Injured on GO Transit? Train, Bus and Station Injury Claims

A person who is injured on a GO train, GO bus or at a GO station may have a claim against Metrolinx or another responsible party if negligent operation, defective equipment or an unsafe property condition caused the injury. The applicable law depends on whether the incident involved rail operations, a bus collision or station property.

Our Ontario bus and public transit accident lawyers investigate serious GO Transit injuries and seek to preserve the video, operating records and station evidence which can be required to determine what happened.

Can You Sue Metrolinx After a GO Transit Injury?

Yes, if negligence on the part of Metrolinx or another responsible party caused the injury to occur.

GO Transit is a division of Metrolinx, an agency of the Ontario government. Lawsuits can encompass a GO train, bus, platform or station will therefore ordinarily require Metrolinx to be investigated rather than the municipality where the incident happened.

Metrolinx may not be the only potential defendant. For example, a private company could have operated, inspected, cleaned or maintained the equipment or location involved. Another motorist could be responsible for a GO bus collision. Some stations also connect with municipal transit systems, City property or privately owned buildings.

Union Station provides a clear example. GO states that the City of Toronto owns most of the station building, while GO owns the train shed, platforms, tracks and York Concourse. A passenger who says only that they were injured “at Union Station” has not yet identified who controlled the precise location.

GO Train Door and Boarding Injury Claims

GO train injuries can occur when passengers are entering or leaving a coach, crossing the platform gap or moving through crowded boarding areas.

GO advises that doors at certain stations where trains begin their trips close one minute before departure and will not reopen once closed. That operating rule does not resolve whether an injury during a door cycle was avoidable.

Lawsuits can benefit from gathering evidence which demonstrates whether the door warnings sounded, when the doors began to close, whether a passenger or mobility device was obstructing the doorway, what the Customer Service Ambassador or train crew could see, and whether the train moved before boarding or exiting was complete.

Potentially relevant evidence could include train-door data, crew reports, dispatch communications, surveillance footage and the identity and position of the coach involved.

Platform Gaps, Crowding and Station Ambassador Claims

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The passenger’s age, disability, luggage or mobility equipment may affect whether additional assistance was reasonably required. Lighting, platform configuration, construction barriers and unusually heavy crowding can also change the risk.

GO tells passengers to remain behind the yellow line while waiting and to board through designated doors after the train has stopped. Those safety instructions can be relevant, but they do not automatically defeat a claim.

Investigations can consider whether staff were directing passenger flow, whether construction narrowed the platform, whether crowding prevented safe boarding and whether assistance was available after the passenger requested it.

Measurements, photographs and station-design records may be important in a platform-gap case. A serious crowding claim can also require service records showing delays, cancellations or an unusual accumulation of passengers before the injury.

Accessibility-Coach and Mobility-Device Injuries

GO’s published accessibility procedures provide more specific evidence for claims involving wheelchairs, scooters and other mobility aids.

The accessibility coach is located near the middle of a GO train. Passengers using its accessible boarding area board from a ramped mini-platform, and the Customer Service Ambassador places a portable ramp between the mini-platform and the train doorway.

GO trains will also typically contain designated spaces with adjustable straps for wheeled mobility aids. On a GO bus, GO states that the driver must secure a passenger’s wheelchair or scooter with the straps provided.

Claims can arise if the portable boarding ramp was not positioned securely, a passenger encountered an unexpected height difference or gap, a mobility device shifted because the available straps were not used properly, a GO bus moved before securement was complete, or a lift, ramp or securement component malfunctioned.

Falls at GO Stations, Stairs and Parking Areas

A station fall is ordinarily analyzed under property-liability principles rather than the rules governing train operation.

Ontario’s Occupiers’ Liability Act requires an occupier to take reasonable care to see that people entering the premises are reasonably safe. Depending on control of the location, that duty could apply to Metrolinx, a maintenance contractor, a municipality, another transit authority or a private property owner.

Finding hazards after an injury does not prove negligence by itself. There has to be negligence that led to the hazard and the hazard has to have caused the injury.

Cases which involve snow or ice can also be subject to the 60-day written-notice requirement in section 6.1 of the Occupiers’ Liability Act. A municipal sidewalk or roadway beside a station may engage different notice rules, which is another reason to determine exactly where the fall occurred.

GO Bus Collisions and Sudden Stops

GO bus injuries engage rules that do not ordinarily apply to GO trains.

A passenger injured when a GO bus collides with another automobile or an external object may have an accident-benefits claim as well as a lawsuit against Metrolinx, another driver or another negligent party.

Where braking, acceleration or turning causes an injury but the GO bus does not collide with anything, section 268(1.1) of Ontario’s Insurance Act can exclude statutory accident benefits. The passenger may still have a negligence claim if unsafe bus operation caused the fall.

Ontario’s accident-benefits coverage changed on July 1, 2026. Medical, rehabilitation and attendant-care benefits remain mandatory, while most other benefits are optional. Existing policies generally retain their previous coverage unless changed, but the people eligible to receive newly optional benefits are now more restricted. A GO passenger’s entitlement can therefore depend on the applicable insurance policy, the coverage in force and their relationship to the insured person.

What Evidence Do You Need for a GO Transit Injury Claim?

A GO bus claim may require onboard video, GPS information, operator reports, braking or vehicle data and maintenance records.

Station claims can involve inspection logs, cleaning schedules, work orders, elevator or escalator service records and contracts identifying the company responsible for the area.

A PRESTO record, electronic ticket or credit-card transit transaction may help establish the trip and approximate time. The passenger should also record the platform, coach, door or bus location while those details remain fresh.

How Long Does Metrolinx Keep GO Station Video?

Metrolinx does not publish one exact deletion period that can safely be assumed for every GO camera. Its current GO Design Requirements Manual requires station CCTV systems to have at least a 72-hour recording cycle. It also states that Metrolinx security personnel evaluate and direct the retention cycle at each station or facility.

A preservation request should be sent immediately. It should identify the date and precise time, GO station, platform, bus loop or parking area, train line or GO bus route, direction of travel, coach, door or vehicle number where available, and the passenger’s appearance and route through the station.

The request should cover all cameras that may show the passenger approaching, experiencing and leaving the area of the incident—not just the camera which was positioned closest to the injury.

GO Transit Injury Claims in Ontario

GO injury cases can potentially involve rail operations, automobile insurance, occupiers’ liability, accessibility equipment and overlapping control of station property. Passengers injured while boarding a train is not in the same legal position as someone hurt in a GO bus collision or a fall in a parking area.

Foster Injury Law's Bus accident lawyers can represent those who have suffered serious injuries on GO trains and buses and at GO stations across Ontario.