BTW, the "empire tunnel" from Penn Station going north was part of the High Line. New York Central's freight line down the west side was causing too many death on the streets, so after many many years of haggling, it agreed to grade separate the tracks. Cioming from nortth, it had to go around Penn Station yards and then rise up onto elevated tracks to deleiver goods/food. But north of Penn station, it was a dug out canyon witg bridges for streets over it. It felt into disuse and progressively covered. In the 1980s, Amtrak got money to re-habilitate it and connect it to Penn Station with a tunnel under the existing tracks. Over time, a long protion was covered by a park along the shore up to 123rd street ( you can see the tunnel portal on Google satellite view right next to theHenri Hyudson parkway (there is also bike path all along). Between 35th and 39th street, just west of 10th avenue, you can see the tracks. There is also a hoge between 45th and 46th , 48th and 49th, Between 53 ad 6th (approx) it goes north west towards hudson river and then along it. Trains arriving from the empire corridor only have access to a couple of tracks at Penn station/Moynihan (I think 6-7-8) because of where its tunnel emerges in the middle of the gialnt interlocking)
You have to do the train in both directions because of the CDPQ-imposed late departure from Montréal, too much of the southbound trip is in darkness. (CDPQ purchase all the tracks/platforms frm CN and VIA, Amtrak and EXO now have to pay higher fees to CDPQ which limits slots for use of tracks). Between St-Lambert and St-Jean there is a big portion of way that was part of the first ever railroad in Canada (between La Prairie and St-jean). The slow speeds are being corrected this summer of 2024 which is why the Adirondack won't run till September. After CP bought the Delaware and Hudson in the USA, CN lost its access rights so the stretch between Cantic and Rouses POint is used on,y by the Adirondack. When COVID shut it down, CN downgraded maintenance levels for the whole subdivision to "slow freight" to serve customers, so when the servoce restarted last year, the Canadian stretch was very slow and often stops due to the local freight trains delivering/picking up cars. In the days where D&H onwed the tracks to Delson (city named after DELaware and hudSON), the Adirondack would switch to CP tracks to get to Windsor station and when it moved to Central Station, it could switch to CN there. When CP bought the canadian tarcks to D&H , it cut the connection to CN, forcing the longer trip via the old Rouses Point sub. 45.36897778934762, -73.55007981501446 CP has recently dismantled the loop that D&H used to turn trains and traisn can only head from that sub to montreal now. But satellite image still shows the "scar" from the tracks on left side of loop. Southbound: there is 60 minutes allocated to border crossing. Northbound, CBSA requested 90 minutes in the schedule. It only takes one problem passenger to cause a lot of delays. (for instance, when I was on it, one older lady who barely spoke english flew from europe to Montreal, took Adirondack to Newyork so she could take cruise back to europe, and she hadn't filled out the new required I95 electronic form and since she didn't speak english it took a while to process her !) For a good backgrounder on the train (as well as Maple Leaf and Cascades), ask Mr Google for: Report on Amtrak Cross Border Operations November 15, 2022 (it is on some congressman's web site, thsi was nevet released in Canada so nobody here know that CDPQ was one cause for delay in restrating the Adirondack ---- not mentioned is the fact that Central Station lost 8 of some 20 tracks to the REM so there is no room left for a pre-clearance facility at the station that would eliminate the long border stops). Albany to Poughkeepsie received a fair bit of speed upgrades in the last coupe of decades with amtrak paying for CSX track upgrades. It is a very historical railroad from the New York Central days. Shame you did it in the dark. And most importantly, shame you didn't walk extra to exit at the Moynihan hall in new York because at night, it is breathtaking instead of Penn Station. You would have stopped with jaw dropped with a huge "WOW". Because of the schedule, the northbound is more scenic as you get to see both the Hudson and Lake Champlain. Adirondack expect back in service this coming September and am very curios to see if trip time between Rouses POint at St-Lambert will have been reduced.
The United States and Canada are bigger countries than yours, duncebucket (also, the train has to stop to let freight ones pass by in certain sections, and then there's customs duties that have to be done because of the effects 9/11 had upon the American government [previously, if one drove across the border into the U.S. from Canada, it was a simple wave through; now it's a full interrogation due to fears of terrorism and terrorist attacks, something that will take the Americans a while to get over. Also, there's probably a check on the computer for criminals records, with more longer checks if the border guard feels that people aren't up to snuff.) Try to accept that not everything is (or has to be) like it is in Europe/Scandinavia/Southeast Asia 'just because'.
That is a really sad looking hamburger. I'm amazed at how fast your trained cleared customs, friends of mine who take the the Amtrak Maple Leaf from Toronto to NYC faced an almost two hour stop at Niagara Falls NY for US Customs Border Patrol Clearance. Other than that the trip is around the same length of time I'm told.
When I took the Adirondack last October, only one car was filled between Montreal and the Border (and rest of cars loaded with US passengers boarding after) so the process was quickler. It also depends on the instructions of the day on how pedantic they have veeb told to be that day, and how many problem passengers they have. The Adirondack is cleared "in the bush" which means you stay in the train. The Maple Leaf requires you get off train and get back on (and on northbound, Canada customs facility means you stay outdoors - the USA offered use of their indoor facility but Canada refused).
I know right eventually the conductor yelled at me because I was making a train tour and I went to one of the cars that was closed even tho the doors were unlocked
the Hudson river section is also very scenic. It's too bad that it was dark by the time you got to Albany. To see the whole route in daylight, best to take it from New York which leaves earlier in the morning. Also do it between when Daylight savings starts in March and ends in November.
Nop. They change the locomotive to a special one that can get to Penn Station. Amtrak has a limited set of those locos, so they only do New York to Albany where they put standard diesel-only locos north"west of there. However, because the Adirondack also serves Albany-New York, they add coaches there for passengers boarding at Albany and south. (and on northbound train, they will remove coaches and change loco).
"Thanks to the efficient work of the American Border Patrol, we successfully passed through the border in just 34 minutes"! 😵💫 OMG!🤔🙄 Dans les pays modernes, les passages de frontières internationales se font... avec 0 minute d'arrêt: les passagers sont contrôlés soit à la gare de départ, avant d'accéder au quai, soit à bord du train en mouvement. Dans ce cas, la douane et la police des frontières monte à la dernière gare dans le pays A et descend à la première gare dans le pays B. C'est la façon civilisée de faire. On n'est plus au XIXe siècle. À part ça, merci pour cet intéressant reportage. Other than this, thanks for this great report.
This is very interesting! I did not know of CDPQ’s involvement and its effect. That is certainly not widely known. It has always seemed strange that the train left so late in the morning and I was surprised when it was moved an hour later! And I can’t believe that US immigration/customs preclearance will not happen. Surely the preclearance could be done somewhere else than on a platform. Doing that process on the train at the border (where there is no station) used to cause long delays if there were just a few passengers without proper documents. Agents seemed very reluctant to reject anyone - where would they go? - so they tried to solve often lengthy issues on the train itself. Preclearance would have eliminated that issue at Central Station - no documents, stay in Montreal. I have to think that it’s a deliberate plan to not want to improve service.
Thanks for posting. This is one of the few VIA services I haven’t taken and it’s rarely documented. Regarding the Chateau sleeper, it’s probably a buffer car while they are evaluating the crashworthiness of the Budd cars.
