Croyez-vous que les choses évolueraient plus vite s’il y avait une sorte de coentreprise entre VIA et Amtrak pour l’exploitation de la ligne Adirondack ? Les joint-ventures et ententes de coopération formelles sont assez courantes pour la gestion de trains transfrontaliers en Europe et je me dis que les autorités canadiennes et le CN prendraient (peut-être) un peu plus au sérieux les projets et demandes d’une coentreprise canado-américaine.
De plus, on attend toujours une annonce concernant le très attendu centre de prédédouanement à la gare centrale, mais pour la douane canadienne, je rêve plutôt à une sorte de douane “volante”. Comme le train ne fait aucun arrêt du côté canadien entre la frontière et Saint-Lambert, ne serait-il pas plus efficace d’avoir un contrôle douanier à bord du train en marche ? Si c’était possible entre la Russie et la Finlande à bord du train Allegro (qui reliait autrefois Saint-Pétersbourg à Helsinki), j’ose croire que ce serait tout de même envisageable entre le Canada et les États-Unis.
Amtrak has finally made a contract with Adirondack Trailways for an Albany-Montreal twice-daily Thruway service to replace the suspended train service and supplement the reinstated Adirondack train.
Here is the bus service, followed by the connection:
Southbound:
bus departs Montréal at 8am (arrives to Albany at 2:40pm, hopefully earlier)
→ If you RUN: train departs Albany at 2:41pm (arrives to NYC at 5:17pm)
→ train departs Albany at 4:10pm (arrives to NYC at 6:42pm)
bus departs Montréal at 10:30pm (arrives to Albany at 4:20am)
→ train departs Albany at 5:10am (arrives to NYC at 7:30am)
How to book:
From Amtrak’s website, choose “MTC” for Montreal (Gare d’Autocars). That’s it!
Tickets cost more than the direct service, but at least there’s something. They also should’ve made the 8am bus from Montréal leave at 7:40am, so you could make the earlier train from Albany, and get to NYC faster IMO.
Full Adirondack service will resume September 10th. In Gare Centrale there are signs saying the offices for Amtrak are opening on the 10th as well. I really really hope the travel time will improve with the track repairs that have been done!
MONTREAL — Amtrak’s New York City-Montreal Adirondack is set to resume operation north of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., this Monday, Sept. 9, with a northbound trip. The first southbound train from Montreal will run the following day, Sept. 10.
However, Trains News Wire has learned that not all of the track upgrades have been completed. This is consistent with the joint statement Amtrak and the host railroad in Canada made on May 20, 2024. It says, “Amtrak will make a payment to CN, and CN has agreed to use the settlement payment to undertake track work on its Rouses Point Subdivision for Amtrak’s benefit. This track work will help mitigate, but not eliminate, heat slow order speed limits going forward. CN has been planning the work for several months and will endeavor to make the necessary work expeditiously and safely in 2024.”
I missed this, back in March 2024 Amtrak said that it was seeking $30 million in FY 2025 for a Cross-Border Service Improvement initiative. Included in this initiative is funding to support a number of projects, including improvements to the rail infrastructure along the route of the Adirondack (and future route of the Vermonter) within Quebec, and the design of Canada Border Services Agency arrival and US Customs and Border Protection preclearance facilities at Montréal Central Station.
I’m taking the train to NYC! And spoiler alert, it was canceled when I’m on it!
So first, I noticed the speed is quite improved, up to SJSR. We travelled around 80 km/h in Brossard and St-Hubert, and then 50 km/h in the fields (this used to be 30 km/h I believe). Once we reached SJSR, because of all the crossings, we went 15 km/h, slowly through the city. Once we were out, we traveled back to around 50 km/h.
At one point, we cross over a ditch that has a small bridge, and we go 5 km/h over it! It’s located around 45.17793, -73.30361, I hope it will be fixed at some point.
We then reached the border. The train I’m on is very empty, with some cars being completely empty, others with just 10 people. The crossing took us only 30 minutes, but because we have to stick to the schedule, we had to wait over an hour until the scheduled departure. I hope the pre-clearance facility is made at Gare Centrale so this could be fully removed.
We then got news, the whole trip was ending at the next stop, because the track washed out. So we arrived at Plattsburgh, skipped the stop to let a freight train pass, then reversed, and are currently waiting over an hour for a shuttle bus to pick us up and bring us to Albany.
But I’m going to NYC! So what will happen? I guess I’ll see…
I do wonder tho, all the stops on the way to the border, they could pick people up towards the usa so there’s still going to need some time for clearance
The only station in Quebec for Amtrak besides Gare Centrale is St-Lambert which serves like 5 people max for the Adirondack, most go downtown because the seats aren’t reserved so it’s better doing that
Here’s my update! So the bus picked us up from Plattsburgh around 4:30, just over an hour after we arrived at the station. Thankfully they drove the bus right onto the platform!
The bus got us to Albany 5 minutes before we were scheduled to leave, but we had to wait as people from other shuttle buses arrived. It was then said individually that we had to wait for the Amtrak train from Toronto, that was 2 hours and 40 minutes late, to arrive first, before we can get on our train.
They were able to fit an extra 57 people on those trains, but that meant anyone south of Albany would have to stand the 2 hour trip to NYC. I’ve had to do this before when I took the train as a kid, it’s really not great lol
After they boarded, finally, our train just boarded, about an hour and 40 minutes late. Finally going to continue to NYC…
Overall, this experience hasn’t been that bad! They provided a lot of drinks and snacks which was nice, I would’ve hoped audible announcements via speakers at Albany instead of talking one on one, but that might’ve been that way to make people less angry (because there’s a face to the voice).
thank you for your service though!