This October, I'll likely be traveling from Chicago to Rochester - and then at some point taking a separate leg from Rochester to NYC for sightseeing.
Obviously I'd be coming into Rochester on the LSL, but I see that ROC-NYP is a bit faster if I take the Maple Leaf or Empire Service.
Any other reasons to favor one line over the others? Is the equipment basically the same, as far as the coach seating and cafe car?
At heart, the Maple Leaf is an Empire Service train. Although it has some Amfleet 2 coaches with more legroom than Amfleet 1s on the other Empire Service trains, as the LSL does.
All Empire Service trains that run west of Albany have Amcafe food service.
The LSL does not have cafe service between Albany and New York. Its Amcafe goes to Boston.
The Empire Service trains west of Albany, including the Leaf, carry half Business Class, half table seating Amcafes. The LSL now carries a full Amcafe as far as Albany, so there are more tables that may be available to passengers over and above those homesteaded by the crew.
The LSL is a bit faster because it makes fewer stops.
I would base my decision upon the schedules and how they work with my other travel plans, whether the LSL, Leaf, or other Empire Service trains, not amenities onboard.
I've taken both the Leaf and the LSL into New York. For me, it is a function of changing trains from the West Coast at Chicago versus Toronto. Personally, I like the earlier arrival into New York of the LSL. I take the Maple Leaf because I prefer the Canadian over the Empire Builder.
