Can you get off at a earlier train station?

If you haven't visited my previous topic, it's about the same trip (Ste-Foy> Halifax, Halifax > Toronto, Toronto > Quebec)

Now, my gf is "pestering" me about extending out trip, so she wants to know if it's possible to leave at an earlier station than anticipated.

If possible, we would like to stop at Montreal on our return trip instead of Quebec City, stay a night there, and then take a Montreal-Jonquiere train the following day, so that we can stay there a day or two and then go back to Quebec Coty by train.

We have escape fare tickets, so actually changing our ticket would cost us money. For our return trip, we have a Toronto-Qubec City ticket, with a 3 hours connection in Ottawa. Upon getting on the Ottawa train, can we just say "Oh, change of plans, we have to get off at montreal"? I know it was possible for us to get off at Grand-Mere instead of Shawinigan (in a Senneterre-Montreal train) 5 years ago. But Shawinigan and Grand-Mere are only 1 stop (10 minutes) away from one another... So I am not sure about cutting an entire route...

If it's not possible, we'll just keep going to Quebec city, and do the opposite the following day (Go to Jonquiere by bus, then ride the train down to Montreal)

I am unsure who would stop you from detraining. I have more experience on Amtrak than VIA, and on Amtrak the crew would not even notice your departure was early, and I don't remember any difference on VIA.

You may have issues if you're going to a smaller stop where they may not actually stop if noone is getting off, but at a large station like Montreal? You can most likely just get up when the train stops and get off with all of the other Montreal passengers. I did this before at Dorval on an Ottawa-Montreal train, when the person who was coming to meet me in Montreal got held up and suggested Dorval would be more convenient. It's not like anyone is checking tickets for those de-training.

However, In the case of a train where you were supposed to continue Montreal-Quebec, it might be a good idea to mention it to the crew at least. I don't know how they'd handle it, but at least they could make a note that you got off. In normal circumstances it's no big deal, but if they had some sort of incident where a passenger manifest was of great importance (i.e. for identifying if everyone was accounted for after an accident of some kind), your unexplained absence could cause some issues.

I'm willing to bet they'd be okay with it, because you've already paid for the ticket anyway and you're not trying to get money back. But I don't know if they actually have any official policy about that.

timberley wrote:You may have issues if you're going to a smaller stop where they may not actually stop if noone is getting off.

That's actualky what happened when we got off at Grand-mere instead of Shawinigan. Train was already late, so when we asked, the employee said something like "fortunately for you guys, someone's getting off there, otherwise, we would be forced to decline your request"

Shawinigan is/was a staffed station, while Grand-Mere is a flag stop, if that changes anything.