Adirondack June '23 cancellation, and September restoration, state of Upstate NY service

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
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?
 
Henry Kisor said:
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?
Click to expand...
You are thinking of the Maple Leaf which was goes by a different route and was not cancelled.
 
Henry Kisor said:
More fool me. Yes, the Maple Leaf. Thanks for the correction.
Click to expand...
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.
 
AmtrakMaineiac said:
The problem with the argument that service need not be expanded in a shrinking population area is that rail often has only a tiny percentage of overall trips so better service could convert some car and even air trips to rail. Is the service ever advertised or is it a well kept secret like much Amtrak service?
Click to expand...
And I'll add that one of Amtrak's reasons for existence is to serve sparsely settled areas with few transportation options.
 
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..
 
Last edited:
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 said:
When you visit the Amtrak website, it has the Adirondack listed as it's featured service of the Northeast.

https://www.amtrak.com/regions/northeast.html​

No mention of the routes suspension.

Get it together already.

Ken
Click to expand...
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.
 
Last edited:
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.
 
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.
 
"...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.
 
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.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top