Montreal to NYC customs?

[jiml]

Yes, you walk your bags through Customs which is at one end of the station. Once cleared you go outside and circle around to the center of the station and wait inside for about an hour or so before re-boarding. Onboard Customs was in place until a few years ago. Presumably, the introduction of a baggage scanner in the station is the reason they now make everyone leave the train.

This was the event that ended onboard checks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Via_Rail_Canada_terrorism_plot

 

[jis]

The baggage scanners aren't portable, either.

Baggage is seldom scanned even at airports in the US at Customs checkposts. Only those selected for special attention get that treatment which is a very small percentage of the people crossing the border. They can always be given the "get off the train for further inspection" selectively. That is what is done at many borders in the rest of the world, and seemed to have worked fine even while crossing the iron curtain back in the days.

That is not to say that the "get off the train for inspection" protocol is unheard of elsewhere. The Singapore - Malaysia border at Johore Bahru used to be like that. I don't know what it is like now. The Malaysia to Thailand border at Padang Besar is still like that, but the inspection by both sides is done at the same station. India to Bangladesh at Gede/Darshana used to be like that but now the inspection is done at the origin and destination - Kolkata (Chitpur) and Dhaka (Cantonment), with no inspection at the border. The Bangladesh inspection for Kolkata to Khulna service is at the border at Benapole in Bangladesh involving getting off the train. The Indian inspection is at Kolkata (origin/destination) of the train. Finland to Russia inspection is at the border (Vanaikkala - Finland and Vyborg - Russia) but onboard the train, like the Adirondack.