Amtrak expected to resume Montreal-New York City train in the spring
The service was suspended in March 2020 as borders began closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Published Dec 15, 2022
The departure board at Penn Station in New York City. Reviving service with Montreal would be a shot in the arm for the tourism industry. Photo by Spencer Platt /GETTY
Next stop, Penn Station?
The Adirondack line — a popular train route linking Montreal and New York City — will reopen in 2023, probably in the spring, U.S. officials say.
Amtrak suspended daily service between Montreal’s Central Station and Manhattan’s Penn Station in March 2020 as borders closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has met with Amtrak leaders and has been assured it will restart in the spring,” Garry Douglas, CEO of the North Country Chamber of Commerce, told the Montreal Gazette on Wednesday.
Douglas, whose organization is based in Plattsburgh, N.Y., described the re-establishment of the line as “yet another overdue step toward normalizing cross-border travel that was so interrupted by the pandemic.”
Reviving the train would be a shot in the arm for Montreal’s tourism industry, battered by a drop in cross-border travel.
Citing U.S. reports of a 2023 reopening, U.S. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik is pressing Amtrak for a firm timeline, complaining in a recent letter to the railway about its “continued ambiguity.”
U.S. officials are also demanding Amtrak launch a marketing campaign to entice travellers and rebuild ridership.
Running along Lake Champlain and the Hudson River, the Adirondack was once described as one of the top 10 most scenic rail trips in the world by National Geographic Traveler magazine.
The train is popular with Montrealers and New Yorkers, with 117,000 passengers taking the trip in 2019, a five-per-cent jump from the previous year.
Aside from tourists travelling between Montreal, Albany and New York City, the train is also used by students who attend Upstate New York colleges, as well as by visitors to the Adirondacks, said Douglas.
Amtrak has already revived its two other trains that serve Canada. The Maple Leaf line, between Toronto and New York City, resumed in June. The Cascades service — linking Vancouver with Oregon and Washington — was revived in September.
“Amtrak is committed to restoring service of the Adirondack between New York City and Montreal and all stops in between as soon as possible,” said spokesperson Jason Abrams. But he said service will not return until at least the spring
The railway is actively hiring and training onboard and mechanical employees to work on the Adirondack, he added.
The delay in resurrecting the Montreal train is due to several complications, officials said.
They include the need for Amtrak to recertify lines and personnel, and finalize arrangements with U.S. and Canadian border agencies, Central Station, and Canadian National and Canadian Pacific, which own some of the tracks used by the Adirondack.
Though scenic, the Adirondack’s travel time is long. The 600-kilometre voyage takes 10 or more hours — about four more than a car trip.
Douglas said improvements are being pursued in rail speeds between Albany and New York, and some are pushing for track improvements between the Canada-U. S. border and Montreal. He noted the stretch through Adirondack Park can’t be sped up due to the natural environment.
For more than a decade, officials on both sides of the border have discussed the idea of eliminating the requirement that the Adirondack stop at the U.S. border, a process that slows down the trip. Instead, customs and immigration could be handled in Montreal.
In March, the Quebec government said it would contribute $1 million to a feasibility study and plans to add customs centres at Central Station. It said the move could shave an hour or two from the Adirondack travel time.
Douglas said once the Adirondack resumes, “we will restart advocacy for eventual preclearance of Amtrak passengers in Montreal which can eliminate or reduce the stoppage at the border.”
The U.S.-Canada Pre-Clearance Agreement, brought into force in Canada and the U.S. in 2019, “sets the stage for such provisions, as already done at airports, and this would directly speed the overall trip,” Douglas added.
A new Montreal-Boston overnight train is also being discussed.
This summer, Canadian and American elected officials and business people met to hash out the proposal.
It would be a two-stage project — first Montreal-Sherbrooke, then a link to Boston, via Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, including a stop at Old Orchard Beach, a popular beach destination for Quebecers.