VIA Rail has backtracked on plans to stop servicing the Guildwood station in Scarborough.In a statement on its website, VIA says it plans to continue operating “in accordance with its winter schedule” beyond Oct. 25 as it continues to collect feedback from the community on its future plans.“VIA Rail recognizes the importance of reliable rail transportation that connects communities and serves passengers across Canada, including in the Scarborough community,” read the statement. “As part of this commitment, VIA Rail will remain in touch with community leaders to discuss the situation and assess feedback. In the meantime, Via Rail will operate in accordance with its winter schedule, continuing to service Guildwood Station.”The announcement came on the heels of a group of Scarborough MPs calling on VIA to reverse its decision and restore the Guildwood service, noting the process had been “opaque and lacking in transparency” without any public consultations or notice.“This decision is disconnected from the reality of how heavily this station is utilized,” read the statement from Scarborough Centre-Don Valley East MP Salma Zahid, Scarborough Southwest MP Doly Begum, Scarborough-Woburn MP Michael Coteau, and Scarborough Agincourt MP Jean Yip.“Scarborough residents deserve to know why a station used for tens of thousands of passenger trips each year are being removed from VIA Rail’s network. A faster journey for some passengers cannot be considered in isolation from the longer, more complicated journey VIA Rail is creating for others.”The MPs called for a meeting with VIA Rail interim president and CEO Mathieu Paquette to further discuss the issueRelated:‘Ludicrous’: VIA Rail stopping service at Guildwood, Malton stationsEarlier this month, VIA cited improved travel times as part of its decision to stop servicing the Guildwood and Malton stations. But Scarborough passengers, who were caught off guard by the announcement, claimed it would do the opposite for them, noting they would have to travel to either Union Station or Oshawa just to connect with the rail service.“I’m not happy at all,” said Scarborough-Guildwood councillor Paul Ainslie, who added that the new detour would be more than just a minor inconvenience for people in his ward.“When your options for VIA service are either Union station or Oshawa and you’re in Scarborough, you know that is not an option right?”“Part of their rationale was you can take a GO train either way, and I use VIA all the time to go to Ottawa for meetings. To say to me ‘we want you to take a train on another service, GO Transit, to go west, so you can go east,’ is ludicrous.”Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow also applauded Scarbourough residents for standing up to VIA’s proposed changes.“When Scarborough fights, Scarborough wins!” she said during a campaign speech on Saturday. “And we’ll keep fighting to make sure they don’t even try it again.” Files from Brandon Choghri were used in this report