Via Rail passengers finally on the move after being stranded overnight in Brockville, Ont.

Significant problems with Via Rail trains south of Ottawa stranded passengers for more than 12 hours overnight.

Via Rail Train 669 "experienced a mechanical failure" near Brockville, Ont., on Wednesday evening, according to Via in a statement. When they couldn't fix that train, the company said its passengers were transferred to another train.

That route goes from Montreal to Toronto.

That also disrupted trains 48 and 54 from Toronto to Ottawa, whose passengers were in Brockville from around 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday until 10:30 a.m. Thursday when they were put on another train.

"Originally … we were going to switch trains and those passengers would take our train," said Morgan Davis from Train 48 on CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning on Thursday.

"In the end, those passengers hopped on with us."

"Thankfully [the train] was heated, thankfully we were being fed, there was water.… We were taken care of," said Kiya Parvar, a passenger on Train 48.

"But ... today is a complete write-off for my work because I didn't sleep."

Morgan Davis told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning that he and other passengers on Train 48 were frustrated because they weren't clearly told why they were stuck in Brockville.

Alan Drummond, a doctor in Perth, Ont., told CBC he waited at the Smiths Falls train station for about six hours to pick up his daughter, until he gave up around 3 a.m.

As of around 8:30 a.m. Thursday, he went to Brockville to get her.

No alternatives offered

A Via Rail spokesperson would not tell CBC News whether the mechanical problem had anything to do with the snowfall warnings in place across eastern Ontario on Wednesday. The Via statement said the problem is under review.

The spokesperson said devices needed to fix the broken train were on the way on different trains.

Before passengers were picked up, Via Rail was allowing people to get off the train in Brockville, but is not providing alternative transportation, the spokesperson said.

Via apologized in its statement, saying it's offering passengers a full refund and travel credit toward a future trip.