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

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Nick Farr said:
With a few exceptions, Americans are treated like an inconvenience. The nicest people I've encountered were the police after my partner's purse was stolen.
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I travel to Montreal several times per year - and I don't speak more than the most rudimentary French. I will be the first to admit that the Quebecois are extremely defensive of their language and culture, but I have been graciously welcomed by the friends that I have made there. That said, if I had my purse/wallet stolen, it would not be high on my list of cities to return to.
 
Exvalley said:
Our favorite news outlet, Business Insider, is at it again. They just posted all sorts of tips and advice on how to ride the Adirondack to Montreal:
https://www.insider.com/amtrak-adirondack-train-nyc-montreal-what-to-know-before-booking-2023-7
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Well if the Adirondack ever comes back for real, this is a good article for first-time riders.

I did get a chuckle out of imagining Lake Champlain zipping by the window—when I took the Adirondack, the lake looked pretty still to me. Even the train was moving faster than the lake!😁
 
Sorry you had a bad experience. I've always found Montrealers to be among the friendliest people on earth. I've been there 10 times totaling 15 weeks over a period of 12 years.
Nick Farr said:
Go to Montreal sometime. It'll make you grateful for Amtrak's stellar customer service by comparison.

With a few exceptions, Americans are treated like an inconvenience. The nicest people I've encountered were the police after my partner's purse was stolen.
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Nick Farr said:
Go to Montreal sometime. It'll make you grateful for Amtrak's stellar customer service by comparison.

With a few exceptions, Americans are treated like an inconvenience.
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I'm really surprised about this. In typical French fashion, customer service can be a bit "basic" but that applies equally to everyone including French-speaking customers. Americans used to be seen as "cash cows" in Montreal specifically and in my early days of business travel there we were advised to carry and flash US cash to receive better service in restaurants and bars. (At the time there was a lot of hostility towards uni-lingual English Canadians.) In the past 40 years though, since the spectre of separation has faded, Montreal service seems to be balanced at slightly below average (which can be said of a lot of places more recently).
 
Considering all, it would seem that a more immediate solution may to be offload passengers at Plattsburgh and bus them to Montreal - faster than 10 mph and slow orders on the rail.

Second that may be to bring the Adirondack onto CP rail and the EXO station in Montreal.

All still needs negotiating, but the CN track issue may be a bit dire.

It’s been reported that there is potentially a storage track just south of Plattsburgh possibly complete - with a wye. But a storage track would be the most optimal in the Plattsburgh area.

Supposedly Amtrak is going to “try” and operate the Adirondack at least to Saratoga…..in weeks ahead (not sure when the official start would be).

Perhaps a better solution to all this is also in the works - who knows. But there had to have been a reason as to why Amtrak was previously running test runs on CP rail to Montreal pre-2017 or so….Did they know this was coming and everyone just turned a blind eye? Hoping for the best as the Adirondack would carry at least 2 cars full of Montreal bound passengers across the border daily, and vice versa. Sometimes more.….
 
I think we have two irresponsible bureaucracies, Amtrak and State DOT, each regarding it as the other's responsibility, and it all fell through between the cracks while they all slept, then go on their shocked routine to impress us while totally unprepared to deal with the rock of reality that hit them in the face. Classical dog ate my homework and they both deserve an F.

Amtrak regards itself as merely a state contractor of a PRIAA train and DOT with it's staff of 2 as little more the bookkeepers to write Amtrak checks upon demand.

Perhaps all of State DOT intercity rail responsibilities and funding be transferred to new entity within MTA. They at least have the institutional knowledge to run passenger trains and keep them running. DOT and MTA are also overseen by different legislative committees.
 
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JP1822 said:
Considering all, it would seem that a more immediate solution may to be offload passengers at Plattsburgh and bus them to Montreal - faster than 10 mph and slow orders on the rail.
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Until a long term solution can be made, this might be the best way to go.
Perhaps even bring the train to Rouses Point, have the passengers disembark, go thru customs, and then board the Thruway bus to Montreal, or vice versa…
 
railiner said:
Until a long term solution can be made, this might be the best way to go.
Perhaps even bring the train to Rouses Point, have the passengers disembark, go thru customs, and then board the Thruway bus to Montreal, or vice versa…
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No customs at Rouses Point when heading to Canada. It is at Lacolle. Better to do it at one of the road checkpoints on the bus’ way to Montreal.
 
Nick Farr said:
Go to Montreal sometime. It'll make you grateful for Amtrak's stellar customer service by comparison.

With a few exceptions, Americans are treated like an inconvenience. The nicest people I've encountered were the police after my partner's purse was stolen.
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I’ve been to Montreal a number of times and have always enjoyed it and found the people friendly. But since you mentioned it, the Central Station VIA personnel were a bit snarly.
 
Nick Farr said:
Go to Montreal sometime. It'll make you grateful for Amtrak's stellar customer service by comparison.
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???

I've been going for years. I find the service especially considering my poor French language skills to be pretty stellar. Outside of the city I've experienced the occasional attempt from older rural folks to coerce you into speaking French with an attitude but even then I didn't find it too common. A few jokes about Toronto and how youre visiting from NY etc. . .and everyone is happy again.

Keep in mind Montreal is a city that overwhelmingy voted against Legault and his language crackdown crusade. As a cosmopolitan city they have a lot more to lose and historically have always had several English speaking institutions and industries that attract global talent.

In the streets today people fluidly switch between eng/fr even amongst their own French speaking peers.
 
jis said:
No customs at Rouses Point when heading to Canada. It is at Lacolle. Better to do it at one of the road checkpoints on the bus’ way to Montreal.
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I was just thinking that if it were going to be a long term operation, it might be nice to have the transfer bus - train , and customs inspection at the same place, to only have to get off/on once. Perhaps they could put some kind of station right at the border, to be used both ways…l🤔
 
railiner said:
I was just thinking that if it were going to be a long term operation, it might be nice to have the transfer bus - train , and customs inspection at the same place, to only have to get off/on once. Perhaps they could put some kind of station right at the border, to be used both ways…l🤔
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If they switch to buses, they'll just do it at the standard highway Ports of Entry at Rouses Point and Lacolle on either side of the border. They're already there and staffed on a major highway (I 87/A15). There is no reason for CBSA and CBP to open new facilities for buses when they already have facilities that routinely handle buses right there.

A bus is a bus is a bus. It makes no difference whether it is Amtrak/Amtrak charter or any other operator. CBP and CBSA are not going to staff a separate facility for one bus operator. Amtrak buses aren't special.
 
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Lived in Vermont for 16 years and had Montreal as a second home. I speak some French and lived through the P.Q. pining for independence. The attitude changed when they realized I was American and not an Anglophone. That being said, Via trips out of Gare Central were always great as was the bi-lingual greeting in many shops and hotels of "Hi, Bonjour". Go, you'll love it and the food as well.
 
Friendly as they are, they are not going to paying a dime to get the Adirondack rerouted. While they are blowing C$7 Billion on REM - they're done.

As for the federal Transport Canada, don't matter if there is a Conservative or Liberal PM, lucky VIA Rail exists at all, and they wish outside of the Quebec - Windsor, it would just go away.
 
Maybe this should be spun off to another thread about Tourism in French Canada. It's been a few years, but once when I went to buy something in a department store in Montreal, I started with the "Parlez vous Anglais?" business, and the store clerk interrupted me politely in English with an accent that suggested he was an Anglophone. There are a lot of them in Montreal. The funny thin is that I got on a bus in Quebec City once and started asking the driver if he spoke English, and he also answered back in English in a strong Anglophone accent.
 
Just-Thinking-51 said:
The rails don’t lose the heat as fast as the air temperature. It’s a bit more of peak temperature, with the conditions of the rails. CN is playing it a bit harsh and use safety as their excuse for it. Hard to fight the 300lb gorilla.
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Yeah, it's their ball and their bat. They can take it and go home, which they did.
 
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