Chicago to Montréal Service

Believe the present planning is to run as a "sealed" train to/from Montreal and the US border,as is done with the Cascade service to/from Vancouver BC
and the border.

Chicago-Toronto International needs to be run as the Maple Leaf is run, as an Amtrak train on the US side,Total crew change at the border,
then as a VIA train in Canada to Toronto,trip is way too long to run as a "sealed" train.

The dynamics for more trains from Springfield to Worcester are such that one has to consider that that line is basically a single track railroad. Once you get to Worcester you've got to consider the Framingham safety conundrum which begs a tunnel solution and once you get to South Station with impending South Coast trains by 22, not many more trains are going to be coming in there until the postal plot rebuild in what 2025 or later.

Regardless if South Station is going to be viable for more trains in the near future or not, for folks who want to get from Boston to Montreal and vice versa not to mention the folks in between in Vermont and New Hampshire, the swiftest potential pathway is via Greenfield. And I do believe that in exchange for helping to redouble and improve the track to Fitchburg, Norfolk Southern in it's role as joint host would be more than willing to facilitate the process just like they were on the Knowledge corridor.

bdawe wrote:I would think that the best option for such a service would be neither this proposal nor by way of the ex-CN/GTW route, but rather by way of the Michigan Central Tunnel in Detroit. This has the benefit of serving the much larger metropolitan areas of Windsor and Detroit bypassed by the Grand Trunk, making use of ongoing Amtrak, Michigan , VIA Rail & Ontario investments in higher speed corridors connecting Chicago & Detroit and Montreal and Toronto rather than the smaller cities of upstate New York.

Furthermore, the Michigan Central Tunnel is majority owned by an Ontario pension fund, who could likely be more easily induced to part with the tunnel than could a class I railway.

agreed. FWIW, Chicago-Toronto is one of the busiest airline pairs in north America.

Safetee wrote:The dynamics for more trains from Springfield to Worcester are such that one has to consider that that line is basically a single track railroad. Once you get to Worcester you've got to consider the Framingham safety conundrum which begs a tunnel solution and once you get to South Station with impending South Coast trains by 22, not many more trains are going to be coming in there until the postal plot rebuild in what 2025 or later.

You may be too pessimistic here. This hypothetical service involves one train each way a day, not fleets, which makes little incremental difference on the already busy line east of Worcester. As for Worcester-Springfield, I realize that dealing with CSX on passenger issues isn't a picnic, however by the time this could happen there may well have been some sort of CSX/Massachusetts/Amtrak deal worked out in connection with the perennially proposed restoration of Inland Route service to New York via Springfield. Of course nothing happens west of Worcester (or Fitchburg) without a good chunk of state and/or Federal money.

Regardless if South Station is going to be viable for more trains in the near future or not, for folks who want to get from Boston to Montreal and vice versa not to mention the folks in between in Vermont and New Hampshire, the swiftest potential pathway is via Greenfield.

Just add a few tens of millions of dollars to the cost of the service startup for the required 50 miles of track upgrading to a minimum 59mph. NS may be cooperative, but they're not going to pay for it. Also factor in the business you'll lose by bypassing Worcester (metropolitan population 935,000) and Springfield (metropolitan population 632, 000) in favor of metropoli like Fitchburg and Athol.

TomNelligan wrote: metropoli like Fitchburg and Athol.

I laughed out loud in a way inappropriate for work.

If we had to avoid the SPG-WOR stretch could we send it up the gardner branch? Not that i see any reason we would want to bypass SPG anyway

Fitchburg 40,414

Athol 11,619

Montréal to Albany to Springfield to Greenfield to Fitchburg to Boston

Connecting Shuttle Service from Ayer to Worcester is pictured in black

What does Boston, Springfield, et all have to do with CHi-MON?

I'm not sure what all this has to do with Chicago to Montreal but obviously New England has a far greater unconsumated affinity to get to and from Montreal by rail. If people from Chicago want to go to Montreal they can always walk, but here in the east, we prefer the train.

What’s wrong with connecting to VIA in Sarnia or Windsor, or connecting from the Lake Shore to the Adirondack at Albany? (With a possible overnight.)

Another thread was recently also talking about restoring service north of Syracuse, I presume on this same line, in this case also related to having a southern link to Binghamton, Scranton, etc. Perhaps this comprises the makings of a new N-S 'Inland Route', relieving the pressure on the overloaded route through Albany.

mtuandrew wrote:What’s wrong with connecting to VIA in Sarnia or Windsor, or connecting from the Lake Shore to the Adirondack at Albany? (With a possible overnight.)

Boston to Montréal is a huge market with no actual one-day options by train. You can't connect from Amtrak to VIA in Windsor or Sarnia anymore.

benboston wrote:

mtuandrew wrote:What’s wrong with connecting to VIA in Sarnia or Windsor, or connecting from the Lake Shore to the Adirondack at Albany? (With a possible overnight.)

Boston to Montréal is a huge market with no actual one-day options by train. You can't connect from Amtrak to VIA in Windsor or Sarnia anymore.

I’m talking about Chicago-Montreal like the original poster said. At either Windsor or Sarnia it would have to be a self-connect via taxi, but if you don’t mind an overnight Amtrak can carry you CHI-Montreal via ALB.

Boston-Montreal is already in a different thread, so I don’t know why it’s under discussion here

chicago-toronto with connections to montreal makes sense

Suburban Station wrote:chicago-toronto with connections to montreal makes sense

The startup goal here should be Chicago-Toronto, with through-ticketing to Montreal on Via. If the service proves extremely popular, only then should a through train be considered.