by Gilbert B Norman
TomNelligan wrote:Regarding the message quoted above... Mr. Norman, are you sure about the Boston & Maine? The B&M had no intercity passenger trains in 1971, just Boston-area intrastate commuter service. My recollection is that when the Montrealer was restored the following year it was under a new operating agreement between the B&M and Amtrak, not a spinoff of the events of 5/1/71. The Central Vermont Railway entered into a similar operating agreement at the same time.Having now reviewed the informative Don Phillips piece "The Road to Rescue" appearing in Summer CLASSIC TRAINS, I must concur with Mr. Nelligan and concede my noted point with regards to the Boston & Maine.
As I recall from learning at the time, the B&M and CV were fair and reasonable negotiating with Amtrak to operate The Montrealer and that the agreements reached with both roads were the model for similar Amended Agreements reached with with all major member roads other than Santa Fe, which inexplicably continued to operate under the May 1, 1971 Basic Agreement until i know not when - maybe even until the '96 BNSF merger.
However, when it came to negotiating with the Canadian National for access from E Alburgh to Montreal Central Station, the tune played differently. Here the CN (as distinct from its various US subsidiaries at the time - now all merged into the Grand Trunk), knew 1) Amtrak was under mandate to get The Montrealer up and running (along with Pacific international and Inter American) and 2) they were outside the jurisdiction of any US regulatory or arbitration agency. This of course was a recipe for 'dictation' rather than "negotiation'. Owing to the "dictated' high access cost to their rails and station facilities, it is no surprise that The Vermonter terminates in St Albans; it is also a surprise that Amtrak has not been more interested in a reroute of The Adirondack into Windsor, such as we have extensively discussed here at the Forum.
