Henry Kisor
Service Attendant
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Has the Adirondack returned to its Toronto run? I checked this morning on the Amtrak website and was able to "book" a ticket July 20 from Toronto to Albany. Or is the Amtrak site hinky?
Adirondack June '23 cancellation, and September restoration, state of Upstate NY service
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No, because the Adirondack never went to Toronto. It went to Montreal.
You are thinking of the Maple Leaf which was goes by a different route and was not cancelled.
Henry Kisor
Service Attendant
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More fool me. Yes, the Maple Leaf. Thanks for the correction.
Maple Leaf is running normally. While part of CN's Grimsby Sub also is very lightly trafficked by CN's own freights, it also hosts GO Transit/Metrolinx trains to Niagara Falls, ON as well as the Maple Leaf, so is maintained to reasonable standards, whoever pays for that. It isn't in the same forlorn position as the Rouses Point Sub.
And I'll add that one of Amtrak's reasons for existence is to serve sparsely settled areas with few transportation options.
Amtrak ridership and population are seldom correlated.
The situation has come to the attention of Montreal tourism officials.
https://montrealgazette.com/news/lo...york-very-disappointing-for-tourisme-montreal
https://montrealgazette.com/news/lo...york-very-disappointing-for-tourisme-montreal
Not much mention of them pressing the province itself providing funding or taking action.
Beating of chests and cries of "Woe! Woe!". Still seems to look at some US entity to provide relief.
Pressure from Quebecois is what the Adirondack needs.
From the article, they expect 2 Million Americans to visit Montreal this year. On average 60,000 of them came by the Adirondack when it was running. That is about 3 percent of the visitors. Small but not insignificant.
Quebecois can lament now, but do understand the Adirondack carried 3 bus loads of passengers per day and they will quickly get over it. They love it when Americans go there and spend money even if we don't speak French, but what passes for rail planning, closed-minded tunnel vision on spending C$7 Billion on that REM boondoggle to the South Shore, no longer any interest in running an EXO commuter train to St Jean via the Rouses Pt sub, kicked EXO5 and EXO6 heavy rail out of the Mt Royal tunnel, forever forgoing the possibility of running domestic VIA Rail intercity trains through it, and Ottawa's disinterest in anything except the actual corridor east of Toronto - don't except a dime from Quebec or Ottawa to preserve a train from New York (or Vermont). They were fine with truncating their own EXO5 Mascouche line into a shuttle or roundabout tour past St Luc in order to build beloved REM..
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fdaley
OBS Chief
Yeah, I fear the most you could get out of the Quebec transportation officials would be a highway sign directing visitors to the new REM terminal, which of course is situated at the junction of two superhighways. Clearly their concept is that everyone will transfer to cars and some buses to reach any destinations south of there. That will be great for promoting sprawling suburban development at every highway exit beyond on the South Shore -- and creating lots more traffic to navigate for anyone coming from south of the border.
Maverickstation
Lead Service Attendant
When you visit the Amtrak website, it has the Adirondack listed as it's featured service of the Northeast.
Get it together already.
Ken
https://www.amtrak.com/regions/northeast.html
No mention of the routes suspension.Get it together already.
Ken
The Adirondack and Maple Leaf showed in the "Routes" section all through their multi-year COVID suspensions, so I wouldn't expect anything else. "Routes" never reflects service suspensions as far as I can tell.
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ESPA's Communications Director Bruce Becker talked with Albany News 10 regarding the logistical challenges hindering the extension of the Adirondack service from operating north of Saratoga.
https://www.news10.com/news/adirondack-line-cant-turn-around-north-of-saratoga-springs/
https://www.news10.com/news/adirondack-line-cant-turn-around-north-of-saratoga-springs/
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Plattsburgh and intermediate stops do not justify a 2nd train set and train miles without Montreal. Some of the loading numbers at those stations are also inflated since they include travel to Montreal. All too many are on Facebook complaining about Plattsburgh as though it were as popular as Burlington. It is nowhere close. SUNY college is only an issue on weekends.
I think Amtrak should have flipped the schedule 12 hours for the summer to run overnight and avoid high temperatures, assuming slow orders get lifted then. That is how VIA Rail got around that situation with the northern Quebec trains.
I don't see the situation being resolved with CN until 2025, if ever. Amtrak has watched the situation deteriorate since before the pandemic, but said and did absolutely nothing. Focus should be on rerouting on CP to Lucien L'Allier and people need to stop whining about it's lack of amenities or else ride Trailways and Greyhound indefinitely. I was there last week. It is fine with an air conditioned waiting room with more sturdy seats than at the Central Station gate. Central Station has not many plastic seats to begin with and a third of them have been broken and ripped out. It would be nice to have platform canopy, but it is also good not to deal with stairs. Personnel at Central Station limit use of the down escalator to only those requiring such assistance which is quite annoying.
EXO can be contracted to haul the train back to Montreal West for servicing. The station has 2 EXO ticket agents on weekdays who can be given Amtrak computer access and training to do simple ticket transactions. It otherwise a rather sleepy terminal.
I think Amtrak should have flipped the schedule 12 hours for the summer to run overnight and avoid high temperatures, assuming slow orders get lifted then. That is how VIA Rail got around that situation with the northern Quebec trains.
I don't see the situation being resolved with CN until 2025, if ever. Amtrak has watched the situation deteriorate since before the pandemic, but said and did absolutely nothing. Focus should be on rerouting on CP to Lucien L'Allier and people need to stop whining about it's lack of amenities or else ride Trailways and Greyhound indefinitely. I was there last week. It is fine with an air conditioned waiting room with more sturdy seats than at the Central Station gate. Central Station has not many plastic seats to begin with and a third of them have been broken and ripped out. It would be nice to have platform canopy, but it is also good not to deal with stairs. Personnel at Central Station limit use of the down escalator to only those requiring such assistance which is quite annoying.
EXO can be contracted to haul the train back to Montreal West for servicing. The station has 2 EXO ticket agents on weekdays who can be given Amtrak computer access and training to do simple ticket transactions. It otherwise a rather sleepy terminal.
glensfallsse
Service Attendant
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2017
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Pressure to resume comes in many forms. Even if it’s one guy in the station, working the display board.
fdaley
OBS Chief
Amtrak's reservation system continues to show the Adirondack available for booking to points north of Saratoga Springs beginning Sept. 11 northbound and Sept. 12 southbound. That's less than two weeks away, though I suppose it still might be that they just haven't gotten around to canceling those departures yet.
The weather been much cooler so the heat restrictions should have been lifted by now. So the crews can run at speed and not have to be relieved, which I never read but assumed was the reason.
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slasher-fun
Service Attendant
Sep 11/12 resumption not quite confirmed yet, but... Amtrak indicates Adirondack line will soon restart
"...we urgently need for Amtrak and CN Rail to define the track improvements needed and how and when they will be undertaken so we can hopefully avoid future summer stoppages.”
Sounds like absolutely nothing has been done to either fund repairing CN tracks or trying to reroute onto CP, so zero progress since June, except Amtrak and DOT pointing fingers and playing victim. The heat restrictions have been there since 2019, albeit at 20 MPH. This year's 10MPH should have been no surprise, especailly after numerous qualification runs in the interim.
Might as well make your next summer's Trailways Montreal reservations now.
Sounds like absolutely nothing has been done to either fund repairing CN tracks or trying to reroute onto CP, so zero progress since June, except Amtrak and DOT pointing fingers and playing victim. The heat restrictions have been there since 2019, albeit at 20 MPH. This year's 10MPH should have been no surprise, especailly after numerous qualification runs in the interim.
Might as well make your next summer's Trailways Montreal reservations now.
fdaley
OBS Chief
So, the first train did go north to Montreal on Monday. For some reason, both it and the Maple Leaf didn't get out of NYP until after noon, with the Adirondack reaching Montreal just before 2 a.m. The first southbound left Montreal on Tuesday about an hour late.
Spuyten Duyvil bridge stuck until Noon. Maple Leaf left at 12:06pm. Adirondack had "mechanical problems" and left at 2:33pm. Friday's Maple Leaf lost 3 hours between Penn Station and Yonkers.
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