Members of the Save VIA group in St. Marys held a rally outside the train station Thursday, and are calling on area voters to make train service an election issue.
VIA Rail passenger Heather Wilson says, "I take the train once a month to go to hospital in Toronto - going to a hospital downtown. I go for eye treatment in Toronto and I decided to stay with them. I need that train because I do not drive."
The rally was part of a day full of activities aimed at convincing the corporation to restore service to the community.
Chris West of Save VIA says, "It's important from an economic issue in terms of driving jobs. It's important for future job seekers, i.e. students getting to colleges, there's lots of them along the line. There's a huge commumnity in Waterloo with tech startups, we have to be able to provide transportation."
Three years ago the town had six trains coming and going every day, but that has since dropped to four.
Advocates are also identifying MPs who are 'VIA friendly,' and those who have not shown support - including all of the area's Conservative members.
"What we're trying to communicate is please support those that are supporting VIA Rail, this is really our last chance to make it happen and that's why we call it the voting phase," West says.
