Railroad Forums 

  • Amtrak Vermonter / Montrealer

  • Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

 #1436878  by Jehochman
 
Arlington wrote:So when are we going to see a second daily Vermonter? I'd do an "equipment utilization run" that started at St Albans at 5am (4.5hrs earlier than the current run and making a convenient WRJ 7am ish) and returned at Midnight (serving WRJ at 9:30pm) so as to use equipment that might otherwise be sitting idle at Sunnyside (for at least part of that time). Are their candidate NYP trains that can be started in VT before their "economic day" would ordinarily start, and return after its normal end?
It looks like the Northern New England Intercity Rail Initiative (NNEIRI) study wrapped up in June 2016. Looking around for newer info, I found this news (https://trainsinthevalley.org/vermonter ... -montreal/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;):
Trains in the Valley wrote:June 21, 2017 | The House of Commons of Canada adoped Bill C-23, “Preclearance Act, 2016″. The bill has been sent to the Senate of Canada, where it will sit until the Senate returns to session on September 19, 2017.
If you remember, in December 2016 the US Congress passed a law authorizing pre-clearance in Montreal for rail travel. Once Canada passes their matching law, the facility can be built and eventually the Vermonter becomes the Montrealer. Terminating the train in a major city would make increased service frequency more economical.
 #1436888  by shadyjay
 
There was NO Amtrak SB Vermonter this morning. Passengers were/are being bussed to SPG. According to Amtrak, there will be a NB train tonight (7/5).

I also heard of a test train from SAB to Montreal sometime in the next couple of weeks.

As far as a second frequency, haven't heard anything yet. But, it would be nice to have a train from NYP-WRJ, arriving WRJ in the early afternoon, departing in the late afternoon for points south. Call it the "Connecticut Yankee". With new Conn River Line stations in Mass seeing excellent ridership, It would seem the demand is there for another frequency.
 #1437185  by gokeefe
 
shadyjay wrote:I also heard of a test train from SAB to Montreal sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Wow ... If true that would be tremendous news. Indicating that VT and Amtrak are much closer than we thought to being ready to restore the Montrealer.
 #1437302  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
That's not news. NECR has already finished upgrading all track from St. Albans to the border + the Lake Champlain drawbridge with a fat federal grant handed down several years ago to VTrans via the arm-twisting of Sen. Leahy. NECR then used its status as maintainer of the CN-owned trackage from East Allburg to Cantic Jct. to launder an out-of-pocket share of upgrades to close the rest of the gap to the Adirondack. Ostensibly the grant was "freight" uprate to 286K, Class 2 freight speeds, full state-of-repair, grade crossing renewal, crossing protection installations...but it was transparently obvious that Montrealer restoration was the whole reason for it. The only remaining touch-up that may be necessary is a Class 2-to-3 uprate so the passenger speeds match WRJ-StA...but they replaced so much hardware in the upgrades the speed increase may be a wholly paper move rubber-stamped by an FRA inspection train. If there is anything left to do for capital spending it's maybe just a couple gate installations on minor road crossings that didn't get the full works done during the big freight grant.


Of course the Rousses Point sub is still going to be dog-slow for both Adirondack and Montrealer until Quebec province expends some upgrade capital. But timetable between St. Albans and Cantic Jct. should clock in a few minutes faster than in 1995 because of these 'stealth' NECR track upgrades.
 #1437321  by FCM2829
 
Is there any plan or study for direct service Montreal-Boston? VT seems to be the most logical routing, as the planning for a Montreal-Boston train via ME is still in the science fiction stage. With continued SPG line upgrades, are there plans/provisions for a connectiing train at Springfield?
 #1437338  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
FCM2829 wrote:Is there any plan or study for direct service Montreal-Boston? VT seems to be the most logical routing, as the planning for a Montreal-Boston train via ME is still in the science fiction stage. With continued SPG line upgrades, are there plans/provisions for a connectiing train at Springfield?
That's part of the NNEIRI study referenced above, which consists of:

-- restoration of Inland Route service with Springfield Shuttles extended to Boston, and expansion of the BOS Shuttle schedule to 10 round trips.
-- a BOS-MTL thru frequency
-- schedule coordination between a Springfield NE Regional and the BOS-MTL train, netting a de facto second Montrealer frequency for WSH-MTL patrons via cross-platform transfer @ SPG.
-- schedule coordination between an Inland Shuttle and the Montrealer, netting a de facto second BOS-MTL frequency via cross-platform transfer @ SPG.

The reason they're all lumped together in one multi-service study is that the Inlands are the primary demand and revenue driver, but they also set up the cross-platform transfers that give everyone WSH-SPG and BOS-SPG two daily shots at Montreal (and thus lowers the ops cost burden for the loss-leader running miles north-of-SPG). The study also tosses out a third short-turn Vermonter frequency running New Haven-St. Albans (undecided on continuing to MTL), but that's a bridge too far for launching simultaneously with BOS-MTL given VTrans' meager budget so is almost certainly going to be a wait-and-see that they chase later if demand merits.
 #1438126  by Train60
 
This video shows a 7 car Vermonter heading north with an Amtrak office car on Monday July 17th.
https://youtu.be/_d0jrXnS-hs?t=11s

Looks like Amtrak intends to run a test train today from St Albans to Montreal. Other images indicate that Wick Moorman is the guy with the tie on the Amtrak office car in this video. Hope he brought his passport.

UPDATED... seems to be confirmed with this short video of Mr Moorman's inspection train in St Albans today.
https://youtu.be/2Ecx5Wk1lec
  • 1
  • 127
  • 128
  • 129
  • 130
  • 131
  • 140