NEW YORK — Following intense pressure from New York politicians, Amtrak has started selling tickets for travel on the New York-Montreal Adirondack, which will resume operation April 3 northbound and April 4 southbound.
Ticket sales began Monday, March 20. It is the last route to be reinstated following widespread suspensions that took place in March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The service resumption date was announced March 10 by U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand (both D-N.Y.) [see “Amtrak to resume Adirondack service …,” Trains News Wire, March 11, 2023].
A half-hour of running time has been added in both directions between Montreal Central Station and the first U.S. stop, Rouses Point, N.Y., compared with Amtrak schedules before the train was dropped (see below).
Deteriorating track conditions likely played a role in the complications Amtrak encountered in restoring service. Another 10 minutes was also added to what was previously an hour-long customs stop. The lengthened trip time also triggered a later southbound departure from Montreal to allow the U.S.-based operating crew enough federally mandated overnight rest if the northbound train is late.
Unlike the New York-Toronto Maple Leaf, VIA Rail Canada employees do not operate or staff the train, but the company does book tickets on its website.
A Canadian source tells News Wire that agreements have been made to improve track conditions, though a Canadian National spokesman over the weekend would only say, “CN and Amtrak have been in discussions to restore service between New York and Montreal [and we are] working closely with [Amtrak] to meet the partner’s desired timelines.”
While the press release says the Adirondack will have cafe service, Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams confirmed to News Wire without further explanation that business class is not being offered. It is also unclear whether a summer-only stop at Port Kent, N.Y., will be reinstated now that ferries have reportedly been scrapped that previously provided service from there across Lake Champlain to Burlington, Vt.
Amtrak and New York’s DOT declined to answer with any specificity News Wire questions during the past three years why the train was not at least short-turned at Plattsburgh, N. Y., to serve rural communities, or if any progress has been made in establishing customs pre-clearance at Montreal’s Central Station.
There is not adequate trackage to turn equipment at either Plattsburgh or Rouses Point, N.Y. However, if New York state and Amtrak had been willing to restart the Adirondack on a slightly modified schedule before Canadian border-crossing restrictions were relaxed, a push-pull operation might have been able to run with a cab car or second locomotive. A Thruway bus at one time connected Montreal with the state-sponsored Vermonter at St. Albans, Vt. Though not ideal compared to the train’s one-seat ride, buses generally clear customs at highway border crossings in about 15 minutes.
A sequestered pre-clearance facility at Pacific Central Station in Vancouver, British Columbia, has eliminated border delays on the Amtrak Cascades, and a treaty ratified by the U.S. and Canada in late 2016 apparently now permits that on the Adirondack’s route. Yet no progress has been reported in establishing that capability at Montreal.
“There is no easy way to cordon off an area at Montreal’s station, and it will be expensive,” explains Ed Courtemanch, the now-retired Amtrak senior director of service planning. He was tasked with exploring the feasibility of pre-clearance in 2017 before he left the company after more than 45 years. Reached by phone Monday, he tells News Wire that the initiative was driven then by Vermont’s desire to extend the Vermonter.
“If pre-clearance were established, we would have to run a sterile corridor — no stops in Canada, which is what the Cascades do. The question then, and probably now, is who would pay for it,” Courtemanch adds.
The Adirondack’s sole intermediate stop in Canada is at St. Lambert, a suburban station across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal, but eliminating what is now more than an hour’s border pause would make the service more attractive.
The lawmakers’ press statements praised the service reinstatement, with Gillibrand noting, “the line’s years-long closure has been economically harmful to many communities along its route.”
Amtrak President Roger Harris acknowledged “the strong support and advocacy of Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, Congresswoman [Elise] Stefanik [R-NY] and our partners at NYSDOT, VIA Rail, and the Federal Railroad Administration; we’re proud to restore service to one of the most popular trains in the Northeast.”
Share this article
