Loved the Montrealer back in the day - when an overnight train that is. Allowed a whole day to get work done in NYC, then board in late evening to Vermont, ready for skiing or winter activities for the weekend, then return for full day work on Monday. Train got in to NYC at 7:30 am, even in later years its arrival was before 8 am. But by time it ended, nearly 11 am arrival into Washington DC. Many New Englanders and Canadians would take this route to get to/from Florida due to same day connection, as opposed to the day-time Adirondack. Neither can be done anymore.
Extending the current day-time Vermonter (a ghost of the Montrealer per say) to Montreal would continue to increase patronage for this train. It's still a very popular train unto itself. I remember when the Vermonter was first launched and crew alike thought the train would never last. It's now nearly 24 years later and still running! I don't see an extension being done to Montreal till they get the C&I customs built into Central Station at Montreal - for both the Adirondack and extended Vermonter. The bus connection used to leave as early as 5 am to make the nearly 6:30 am connection with the Vermonter at St. Albans. Some time has been shaved off with the recent re-route of the Vermonter down the Knowledge Corridor.
Northbound:
Current Departure from Washington DC - 7:55 am
Current Arrival at St. Albans - 8:50 pm
When Extended to Montreal, potential Departure from Washington DC - 7:15 am
When Extended to Montreal, potential Arrival at Montreal - 10:15 pm
(customs done in Montreal, allowing 2 hours for train time St. Albans to Montreal)
Southbound
Leave Montreal earlier at 7:15 am. People can clear customs between 6 am and 7 am, if not earlier. Vermonter gets into Washington DC around 10:10 pm as it is. I don't think they'll want to do any later arrival into Washington DC.
I think some tightening up in the schedule could be done from Greenfield to Springfield, and on down to New Haven. We were running late into Springfield and got in/out with 10 minutes at the station itself and that nearly put us back on schedule. Totally back on schedule after the engine change in New Haven.
Historically - and all the way back to the PRR days - this train ran from Washington DC to Montreal. Truncating to New York could work, but there are still a good amount of through passengers ALL THE WAY to Washington DC! It would be nice to have a Viewliner Diner on this route - just to be used as a lounge of sorts since the route is very scenic north of New Haven at least! One used to be able to get a special "Vermonter Box Lunch" from a vendor out of Burlington. Was delivered to the train daily. They were great and best item I probably ever got from an Amtrak cafe car.
