ALBANY, N.Y. — Amtrak’s Adirondack will be cancelled north of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. between May 20 and June 29, passengers already ticketed on the New York City-Montreal train were informed this week.
Anyone trying to book a reservation for those dates on Amtrak’s website receives the message, “We do not have any services between the cities entered on the date(s) you selected. Please try different date(s).” As of today (Thursday, May 9), the “Service Alerts and Notices” section of the website does not include an advisory with information on the cancellation or informing passengers when service will be available.
The Adirondack will continue to operate as a daily round trip on its existing schedule between New York City and Saratoga Springs, whose famed racing facility will serve as the substitute site of this year’s Belmont Stakes, part of horse racing’s Triple Crown, on June 8. The Ethan Allen Express also serves Saratoga and Fort Edward-Glens Falls, N.Y. on the Adirondack’s route, but six other New York stations on the remaining 184 miles north to Montreal are losing service.
The 41-day service disruption occurs just as summer travel demand heats up and Amtrak announces a summer fare sale promising reductions “up to 30% on coach and Acela business class travel.”
Early this week, Trains News Wire asked Amtrak and Canadian National for the specific reason for the cancellation and why no alternate transportation is being provided, followed by a similar request to the New York governor’s office. As of late this afternoon, only Amtrak had responded. Its statement: “Due to anticipated track work, Amtrak has modified Adirondack service on a short-term basis from May 20 to June 30 and will only operate between New York City and Saratoga Springs.”
Analysis: An ongoing lack of information, communication
The reply is not surprising. Amtrak and its host railroads rarely divulge expenditure or infrastructure upgrade details between each other on grounds that this is “commercially sensitive information,” even though public mobility is involved and public funds may be. Track rehabilitation, like highway construction, can’t be completed under extreme weather conditions. That may be the reason it is happening through the end of June, though why it couldn’t have been scheduled to begin in April or limited to certain days each week is unknown.
The lengthy cancellation and corresponding lack of information reinforces historical evidence that Amtrak and the New York Department of Transportation’s Rail Division, which funds operating support, have little regard for the train’s intercity mobility value to its existing or potential customers.
Previously, stringent Canadian travel restrictions into 2022 and the lack of turning facilities at Rouses Point, N.Y., contributed to the train’s delayed post-COVID-19 reinstatement [see “Adirondack’s uncertain return attracts bipartisan lawmaker attention,” News Wire, July 21, 2022]. Cross-border rail service to Toronto and Vancouver, British Columbia, resumed more than six months before the Adirondack’s relaunch in April 2023 [see “Adirondack tickets now on sale …,” News Wire, March 21, 2023].
Canadian National and Amtrak failed to use the multi-year hiatus to resolve a dispute over who would pay for upgraded maintenance of tracks north of the Canadian-U.S. border to accommodate passenger train speeds. The inaction left the route subject to 40 miles of 10-mph, heat-related speed restrictions imposed by CN only a few months later. Rather than short turn the train at the border and provide a connecting bus into Canada, Amtrak then cancelled service north of Albany–Rensselaer, N.Y. [see “CN, Amtrak disagree on payments …,” News Wire, June 29, 2023].
Trains were extended to Saratoga for the start of last year’s racing season a month later [see “Adirondack round trips to be extended …,” News Wire July 17, 2023]. However, full-route service wasn’t restored until Sept. 11, when summer heat subsided [see “Amtrak tentatively sets Sept. 11 date …,” News Wire, Sept. 2, 2023].
It is unknown where the track work will be performed, how much is being invested, or who is paying for the work to increase speeds and reduce travel times on a beleaguered route that appears to be an afterthought to its overseers. But prolonged cancellations without provisions for alternate transportation certainly undermine any argument that the trains fill a vital transportation role for the local population that deserves continued financial support.
As noted in an earlier post why can’t Amtrak run the train to Plattsburgh or Rouses Point with a cab car or cab only engine on the rear. It could overnight at a nearby yard and return to NYC the next morning. This route is subsided by New York State so you think they would be interested to serve at least their upstate rural residents.
You are correct, Mr. Chambers in everything you wrote. That’s some of what I was saying in my 5/9 post. But does Amtrak have enough locomotives based at Rensselaer or cab cars/cabbages anywhere for doing what you (and I) suggest? And if they do are they willing to make that effort? Somebody on this forum tell me.
Before I go any further, I want to say to Mr. Turon that I very much regret coming on in so strongly a tone in that 5/9 post. I could have been and should have been more “laid back”. Might have been more effective. Also, the posts by Dan Howard and Carl Fowler contribute greatly to this forum. Dan gives us much needed insight to the workings inside NYState DOT and how that plays out in its Rail Division. Mr. Fowler lays out the availability of locations where, if the will was there, a train the length of the Adirondack could be stored overnight.
The sentiments I expressed to Mr. Turon are based on the following: 1) I was an ESPA member back when NYState DOT (2010-2017 or thereabouts?), partially under prodding by ESPA, began exploration of restoration of a third main track between CP169 and Buffalo. This was well-covered by Albany Times-Union’s then-Business section editor that did excellent work on railroad issues, Eric Anderson. He said that CSX was open to facilitating such but stipulated that 90mph be the MAS on the restored track. For a higher speed limit that track had to be located on a separate ROW. But ESPA wanted 110 if not immediately upon that track going into service but not long after. And they, and perhaps others, apparently got the DOT to include the 110 in the list of options starting from No Build that was presented in a round of community outreach meetings held around the service area west of Schenectady. And ESPA began a campaign called “90 Now”. CSX must have thought all that meant “If we give ’em an inch, they’ll take a mile”. All that resulted in CSX throwing in towel and that was well-covered by Eric Anderson in a column, “CSX opposes high-speed rail on its tracks (6/22/2014). In response ESPA’s then-President Bruce Becker wrote a scathing editorial accusing CSX of being uncooperative and just generally nasty for torpedoing this initiative. ESPA’s actions were a classical example of making “the perfect the enemy of the good”. In all the rides my wife took on Nos.48&49 when we lived and worked in Chicago and vacationed in the Berkshires, I would have been happy with a 90-95% OTP at 79mph! 90 would have been outstanding. So I emailed Mr. Becker telling him what I thought of his bad-mouthing CSX and did not renew my ESPA membership.
2) Back during the Covid19-induced cancellation of the Adirondack north of Albany, I read material on ESPA’s website that indicated they were ok with that situation. I emailed them asking why they were ok with cancelling service to the NY folks that were paying for it [under the PRIIA 209]. And apparently Mr. Becker was back after a stint at NARP/RPA. He replied stating the great majority of the ridership north of Albany was to/from Montreal so the suspension was justified. But Amtrak and its supporters always say, and they are correct, that it’s not the end-to-end ridership that makes the long-distance trains valuable; It’s the segmental ridership that does. So I replied that using logic Amtrak should eliminate service to all the communities served by the Empire Builder out across the vast open spaces of eastern Washington state, Montana, N.Dakota, and western Minnesota between Seattle/Portland and Minneapolis/St. Paul. He never replied.
MORE ON THE ADIRONDACK Amtrak train service:
Here (with Google translation) is the text from an article in the Montreal La Presse newspaper on the ADIRONDACK suspension. Track-work is indeed the cause and as all the discussion is about the situation with CN hopefully that is where the work will take place, but that is not clearly stated. The translation is a bit stilted, but clear enough.
“The Amtrak rail carrier will not offer any replacement for the service, which will only connect New York to the city of Saratoga Springs, “until July”.
“The service was cancelled due to rail maintenance work,” Amtrak said in response to a customer service request. “We apologize for any impact. We have taken this decision to offer more pleasant and safe journeys to our customers. ”
The cancellation “turns into force on 21 May” and “there is no alternative transport”, continued Amtrak’s customer service. The media relations department, for its part, did not recall La Presse.
Saratoga Springs is halfway along the usual route of the Adirondack – the name of the route. The train usually takes about 11 hours to connect Montreal to New York. Some 117,000 passengers used it in 2019.
The situation “rehas a clear indication of the importance attached to intercity services,” said Sarah V. Doyon, spokesperson for the public transport users’ defence organization Trajectoire Québec. “This lack of interest in offering alternatives speaks for itself. ”
“It doesn’t give much hope for other rail transport projects,” she said.
“Long-term solution”
The Adirondack has gone through extremely difficult years since 2020.
Its service was interrupted with the start of the pandemic and resumed only three years later, in 2023.
Two months later, however, the train was immobilized for weeks: the arrival of the hot weather created difficulties on part of the railway. Canadian legislation required a significant reduction in speed for trains due to the state of the rail.
“Unfortunately, Amtrak, CN and the New York State Department of Transportation have not found a feasible solution for this summer,” Amtrak said last July. The company stated that continuing to operate the line during the summer could lead to “significant delays of up to four hours.”
Amtrak claimed that discussions were continuing “to develop a long-term solution so that Amtrak trains can run to and from Montreal in the coming summers”.
Without an answer from Amtrak, it was not possible to know whether it was the “long-term solution” that caused the cancellation of the service from 21 May.
The service resumed last autumn.
With Henri Ouellette-Vézina, La Presse
L’argent et le bonheur”
ESPA has further clarified where the track repairs will occur. Happily they will be on the CN line north of the border–the area subjected to 10mph speed restrictions during hot weather (for months) last year.
“Amtrak confirmed in a Press Statement issued May 9, 2024, that Adirondack Route service between Saratoga Springs, NY & Montreal, QC is being suspended from Monday, May 20 through Sunday, June 30 to accommodate necessary trackwork.
It is ESPA’s understanding that the trackwork to be completed is on an approximately 25-mile segment of the Canadian National-owned line north of the US-Canada border used by the Adirondack to reach Montreal.
In the summer of 2023 CN imposed 10mph speed restrictions on this segment which forced Amtrak to institute an unplanned service suspension from late June through early September. The upcoming trackwork should prevent future widespread CN speed restrictions and Amtrak service suspensions.
While ESPA appreciates that the required trackwork will be completed before the start of the peak mid-summer travel season, we are concerned that alternative transportation is not being provided between Saratoga Springs & Montreal during the planned suspension period.
We urge Amtrak & NYSDOT to explore all available options to accommodate passengers wishing to travel north of Saratoga Springs during the six-week outage.
The Adirondack will continue to operate on a daily basis between New York City & Saratoga Springs, including for the running of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 8th at the Saratoga Race Track.”
…While NYSDOT may NOT appear supportive of Amtrak Empire Service…
As a NYSDOT retiree (albeit not the Rail Division), one should not place blame at their Rail Division. Like most rank and file government employees and group managers, in situations such as this they generally are told by higher-ups what the agency response will be (if any). This is especially significant when it comes to any interactions, notifications, and/or contact with the general public as this is very tightly controlled within NY State Government. The best response you can possibly expect from NYSDOT is a carefully-worded piece from a Public Information Officer, who maybe solicited input from the Rail Division (and not necessarily used any of that input in the response). While NYSDOT may appear supportive of Amtrak Empire Service, it is generally not due to the staff at the Rail Division – its higher up the “food chain” at the agency and due to the priorities of the “higher-ups”.
Charles, so you also knew Kevin Gregoire! Small world. When my wife and I vacationed at PIT in the 1980s, primarily to be with her mother, I went down to the station every evening to see Kevin and a few other regulars and watch #449’s coming and going. And Kevin was there to see us off on our return trip to Chicago. I remember one such return where, account the Slumbercoach had been badordered at BOS the train had THREE 10&6s, one for the First Class, two to accommodate the more numerous Slumbercoach pax. “Those were the days my friend, we thought they’d never end”…(Mary Hopkin 1968). Kevin and I once daytripped to New York City via the Empire Service. I forget what trains we rode down there. We may have ridden the SI Ferry. We had lunch at Fine and Shapiro’s Delicatessen in my childhood middle West Side neighborhood.
I may have met Kevin Gregoire once or twice, half a century ago. Mostly I “knew of” him for his reputation and his many accomplishments. It please me to know you were his friend and companion. That’s top end.
Just more of the same airline executives practicing the same “customer service” they DIDN’T practice at the airlines which have NO customer service.
Airlines, like railroads, have a million moving parts and therefore need adult supervision.
There are, obviously, no adults at any airline or Amtrak.
Can’t turn and store a train north of Saratoga, not without a big investment in Plattsburgh (like at Burlington for the ‘Ethan Allen’) which is a single-track station, with a wye several miles south down a single-track freight line. In contrast, Saratoga Springs has storage tracks and a wye about 2000 feet to the south down a double-track mainline.
Mr. Turon: I am sick and tired at your constant shilling for Amtrak on these forums. And not just you but ESPA generally and the NARP/RPA as well. “Not without a big investment in Plattsburgh”. What kind of garbage is that? Why not make that “big investment in Plattsburgh”? NYState had no problem making a “big investment” in transportation infrastructure at Tarrytown, did it? But that transportation investment was the very antithesis of passenger rail. Back during that long Covid-19-induced suspension of service north of ALB your pathetic organization should have been doggedly calling out NYState DOT for refusing to do anything to restore service to all the communities ALB to Plattsburgh. Maybe that would have fallen on deaf ears but at least ESPA should have fought the good fight. Instead you remained disgracefully silent. And you are again remaining disgracefully silent that “alternative transportation” is not being provided in this service suspension. It’s very clear the two agencies don’t give a rat’s butt about serving the passengers. Well guess what. Wait until judgement day arrives for the Livingston Ave Bridge replacement project. You gonna be ok when NYState DOT and USDOT refuse to make that “big investment”. You and ESPA better be.
Gee, Mark. I never noticed anything bad about Ben’s posts. It’s good to get Ben’s perspective about Upstate/ Western New York, home of Rob Gronkowski and Joe Boardman and maybe somebody else famous. The late Senator Ken Keating is a third. Must be someone else. William Henry Seward??? Grover Cleveland. General Wild Bill Donovan. Frederick Douglass, for a while.
We’re all missing the big point, aren’t we? The big point being that on a good day, Amtrak can barely get a train into Montreal. The Adirondack has more problems than this temporary shutdown, whatever it’s about.
Mark: You, me, and Ben should form this forum’s “I-90 Caucus”, given where the three of us have lived and/or traveled. Sadly Kevin Gregoire has long since passed, he’d be a fourth.
Mr. Shapp, ESPA did complain about the ‘Adirondack’ not running for years, but the issue was Amtrak vs. CN, so its like Godzilla vs. King Kong, we just little people watching from the street as two giants go at it in the back room, what we can do about the situation is limited besides talking to and supporting various communitiy groups and leaders — including the North Country Chamber of Commerance and Rep. Elise Stefanik — from the North Country who pushed both Amtrak and the state for restoration of service.
On Plattsburgh, if it was set up like the Saratoga Springs station then yeah, no excuse not to terminate and turn a train there, but its not, and spending a lot of money for a tempoary one month service distruption makes little sense, CN will be fixing the tracks, so good news there, the bigger problem is being solved. I wish they try the overnight NYC-Montreal proposal, but for one month, its likely not worth the change, compare to three or four months over the summer.
If you want more from NYSDOT, write your elected represenatives for a bigger rail office within NYSDOT, more staff, more funding, akin to California or North Carolina. When you have a handful of people, what they can do is limited, and that needs to change.
The ETHAN ALLEN EXPRESS is not wyed at Burlington. It uses two locomotives–one on each end. It overnights two blocks south of Burlington Union Station. It does not use the wyes in either Essex Jct nor St Albans.The ADIRONDACK could proceed to Plattsburgh (or even Rouses Point) if it was temporarily assigned a second unit , or a cab car (perhaps one of the new HHP conversions). With the 50/50 front to back seating now ubiquitous the “seat turning problem” vanishes as well. The claim on several forums this week that no overnight storage rack could be found at either point is absurd. The yard tracks there could easily take the Amtrak train-set.
Mr. Shapp, “Mr. Turon: I am sick and tired at your constant shilling for Amtrak on these forums.”
Based on my two recent separate article comments about why Amtrak should connect the dots via Chicago,Twin Cities, SD, Denver-Albq.-El Paso, and maybe even eventually Mexico City, then I should also qualify as a shill for Amtrak. However, nothing could be further from that thought.
If I/we, as taxpayers, have to tolerate deficit Amtrak, it is my intention to at least promote the idea that Amtrak should run on meaningful and hopefully profitable routes. As I humorously quipped previously, “Let’s go places.”—Toyota TV ad.
The Adirondack runs on Canadian pacific rails in NY TO Rouses Point ,NY.Why does it run on CN rails in Canada,and not CPKC rails.
CPKC goes to the wrong station, to get to Central Station it uses CN tracks, the old CP station is just open platforms for commuters, no facilities.
Not only is Lucien l’Allier vastly inferior to Central station in terms of passenger experience, it also is currently closed for a complete reconstruction of the tracks and platforms, extending well into next year. Exo trains currently terminate and originate at Vendôme station (sitting in front of what used to be Glen yard, now an hospital).
The lack of loop or wye to turn the train could also be a factor. The nearest train servicing facility is Exo’s Lachine facility (former Sortin yard). It doesn’t have any, and ferrying the train from/to Lucien l’Allier involves a clumsy 5 miles backup move. I suppose the train could still reverse using the Adirondack sub between South Jct and St.Luc Jct, also involving a 2 miles backup move.
Now, if only CN could fix its own track without extorting US taxpayers to foot the bill… But think about shareholders rights!
If I were NY State DOT, I would tell Amtrak where to park their train and use the subsidy money to hire a bus operator to run parlor bus service from NY City (either PABT or GCT) to Montreal making the necessary stops.
I understand there ARE roads North of Saratoga.