Canadian Railroads > Next Chapter in the ADIRONDACK saga?

Here's below is the latest from Trains superb reporter Bob Johnston on the ADIRONDACK track condition debacle, in text only format as Canadian internet rules block sharing news articles directly. Hopefully this will permit Canadian members to read the article and (hopefully) provide some of the missing insights.

While it is certainly good to see the trains back starting Monday, the article makes it clear much track maintenance remains to be done and the work actually accomplished is insufficient to eliminate definitively another round of slow orders when temps exceed 85F in the future. Nor will there be any near-term improvement in the insanely slow (northbound in particular) running times on the CN from Rouses Point to Montreal.

It is 49 miles from Rouses Point to Montreal. Before the COVID suspension (basically for three years) the train took three hours/6 minutes over this district (which included an assumed a dwell-time of an hour for Canadian Border Control formalities enroute at Cantic P.Q. Now that is stretched out to three hours/43 minutes! That's 223 minutes for 49 miles! This is an average speed of under 15mph. A bike-rider is good shape could compete with this!

Southbound is faster, as US Border formalities are conducted during the Rouses Point stop--BUT--the train still takes an hour and 55 minutes for the 49 miles, compared to one hour/30 minutes pre COVID. And the dwell time at Rouses Point for US Customs/Immigration is still a full hour, making the inclusive Montreal to Rouses Point schedule southbound two hours/55 minutes.

Comparing northbound times to those southbound, with the Rouses Point dwell time included still shows 48 minutes of "padding" between the border and Montreal. These absurdly slow run times are unchanged despite all the track work?!

Worse, the nature/scope/ambitions/accomplishments of the summer-long suspension remain essentially secret. Neither Amtrak, CN or NYDOT have provided any real outline of what was done--nor what is still needed. They may know privately, but this needs to be public. Right now!

Are they afraid it will be discovered that Amtrak spent (fully and properly authorized and appropriated) US money across the border? Is CN after all this time still not willing to commit to "normal" 50mph running on tangent track and 30MPH elsewhere?

This situation remains intentionally obfuscated if these simple questions can't be answered. And ultimately that will not be good for CN, Amtrak or NYDOT. After five years without the ADIRONDACK running through the entire peak summer season (2020, 21, 22, 23, & 24) these questions MUST be answered.

Here is the text of the Trains Newswire article:

"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. 

CN's attitude about passenger trains and Amtrak is abundantly clear: drop dead.

Four months and they couldn't complete repairs on less than 49 miles of track????? This boondoggle does NOT add up either. Can we PLEASE get a proven railroader to lead operations effectively and not off a cliff! Anyone available in Europe, Asia, or ANYWHERE I guess? So disheartening to read one Amtrak mishap after the next. 

"However, Trains News Wire has learned that not all of the track upgrades have been completed."

After dealing with five years of a hiatus of the Adirondack not running it's full route consistently, it would make more sense for Amtrak to build a siding/storage track in Plattsburgh or Rouses Pt, NY and then throw everyone on a bus to Montreal. After this whole debacle, yet another one for the Amtrak record books, it's time so at least the service can be just that - a viable transportation service. Plattsburgh and Westport are good jumping off points and always had descent boardings/disembarkments. 

Amtrak PAID Canadian National for the work. There needs to be an accounting of the work, and how this will sustain and improve service for the money spent. This seems like a whole bunch of smoke and mirrors at present. Someone needs to get to the bottom of this one. 

CN needs to stop making excuses and fix their Rouses Point Sub.

How much CN traffic runs over this line? I'd guess only Amtrak, plus the not-even-daily freight to the New England Central on part of the route. Now that CP owns the D&H, does CN interchange any traffic with them at Rouses Point?

At most, 10 freights per week, 7 for Vermont, 3 interchanged with CPKC at Rouses Pt, which are actually NS overhead trains.

CN is content to leave it at 10 MPH. So the advocates, US politicians, Amtrak, and NYS DOT should stop bitching about big bad CN, remember the CP exists on the Quebec side, and reroute on the legacy route via Candiac and Montreal West to Lucien L'Allier. They have from now until June to do so or next June, they will all return to victimhood mode when heat forces another summer long suspension. But I suspect they won't, not even for a temporary basis, say they must stay on the current route holding out for an extended Vermonter, and there will be no service at all holding out for that fantasy, as well as the Preclearance facility in Gare Central, yet to be funded and built since 2011.

The silence from NYS DOT, Amtrak , and CN calls for a FOIA request. This is public money.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/24 22:28 by joemvcnj.

I'll mention this-if CN never ever wants to rehab the Rouses Point for faster speeds, then maybe the State of NY and Amtrak should build another track in Plattsburgh or Rouses Point to have the Adirondack end and then have passengers continuing across the border use thruway buses for the rest of the journey into Montreal. One of the benefits of the brand new Siemens Venture Airo sets is that there will be cabs on both ends, enabling push pull operation. That would enable them to change ends at Plattsburgh or Rouses Point.

Didn't I read a while back about a possible interchange, albeit somewhat indirect, between CPKC and CN somewhite just south of Montreal, which would enable continued use of Central Station? IIRC, which I may not, it seemed to involve some use of yard trackage, which, while possibly slow, sould still be better than coutinued use of CN's Rouses Point sub.

Yes, though quite bit of looping in circles around St Luc yard westof Montreal and switching from CP to CN.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/24 07:34 by joemvcnj.

The ADIRONDAK resumed service to Montreal yesterday. For whatever it's worth the train was an hour early across the St. Lawrence River into Montreal! This included the Canadian Customs and Immigration stop at Cantic, P.Q.

Hopefully Amtrak and the CN will take at least 20-30 minutes out of the schedule Rouses Point to Montreal if this is sustained for the next few weeks. Such times should not be a surprise. Before the suspension in service for the summer track work, early arrivals into Montreal were very frequent, unless the train arrived substantially late into Rouses Point from Albany.

Pre-COVID the northbound ADIRONDACK took 2 hours and six minutes--including border checks, to make the 49 miles from Rouses Point to Montreal. Now the published timetable allows three hours and 43 minutes--all slow-order caused--as Canadian immigration was/is still at Cantic in both scenarios. Southbound (with US border work done after arrival into Rouses Point), the pre-COVID ADIRONDACK took one hour and 35 minutes over the district, while today's times have swelled one hour and 55 minutes. That 20 minutes needs to be returned to the benefit of the train. Millions have been spent to gain nothing??!

Truthfully the CN Rouses Point Subdivision should now be in much better shape after nearly three months of repairs than it was before COVID. A minimum target should be to restore the schedule to the running times in effect then.