Amtrak recently said it would resume operating the New York-Montreal Adirondack in 2023 but did not give a date.
The service, which is funded by the State of New York, has been suspended March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. At the time, the border between the United States and Canada was closed.
It has since reopened and Amtrak service to Toronto and Vancouver, British Columbia has resumed.
A New York state legislator told local news media that Amtrak is working to get its crews re-qualified to operate in Canada.
Members of the New York congressional delegation have asked Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner to explain why the New York-Montreal Adirondack has yet to return to service after being suspended in March 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic .
Letters to Gardner raising the issue have been signed by the state’s two U.S. senators and a congresswoman who represents the area served by the train.
Trains magazine in a report that neither Amtrak nor the New York Department of Transportation would comment on the issue
The letters note that host railroad Canadian National has said it would resume allowing the train as soon as Amtrak is ready to run it.
One of the letters also said Amtrak officials had indicated earlier that “staffing was no longer the primary issue for returning service to the rail line, but operational issues needed to be addressed with our Canadian partners.”
The letters are seeking to prod Amtrak into issuing a timeline for the resumption of the Adirondack.
Amtrak recently restored the New York-Toronto Maple Leaf and said it will restore the Seattle-Vancouver, British Columbia, Cascades this fall.
NYDOT in a July 18 statement said it has asked Amtrak “resume Adirondack service as soon as practicable.”
Amtrak later issued a statement saying it is “actively engaged with our congressional delegations regarding the return of Adirondack service and continue to work with the appropriate host railroads’ operation agreements.”
Amtrak recently announced that it is working to resume serving Canada with its Maple Leaf (New York-Toronto), Adirondack (New York-Montreal) and Cascades Service (Seattle-Vancouver) but didn’t say when those services would be restored.
The service advisory posted at Amtrak’s website only said it hoped the services could resume in early 2022.
The advisory said the passenger carrier said it is working with federal agencies on the matter.
The announcement did say that Thruway bus service provided by Cantrail resumed on Dec. 1 between Seattle and Vancouver with a stop in Richmond, British Columbia.
Passengers board Amtrak’s Chicago-bound Saluki at Effingham, Illinois, on March 21. The Chicago-Carbondale corridor lost one roundtrip since the COVID-19 pandemic began a year ago
Although Amtrak plans to restore daily service to most long-distance routes starting in late May, the restoration of corridor service cut during the COVID-19 pandemic presents a more mixed picture.
Some states might restore service by summer but that is not guaranteed.
Michigan Department of Transportation Rail Director Peter Anastor said he didn’t known when two suspended Wolverine Service roundtrips between Chicago and Detroit (Pontiac) would return.
He indicated it will hinge in part on ridership and revenue trends.
“The CARES Act and the second stimulus bill helped fill the gap caused by fixed costs that stay the same whether you have 10 or 100 riders,” he said.
Michigan also funds the Chicago-Port Huron Blue Water and the Chicago-Grand Rapids Pere Marquette.
Although the Blue Water continued to operate throughout the pandemic, the Pere Marquette was suspended between March and last summer.
Anastor indicated new Venture coaches are expected to be assigned to Wolverine Service this spring, making it the first Midwest corridor train to have the new cars.
On other Midwest corridor routes, Hiawatha Service between Chicago and Milwaukee is expected to increase to seven round trips on May 21.
Wisconsin Department of Transportation Rail Division head Arun Rao said the service expansion will be promoted with an extensive advertising push and increased social media activity.
Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Speegle said his agency will decide in April when some other corridor services will be restored.
IDOT has suspended one round trip on the Chicago-Carbondale route, one roundtrip on the Chicago-Quincy route and two roundtrips between Chicago and St. Louis.
“We anticipate resuming full service no earlier that mid-July; the final decision on that time frame will be made in April, approximately 12 weeks prior to resumption of service,” he said.
Speegle said IDOT will review ridership and revenue numbers for the current service, anticipated costs, and the level of federal support.
Whether a second St. Louis-Kansas City Missouri River Runner will resume operating will depend on how much funding the Missouri legislature approves.
The Missouri Department of Transportation has requested funding for two daily roundtrips but the chair of a House budget committee has proposed funding just one roundtrip.
In the East, New York State has not announced its intentions in regards to restoring any suspended Empire Corridor trains.
Two routes funded by New York, the Maple Leaf to Toronto and Adirondack to Montreal have been suspended due to the U.S.-Canadian border being closed during the pandemic.
Elsewhere in the East, North Carolina will begin a fourth roundtrip starting April 5 in the Charlotte-Raleigh corridor.
Amtrak and the North Carolina Department of Transportation are reinstating a third Piedmont Service roundtrip, making this the first multi-frequency state corridor to be fully restored.
North Carolina reinstated a second and third round trip last August and December, respectively.
Another Downeaster trip to Maine is expected to resume in May after schedules are worked out with Amtrak and host railroad Pan Am Railways.
Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority Executive Director Patricia Quinn said the new schedule will be a little different.
“Instead of just plugging two midday trains back into their old slots, we’re adding a 10:30 a.m. departure from Brunswick, which will turn as a 3 p.m. departure from Boston,” she said.
“Given the change in commute patterns, we decided to try something different, assuming we won’t need two trains leaving Boston for the evening rush hour, but the additional round-trip means we will again have a flex schedule for the late-night train from Boston to accommodate sports fans and concert goers.”
Quinn said weekday and weekend schedules will now be identical.
In the West, one Capitol Corridor roundtrip will on March 29 be extended from Oakland to San Jose.
Capitol Corridor managing director Rob Pagette said there will be a change in departure times based on the way customers now use the trains.
“We’re about at 15 percent of where we were in February 2020 but we are looking to have a more robust service by September,” he said.
“We’ve seen more demand spread throughout the day, and this has allowed us to improve the efficiency of how we use our equipment by (temporarily) going from seven to six consists.”
Pagette said officials will be watching to determine where people are riding after the schedule change to determine where we add back the seventh consist.” An eighth trainset will be added later.
The extended round trip to San Jose will originate in Auburn because there appear to be increasing numbers of “super commuters” who ride 80 miles or more to their jobs.
Ridership trends during the pandemic have shown that if passengers are less likely to travel every day, more will opt for less-costly housing further away from the Silicon Valley.
In the San Joaquin corridor, a fifth roundtrip is expected to be added in in the fall. However, the two round trips to Sacramento aren’t likely to return until early 2021 at the earliest.
Those plans, though, are contingent on ridership stabilizing.
In Southern California, the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency expects to restore one Pacific Surfliner roundtrip between San Diego and Goleta in July or August.
The date of that service restoration is dependant on available funding.
In the Pacific Northwest, the Washington Department of Transportation is eyeing returning two Seattle-Portland roundtrips in mid May.
Currently, the Cascades Service is operating with one Seattle-Eugene, Oregon, round trip.
Officials are considering increasing Portland-Eugene service to two roundtrips.
Amtrak will be making additional service cuts in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Effective on March 15, the Maple Leaf will temporarily cease operating between Toronto and Niagara Falls, New York.
Nos. 63 and 64 will continue to operate between New York and Niagara Falls.
The Adirondack will cease operating north of Albany-Rensselaer, New York, but will continue to operate between New York City and Albany.
Effective March 16 service in the Northeast Corridor will be reduced to a typical Saturday schedule on a daily basis.
In a service advisory, Amtrak said it will continue to maintain frequent service by Acela and Northeast Regional trains to Boston, New York, Washington and Virginia points.
The service reductions in the Northeast Corridor will extend through March 29.
Amtrak earlier had announced reduction of service in the Keystone Corridor to a typical Saturday schedule with service suspended to Ardmore, Pennsylvania.
That service cut does not affect daily operation of the New York-Pittsburgh Pennsylvanian.
Also starting March 15 service on the Harford Line and the Valley Flyer will operate on a Saturday schedule on a daily basis.
Unspecified issues with the host railroad led to Amtrak’s Adirondack originating and terminating at Albany-Rensselaer, New York, last weekend.
In a service advisory Amtrak said Nos. 68 and 69 might continue to terminate at Albany if the host railroad is unable to resolve the operating issues.
The service disruption, which lasted from Feb. 21 to the 24, meant no service to Schenectady, Saratoga Springs, Fort Edward, Whitehall, Ticonderoga, Port Henry, Westport, Plattsburgh, Rouses Point, St. Lambert and Montreal.
No alternative service was provided to those stations.
A blockade of Canadian National tracks in Canada disrupted last weekend Amtrak service to that country.
Amtrak’s Maple Leaf, which ordinarily operates between New York and Toronto, was halted at Niagara Falls, New York.
The New York-Montreal Adirondack did not operate north of Albany-Rensselaer, New York.
Also affected was CascadesService in the Pacific Northwest although some trains did operate all the way to Vancouver, British Columbia.
The blockades, which have lasted more than a week, are being staged to protest construction of a natural-gas pipeline that crosses Wet’suwet’en territory in northern British Columbia and is opposed by the First Nation’s hereditary chiefs.
CN has shut down freight service in eastern Canada after blockades sprang up in that region.
VIA Rail Canada has also canceled most of its services within Canada.
Amtrak in the Heartland 