, 256 passenger trains have been cancelled because of a disruption near Belleville, Ont., affecting thousands of travellers. Impacted passengers will receive a full refund, VIA pledged.

Some of these passengers had to find another way to travel. At the downtown Toronto bus depot Wednesday afternoon there was a mix of frustration, some indifference and also understanding among dozens of weary travellers waiting for buses to Ottawa and Montreal.

Barbara Yurkoski, an Ottawa resident, had been in Thunder Bay when she decided to see some friends in Toronto, so she made a detour with a plan to take the train back home.

“But that didn’t work out,” she said with a smile. Yurkoski arrived at the Greyhound station 10 a.m. Wednesday and had to wait until 2:30 p.m. to get a spot on a bus.

Like some of the other rerouted passengers, she sympathizes with the protesters but said blocking trains “doesn’t really seem like a relevant way to protest.”

“A train is a good thing, not a bad thing,” she added.

Her travel delays prompted discussion among her friends “and I probably learned a little bit more,” she added.

Yurkoski has already received a full refund, and doesn’t feel like it’s VIA’s fault.

The 69-year-old retiree is just happy she got a spot on the bus, as “there’s only so many ways to get there.”

Protesters across the country have blocked traffic and rail lines in solidarity with the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en nation. They also occupied the office of Carolyn Bennett, Canada’s Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and tried to block legislators from entering B.C’s Parliament Tuesday.

The struggle is over a 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline from B.C.’s northeast to Kitimat on the coast. Wet’suwet’en Nation territory is along the route, and the hereditary chiefs are staunchly opposed to it.

They’ve pledged to do whatever it takes to block the pipeline, despite a B.C. court injunction granted Dec. 31, 2019.

According to the B.C. RCMP, Mounties have arrested 28 protesters in Wet’suwet’en territory in recent days. Climate activists have also joined in protests across the country.

Akin Morakinyo was waiting at the Greyhound station to board a bus to Ottawa to visit a friend. The 24-year-old has not gotten a refund from VIA Rail yet and is “frustrated.”

Like Yurkoski, he “does sympathize” with the protesters. “I guess the pipeline is a danger to their lands,” he said, adding the experience did cause him to look up more about their cause, before joining the line of passengers waiting to board.

Twenty-six-year-old Danielle Matheson lives in Ottawa and travelled to Toronto to write a paralegal licensing exam. She booked a seat on the Greyhound after her train from Ottawa was cancelled earlier in the week.

“It was pretty stressful on top of coming here for an exam,” she said at the station.

She said she doesn’t know much about why people are protesting. “It’s obviously causing a huge inconvenience for people, and I’m not sure if it’s the best way to get sympathy about their cause.”

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She’s been reading some articles about it, but mostly has been focused on the $1,200 exam, which isn’t offered in Ottawa.

“Maybe when I get back I’ll have the chance to learn more,” she said.

Julia Bugiel, based in Montreal, is trying to get to Toronto to visit a relative about to undergo chemotherapy. She was supposed to go last weekend but that train was cancelled, and the one this weekend may be as well.

But she stands behind the protesters and blockades “100 per cent.”

“Whatever inconvenience we’re feeling, for me the bottom line is we can find other ways to travel, to do business, even a pipeline can find another route, but really the Wet’suwet’en cannot replace these lands and waters, they can’t find new ancestral territory,” she said over the phone Wednesday.

Bugiel has been following the blockades and protests on social media. She finds the issue is often framed around the pipeline, but for her, it’s mainly about “nation to nation relations.”

Whatever the inconvenience, “without disrupting their day-to-day lives, it’s really hard to get the media, politicians and just the public at large to pay attention to an issue like this.”

Andrew Smith said he’s “frustrated and in the dark” after his train from Toronto to Montreal, where he is supposed to do some charity work, was cancelled. He ended up shelling out the money for a flight but doesn’t know what to do about his return ticket because he’s not sure whether the blockades will still be in place.

The 36-year-old uses a wheelchair for mobility issues and is most comfortable on VIA where he travels in business class.

He feels “anger” at both VIA and the protesters, and wants more information about when service will be restored.

“Get these trains out.”

With files from Canadian Press, Alex McKeen and Joanna Chiu