Vehicle crashes at Rainbow Bridge at US/Canada border (11-22-23)

[AmtrakBlue]

And of course that equipment becomes a VIA Rail train that serves passengers from Niagra Falls - Toronto who weren't even going to be involved with anything at the border. Did the equipment ever cross?

Don’t they have GO trains that could substitute for the Maple Leaf?

 

[jis]

And of course that equipment becomes a VIA Rail train that serves passengers from Niagra Falls - Toronto who weren't even going to be involved with anything at the border. Did the equipment ever cross?

No. It was terminated at NFL, turned there and originated there as the return Maple Leaf today.

There is a 9:09pm GO Transit train from Niagara Falls ON to Toronto on weekdays.

Folks trying to travel from Toronto on the Mapla Leaf would have a bigger problem since the first GO Transit train arrives in Niagara Falls ON at 11:26 and the Maple Leaf departs NFL at 11:50.

64 left NFL on time at 11:50.

 

[AmtrakMaineiac]

Folks trying to travel from Toronto on the Mapla Leaf would have a bigger problem since the first GO Transit train arrives in Niagara Falls ON at 11:26 and the Maple Leaf departs NFL at 11:50.

I guess it would be too much to expect that Amtrak and GO would coordinate and hold the Maple Leaf so that any passengers on the GO train wanting to travel to the US could clear CBP and board the train.

 

[jis]

I guess it would be too much to expect that Amtrak and GO would coordinate and hold the Maple Leaf so that any passengers on the GO train wanting to travel to the US could clear CBP and board the train.

I guess it was not clear from my previous post that the GO train arrives at Niagara Falls ON, which has one platform track, and the short turned Maple Leaf departs from Niagara Falls NY, which also has one platform track.

They have to first travel from Niagara Falls ON station to Niagara Falls NY station, clearing CBP at the border crossing, wherever they happen to cross the border, and then board the train. Arranging to get the Amtrak consist to Niagara Falls ON while the GO train is occupying the platform would be challenging. Appears to be more complex than something that can be arranged on the fly.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Complex.. yes, but this is a major issue in transportation right now. I've noticed the same thing at airports.. something goes wrong and there is no backup plan and nothing at all is offered to passengers who had booked travel far in advance.

 

[jis]

Potentially VIA could get a ticket cross honoring with GO for NY bound passengers out of Toronto to take the 7:47 GO train to Burlington and change to GO Bus to Niagara Falls Bus Terminal to arrive there at 9:22, which gives ample time to transfer across the border to NFL and catch the short turned Maple Leaf. I don't know what they did or not, but if I was stuck this is how I would go about catching the short turned Maple Leaf from Toronto.

In the reverse direction there is a GO train after 9pm from Niagara Falls ON which would be easy to catch after arriving in NFL on a short turned Maple Leaf. Again I have no idea what guidance and/or facility (if any) Amtrak and VIA gave in this case.

The bottom line is that there are so many ways to travel between Niagara Falls ON and Toronto using public transit (GO Bus/train or GO train) that this case does not rise to the level of inconvenience that getting stuck in Malta MT could.

 

[Amtrak25]

If 63 terminated in Niagara Falls, NY, it is likely passengers were totally on their own to travel 2 miles to Niagara Falls, ON to catch a bus, any bus, and deal with CBSA issues. Most US passengers do not know squat about GO Transit.

As with Amtrak 's total cop out last week with the West Side line outage with no customer service people at Croton Harmon to guide people, no information as to which MN train to catch at GCT, bewildered passengers at GCT were in fact calling Uber, taking wild goose chases on Metro North to New Haven, no holding of train 64 at Albany for a terminated 68, which is normally the last train south, no operation into GCT For 3 days - I would not attempt travel any longer on the Empire Corridor without buying Trip Insurance.