MONTREAL — Amtrak’s New York City-Montreal Adirondack is set to resume operation north of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., this Monday, Sept. 9, with a northbound trip. The first southbound train from Montreal will run the following day, Sept. 10.
Amtrak chose to cancel the train beginning May 19 because, as a result of deferred track maintenance, speeds on Canadian National rails north of the border would have been sharply reduced to as little as 10 mph under current track conditions any time ambient daytime temperatures exceeded 86 degrees Fahrenheit. This would have resulted in substantially longer and unpredictable schedules for both northbound and southbound trains.
However, Trains News Wire has learned that not all of the track upgrades have been completed. This is consistent with the joint statement Amtrak and the host railroad in Canada made on May 20, 2024. It says, “Amtrak will make a payment to CN, and CN has agreed to use the settlement payment to undertake track work on its Rouses Point Subdivision for Amtrak’s benefit. This track work will help mitigate, but not eliminate, heat slow order speed limits going forward. CN has been planning the work for several months and will endeavor to make the necessary work expeditiously and safely in 2024.”
Amtrak first cancelled the Adirondack north of Albany-Rensselaer, N.Y., in mid-May until June 29 but soon extended the daily round trip to Saratoga Springs. Then the resumption date to and from Montreal was pushed back to September [see “Suspension of Adirondack …,“ News Wire, June 7, 2024]
Canadian National spokesman Jonathan Abecassis confirmed to News Wire that “work remains ongoing,” though the company declined to respond to specific questions regarding the miles of track being rehabilitated, what remained to be completed, and if higher speeds would be permitted once the project is finally finished.
An earlier CN description noted that “welding, alignment, tie replacement, and other work to improve traffic and drainage” would be involved. Extensive track maintenance is not always possible in temperature extremes leading to high heat rail expansion or contraction in freezing temperatures, both of which occur on the Rouses Point Subdivision at various times of the year.
The indefinite nature of the work’s completion date explains Amtrak’s unilateral decision to not run the train in warm weather when sharp speed restrictions might be imposed at the last minute. When this happened sporadically early in summer 2023, only months after the New York-Montreal train belatedly resumed service following the COVID-19 pandemic, trips were cancelled following hours-late arrivals.
The track deteriorated while Amtrak and CN sparred over payments Amtrak failed to make when the train was not running, at first because of a delayed border reopening and later for various reasons [see, “CN, Amtrak disagree on payments, heat orders …,” News Wire, June 29, 2023].
Still unexplained is why it took Amtrak and CN a whole year to hammer out a commercial solution to what they knew would be a problem in the summer of 2024, which resulted in a 112-day hiatus in the heart of northern New York’s summer tourist season. Also not revealed is whether New York’s Department of Transportation was involved in Amtrak’s decision to withhold service to northern New York or not arrange for connecting bus service between Plattsburgh and Montreal while the work was being completed. The state funds operating support for the Adirondack, so presumably would be involved.
In the interim, Trailways and other bus operators helped fill the mobility gap by adding more round trips [see “Amtrak suggests Adirondack passengers take the bus,” News Wire, June 18, 2024]. News Wire is waiting for a reply from Amtrak to address whether any schedule changes are anticipated, if there will be alterations in the way the U.S. and Canada handle customs at the border, and what is being done to promote resumption of the service.
The weather forecast for Montreal calls for rain next week but daytime temperatures rising past 80 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny skies immediately after that.
