As of Tuesday afternoon, the Via Rail website did not tell passengers that if they want to travel westbound to Toronto, they must book a ticket to Oshawa and if they are travelling eastbound to Toronto, they must book a ticket to Oakville. (Canadian Press)

Via Rail will be using shuttle buses to transport passengers to the Greater Toronto Area during the G20 but isn't currently allowing them to book tickets online to Toronto for the summit weekend.

As of Tuesday afternoon, passengers who tried to book a rail ticket to Toronto between June 25 and 27, inclusive, on the Via Rail website were getting the message: "Train not operating on the date requested. The next available date offered is Monday, June 28, 2010."

There will be no passenger train service passing through Toronto during the summit. However, passengers bound for Toronto from either side of the Windsor-Quebec City corridor will be able to take the train to Oshawa or Oakville, and from there, a free Via Rail shuttle will take them to one of the following locations:

• Scarborough Town Centre.
• Yorkdale Shopping Centre.
• Oakville train station.
• Oshawa train station.

But as of Tuesday afternoon, the website did not tell passengers that if they want to travel westbound to Toronto, they must enter Oshawa as their destination, instead of Toronto, when booking tickets. If they are travelling eastbound to Toronto, they must make Oakville their end point.

Via Rail spokeswoman Elizabeth Huart told CBC News that Via Rail will try to fix that problem, but she did not say when or how.

Because the trains will stop short of Toronto, the tickets will be slightly cheaper than usual. However, because of extremely low advance ticket sales, VIA said it will be operating on a weekend schedule on the weekdays leading up to the summit dates.

Passengers travelling beyond Toronto along the Windsor-Quebec City corridor will need to take a shuttle between Oshawa and Oakville in either direction before getting back on the train.

Via began restricting vehicle access to Toronto's Union Station on June 16 in preparation for the G20 summit.

Passenger train service will revert to normal on June 28 — unless there is a labour disruption. Currently, Via Rail is in negotiations with the Canadian Auto Workers, the union representing its employees, and a strike deadline has been set for June 27 at 11:59 p.m.