K
Kirsten
Guest
I am hoping to travel from Chicago to either Toronto or Montreal. When I look at booking tickets, I can't see how to do it. I've traveled on Amtrak before, just not crossing the border.
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The Adirondack (train 69) travels from NYP to Montreal. The Maple Leaf (train 63) travels from NYP to Toronto.
It appears if you wish to travel from Chicago to Montreal, without going to NYC, you could take train 48 from CHI to either SDY or ALB and spend the night and the next day take train 69 to Montreal.
To get to Toronto, the easiest way seems to be to take train 48 from CHI to BUF, arriving around 8:46am (if on time) and then take train 63 at 3:36pm (if on time), the same day to Toronto. (on line CHI-TWO will show this option).
It appears if you wish to travel from Chicago to Montreal, without going to NYC, you could take train 48 from CHI to either SDY or ALB and spend the night and the next day take train 69 to Montreal.
To get to Toronto, the easiest way seems to be to take train 48 from CHI to BUF, arriving around 8:46am (if on time) and then take train 63 at 3:36pm (if on time), the same day to Toronto. (on line CHI-TWO will show this option).
You can get to Toronto by taking the Lakeshore Limited to Buffalo Depew and transferring to the Maple Leaf. Long layover at Buffalo Depew. You can't get to Montreal without an overnight layover at Schenectady or points east.
The Toronto Amtrak station code is TWO.
There apparently is some kind of glitch in the reservation system for CHI to Toronto or Canadian points on the Maple Leaf. When I did a dummy reservation, it won't do it and shows 48 as "cancelled". When I do Chicago-Albany, the LSL shows up fine. When I do Chicago-Niagara Falls, NY, it offers the LSL-Maple Leaf connection just fine. But if I do Chicago-Niagara Falls, ON, it again shows the Lakeshore Limited as "cancelled". It is clearly a bug, as the Lakeshore is not "cancelled" as long as you are not going to Canada. Call reservations.
The Toronto Amtrak station code is TWO.
There apparently is some kind of glitch in the reservation system for CHI to Toronto or Canadian points on the Maple Leaf. When I did a dummy reservation, it won't do it and shows 48 as "cancelled". When I do Chicago-Albany, the LSL shows up fine. When I do Chicago-Niagara Falls, NY, it offers the LSL-Maple Leaf connection just fine. But if I do Chicago-Niagara Falls, ON, it again shows the Lakeshore Limited as "cancelled". It is clearly a bug, as the Lakeshore is not "cancelled" as long as you are not going to Canada. Call reservations.
ehbowen
Engineer
There used to be a joint Amtrak/VIA service through Michigan which went from Chicago direct to Toronto via Port Huron (the International). Unfortunately, it was sacrificed due to "security concerns" (i.e., TSA wanted more time to harass travelers) following 9/11.
It also wasn't well known outside of the hard-core Amtrak circle. I remember seeing a newspaper article on the last run of the train. One man was taking it for the first (and only) time; he apparently traveled to/from Toronto regularly and he said, "If I had known this train existed, I would have been taking it all the time up until now!"
With that said, if you can make your own arrangements for crossing the border at either Port Huron or Detroit, you may wish to consider continuing your trip from there by VIA.
It also wasn't well known outside of the hard-core Amtrak circle. I remember seeing a newspaper article on the last run of the train. One man was taking it for the first (and only) time; he apparently traveled to/from Toronto regularly and he said, "If I had known this train existed, I would have been taking it all the time up until now!"
With that said, if you can make your own arrangements for crossing the border at either Port Huron or Detroit, you may wish to consider continuing your trip from there by VIA.
K
Kirsten
Guest
K
Kirsten
Guest
Thanks for all the great replies! I appreciate it.
If you don't feel like the long layover in Depew (Buffalo) with absolutely nothing to do in the immediate area, you might consider a taxi/Uber to Buffalo airport - 5 minutes away - to connect with the bus service that connects that airport with the Toronto airport (most recently run by Megabus). I haven't looked into it in awhile, but this route also used to serve the Amtrak Depew station and downtown Toronto. I believe the latest rendition only connects the airports.
I've thought about trying this, not all the way from Chicago but that would work as an origin. Detrain in downtown Detroit. and either spend the night there or in Windsor. Get Uber/Lyft or take the QLine to the Renaissance Center, stay overnight in area or if not, board tunnel bus and then need transportation to VIA station, either from Windsor hotel or from bus stop depending on how the trip is planned.
tim49424
Engineer
I did read an article on Facebook about studies being done to extend the Wolverine to Toronto. I've posted it here, however, there was supposed to be more coverage on WOOD-TV 8's 5 PM broadcast. Of course, this wouldn't be helpful to the OP, as this is just being studied and could take years.
mlanoue
Service Attendant
The International was a long ride, but, man, it was cheap and easy. I can't believe what a hassle it is to get from CHI to TWO by train now. It requires a lot of waiting or switching to various busses or taxis. It's the kind of thing I don't mind doing, personally, but I can't sell my wife on it.
If they just had a connecting Thruway bus from Detroit or Dearborn to Windsor it would solve a lot of the hassle.
dogbert617
OBS Chief
That's sad. I guess you still as of today, have to find a cab/Uber/Lyft willing to transport you between Detroit and Windsor, or vice versa if you don't have a car?
Correct, this was my understanding as of now the best way to travel from Chicago to Toronto, that you'd connect at Buffalo Depew(east side of Buffalo, and not at Buffalo's downtown station) between both the Lake Shore and Maple Leaf. And that you could do this as a same day connection between both trains, in both directions(going towards Toronto, or from Toronto going back to Chicago via transferring at Buf.-Depew, or if you wanted to somewhere else like Rochester). Going east from Chicago and connecting at Buffalo-Depew between #48 and #63 that connection was ONLY missed 2 times ever 488 connections between 1/1/18 and 8/20/19( https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/a...f6=1&df7=1&buffer_mins=5&sort_dir=DESC&dfon=1 ), while heading west from Toronto to Chicago and connecting at Buffalo-Depew(where there's a definite longer layover between both trains), the connection there has NEVER been missed between 1/1/18 and 8/20/19. Going east from Chicago to Toronto IF you chose to do your connection between both trains in Rochester instead(just for curiosity purposes, I looked up this info, again between 1/1/18 and 8/20/19), the missed connection rate was 3%( https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/a...f6=1&df7=1&buffer_mins=5&sort_dir=DESC&dfon=1 ).
For travel from Chicago to Montreal, yes you'd have to get off the Lake Shore going east and stay overnight in any of the cities/towns/suburbs between Schenectady and New York City(excluding Yonkers, as Lake Shore does NOT stop there, and just the Adirondack train does), and then ride north on the Adirondack the next day. Going back, you would take Adirondack south from Montreal, and then transfer at either Schenectady or Albany-Rensselaer, where yes you can transfer between both trains on the same day if you want to. And if you're wondering I looked it up and did a pretend booking attempt on Amtrak's website, and it is INDEED a guaranteed connection at Schenectady. I guess one could do this transfer from Albany-Rensslaer too, IF(and this is a big if!) Adirondack southbound train #68 was running on time, or VERY close to on time? Only 1 connection at Schenectady between #68 and #49 was missed between 1/1/18 and 8/20/19( https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/a...f6=1&df7=1&buffer_mins=5&sort_dir=DESC&dfon=1 ), while at Albany-Rensselaer there were 7 missed connections between 1/1/18 and 8/20/19, or 1%( https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/a...f6=1&df7=1&buffer_mins=5&sort_dir=DESC&dfon=1 ).
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A sign-of-the-times is that not all cab/Uber/Lyft drivers have their own documentation to cross the border. A friend and I learned this the hard way a few years ago when trying to go from Windsor to Detroit for the annual car show. Without luggage the Tunnel Bus is definitely the way to go.
After my recent trip I have to say, in terms of using Uber, it's the luck of the draw. (Lyft not available in Windsor yet). You don't know when they will be available, hence the luck factor (could try scheduling). The Uber driver we met told us he goes across the border many times daily.
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