Long Island Mike
Senior Member
NYC-Toronto Rail Service and NYS High Speed Rail thoughts...
DM: The Amtrak Maple Leaf is a VIA-operated service for the 84 miles between Niagara Falls,ON and Toronto...
These days Customs/Immigration is the biggest problem these trains face daily...not to mention CN's wish to
abandon the single track across the Whirlpool Bridge...Amtrak and VIA are stepping in supposedly to save this link...
Both the NY-Montreal and Seattle-Vancouver runs run thru because the US/Canada border location is close to both
cities and there is little or no intermediate traffic in Canada on both trains...The only intermediate stop on either
train is St.Lambert on the Adirondack...
The Maple Leaf serves large Ontario population centers like St.Catharines,Hamilton,Burlington and Oakville with
intermediate stops which is a huge difference in comparison to those two other Amtrak trains...
I am all for NYS high-speed rail and I will note that the former New York Central main line between Albany and
Buffalo once had four tracks until CTC (Centralized Traffic Control) was installed during the 1960s...To operate
HSR on today's CSX line would require additional track(s) space...
From Albany S to Croton-Harmon (110 miles) would also need an additional track at least...
This line has today multiple trains operating between Albany and New York's Penn Station...
Even though I would like to see a joint US/Canada HSR service until Customs/Immigration
problems can be straightened out this service would just not work out...
LI MIKE
I'd love to know what Amtrak gets out of operating NF NY to TO ON other than a headache. Swapping to VIA crews, the Whirlpool Bridge, the Welland Canal, slow track as far as Aldershot etc. etc. At least with Cascades and Adirondack there's no stopping between the border and the terminus. Does Canada even contribute to Amtrak's costs to run these services?
If I was a US/NY taxpayer I'd be looking at getting Schenectady-Buffalo closer to 110mph which would at least benefit other services like Lake Shore Limited. If developing the Toronto market is really what they want then they should be running Thruway buses to meet every Empire/LSL departure rather than relying on the Maple Leaf.
DM: The Amtrak Maple Leaf is a VIA-operated service for the 84 miles between Niagara Falls,ON and Toronto...
These days Customs/Immigration is the biggest problem these trains face daily...not to mention CN's wish to
abandon the single track across the Whirlpool Bridge...Amtrak and VIA are stepping in supposedly to save this link...
Both the NY-Montreal and Seattle-Vancouver runs run thru because the US/Canada border location is close to both
cities and there is little or no intermediate traffic in Canada on both trains...The only intermediate stop on either
train is St.Lambert on the Adirondack...
The Maple Leaf serves large Ontario population centers like St.Catharines,Hamilton,Burlington and Oakville with
intermediate stops which is a huge difference in comparison to those two other Amtrak trains...
I am all for NYS high-speed rail and I will note that the former New York Central main line between Albany and
Buffalo once had four tracks until CTC (Centralized Traffic Control) was installed during the 1960s...To operate
HSR on today's CSX line would require additional track(s) space...
From Albany S to Croton-Harmon (110 miles) would also need an additional track at least...
This line has today multiple trains operating between Albany and New York's Penn Station...
Even though I would like to see a joint US/Canada HSR service until Customs/Immigration
problems can be straightened out this service would just not work out...
LI MIKE