Amtrak Vermonter / Montrealer

BandA wrote: ↑Sun Oct 08, 2023 11:28 am An ad from Amtrak for the Vermonter isn't going to generate many ticket sales, we already know how to find their website.

Amtrak is welcome to advertise on some radio stations I'm connected to. They serve an area that includes Bellows Falls, Windsor, Claremont, White River Junction, and Randolph, along with neighboring Hanover, Lebanon, and the Lake Sunapee area.

Corridor ID x2: MyNBC5.com

Vermont secures $1 million for rail investments

A new federal investment will allow the Vermont Agency of Transportation to expand Amtrak service to Quebec

Vermont's congressional delegation has announced a combined $1 million for the Agency of Transportation to develop long-range plans to improve and expand existing passenger rail services.

The grants will help develop and enhance domestic and international Amtrak travel to Vermont.

The Vermonter Corridor Project will assess project needs to improve existing Amtrak Vermonter service between major east coast travel hubs including improving reliability, and extending service to Montreal.

The Green Mountain Corridor project will include planning and assessing project needs for establishing passenger rail to communities in southwestern Vermont through the Ethan Allen Express.
...

Haven’t they done enough planning and assessing? The best I’ve seen in cross-border passenger train service has been between Washington and British Columbia on the Cascades route. Everyone exits the train at final destination and corralled in a way to be clear. The VIA Rail Station used by Montreal has to have something along these lines, or modifications for it, or send the Vermonter and Adirondack over to the EXO Montreal Station - the one I can’t remember the name of at the moment……. The Maple Leaf is a tough one since there’s intermediate stops in Ontario. But here we are just talking about the Vermonter (and sidekick Adirondack that would benefit from said improvements) whereby there’s the last station in Vermont and then the train “expresses” over to Montreal. Drop or don’t have any intermediate stops to expedite. That would have to be done. Sad that it has taken this long to essentially restore the Montrealer as a day train to Canada.

BandA wrote: ↑Sun Oct 08, 2023 11:28 am I don't know of a solution appropriate for online sites like railroad.net. An ad from Amtrak for the Vermonter isn't going to generate many ticket sales, we already know how to find their website.

Rail aware persons know the Vermonter but the general public does not!!

jp1822 wrote: ↑Sat May 25, 2024 6:45 pm Haven’t they done enough planning and assessing? The best I’ve seen in cross-border passenger train service has been between Washington and British Columbia on the Cascades route. Everyone exits the train at final destination and corralled in a way to be clear. The VIA Rail Station used by Montreal has to have something along these lines, or modifications for it, or send the Vermonter and Adirondack over to the EXO Montreal Station - the one I can’t remember the name of at the moment……. The Maple Leaf is a tough one since there’s intermediate stops in Ontario. But here we are just talking about the Vermonter (and sidekick Adirondack that would benefit from said improvements) whereby there’s the last station in Vermont and then the train “expresses” over to Montreal. Drop or don’t have any intermediate stops to expedite. That would have to be done. Sad that it has taken this long to essentially restore the Montrealer as a day train to Canada.

The plan for Montreal preclearance is that there will be no intermediate stops in QC (so St-Laurent goes)

As for Maple Leaf, my view is to truncate in Niagara Falls ON but extend one or more additional Empires there, and leave the rest of the journey for VIA and/or GO to operate. Heading straight to Toronto leaves a lot of custom on the table while adding hours and miles to Amtrak equipment and crews, and if you have to get off for screening why not change equipment too.

Doesn't the Maple Leaf change crews at the border? I thought that from Niagara Falls ON to Toronto it ran as a VIA train, albeit with Amtrak equipment.

charlesriverbranch wrote: ↑Tue Jun 04, 2024 6:38 am Doesn't the Maple Leaf change crews at the border? I thought that from Niagara Falls ON to Toronto it ran as a VIA train, albeit with Amtrak equipment.

It does (or did when I last rode pre-pandemic). This included instruction from the Via conductors for emergency exit door operation on the Amfleet gear for one lucky business class passenger seated at the rear of the train.

This crew change also required reticketing all passengers (when I last rode). When I purchased NYP-Toronto from the Amtrak web site it have me one ticket for NYP-NFS, and a second ticket for NFS-TWO. The NFS-TWO ticket was was lifted by the Via conductor after departing customs. I learned this the hard way when I carelessly managed to forget my second ticket -- cost me $80 CAD!.