NEW YORK — Amtrak’s planned six-week outage of Adirondack service north of Saratoga Springs to Montreal, originally slated to last through June 29, will now apparently stretch into the second week of September.
The news was originally reported by the Adirondack Explorer, based on Amtrak booking cancellations and a letter obtained by the non-profit news site.
The train continues to operate between New York City and Saratoga Springs, but six other stations in New York State, as well as Montreal, will now be without Amtrak service for virtually the entire summer travel season. It will be the second straight summer of major service disruptions; trains were suspended on the same portion of the route for 79 days last summer because of heat-related speed restrictions in Canada that began June 24.
As with the original outage, Amtrak’s website does not currently reflect the service disruption on its “Service Alerts & Notices” page, or on the “Destinations” page for the Adirondack. Attempts to book tickets between New York and Montreal on the website on several random dates in July and August returned a message: “We do not have any services between the cities entered on the date(s) you selected. Please try different date(s)” — with no other explanation.
However, an attempt to book in the first week in September brought a pop-up window with the message, “No trains or buses are scheduled on the travel date you selected. Next travel date: Mon., September 9. Continue to see trips on the next available date or Cancel to start a new search.”
The original 41-day suspension, which began May 20, was first explained by Amtrak as being “due to anticipated track work” [see “Amtrak to be cancelled in northern New York State, Canada for more than a month …,” Trains News Wire, May 9, 2024]. Subsequently, Amtrak and Canadian National announced they had reached agreement on track maintenance in Canada to address last year’s speed restrictions [see “Amtrak, CN reach agreement on track work …,” News Wire, May 17, 2024]. That announcement did include the proviso that “Adirondack service may be modified on a short-term basis in the coming weeks to ensure completion of the track work.”
In response to a News Wire request for more information, Amtrak said in a statement on Monday, June 10, that it “will be extending the modification of Adirondack service between New York City and Saratoga Springs through Sunday, September 8 as CN continues to progress track work on their line in Canada. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience.”
Not surprisingly, news of the extended loss of service did not go over well in Northern New York.
“All we can do is accept this comedy of mismanagement by Amtrak and hope that this time the early September target for resolution is real,” North Country Chamber of Commerce President Garry Douglas told the Adirondack Explorer. “Tourists, students and others keep showing they’re ready to return to the service and miss it, but it’s like Charlie Brown with Lucy and the football. And so we lose another summer, which clearly didn’t need to happen.”
— Updated June 10 at 9:50 a.m. CT with Amtrak statement.
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