VIA: Niagara Falls to Hamilton Ontario.

So, on the 7th march i'm going to Canada. Taking the maple leaf to niagara falls. My lady friend will be staying in in hamilton, and may not be up to driving from hamilton to get me from the station.

That said, the maple leaf gets in at 4:40 pm (give or take time for customs/border crossing stuff). What are my options to get to hamilton at this point? What are the fares? Is there a bus option?

25Hz wrote:So, on the 7th march i'm going to Canada. Taking the maple leaf to niagara falls. My lady friend will be staying in in hamilton, and may not be up to driving from hamilton to get me from the station.

That said, the maple leaf gets in at 4:40 pm (give or take time for customs/border crossing stuff). What are my options to get to hamilton at this point? What are the fares? Is there a bus option?

If you haven't booked your tickets already, you could continue your trip to Aldershot and catch a bus or train to Hamilton from there. Other wise you can catch the 5:30 GO Bus to Burlington and take to Burlington transit into Hamilton. In Hamilton you can transfer to a local bus. (about $12 in total)

Google Transit will tell you what you need to do, depending on where your friend lives or is willing to meet you.

Is there a coach canada bus i could get to burlington or such? I can't take the amtrak train any further than niagara falls ontario, it's at least 40 dollars more. I don't really care about trip time, the ride from my point of origin is all ready 10.5 hours, another few hours really isn't going to make a big difference. More concerned with cost. I was planning to see if i could take a VIA train then a GO bus.

I'll look into google transit.

25Hz wrote:Is there a coach canada bus i could get to burlington or such?

Coach Canada link here:

http://www.coachcanada.com/coachcanada/ ... lp.lang=en

There are several buses a day and it $21......but as bitf said: take the GO bus..... and it leaves right from the NF VIA Station at 5:30.

Go schedule here:

http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/en/ ... able12.pdf

25Hz wrote:I can't take the amtrak train any further than niagara falls ontario, it's at least 40 dollars more.

Don’t know why Amtrak is charging $40 more to go between Niagara Falls ON and Aldershot.

The regular VIA fare is $29 and you can get a super-saver for $21.

It’s the same train so suggest you buy your Amtrak ticket only as far as NF ON. Then buy a VIA ticket (on line) for the rest of the way to Aldershot.

Thank you all for the suggestions! This will be very helpful.

As for the cost, i'm guessing not many people go to niagara falls station on the canadian side from the US by rail. The total cost from my point of origin is $68 usd. Cheaper than driving!

I'll be returning home from the Hamilton area on the Maple Leaf on March 16th. I'm using Guest Reward points for the trip, but as they are only valid from Niagara Falls, I had to shell out cash to cover the VIA Rail portion of the trip, which for me was $49 from Toronto to Niagara Falls, ON (if I oversleep, I'll intercept the train at Aldershot, but I intend to start from the point of origin).

Interesting option. Aldershot is so much closer to Hamilton.

I just hope that when I board at Toronto, they don't squeeze all of us US-bound folks into the Amfleet I coach like they did on my 2005 return trip. On that day, after leaving Oakville, I had noticed more than enough room in two of the adjoining Amfleet II coaches and asked an attendant if I could move up one car, which she readily agreed to.

Silverliner II wrote:I just hope that when I board at Toronto, they don't squeeze all of us US-bound folks into the Amfleet I coach like they did on my 2005 return trip. On that day, after leaving Oakville, I had noticed more than enough room in two of the adjoining Amfleet II coaches and asked an attendant if I could move up one car, which she readily agreed to.

At new york penn it was the other way around, we (CN bound) got the amfleet 2 up next to the loco. Everyone else boarded the cars behind ours.

25Hz wrote:

Silverliner II wrote:I just hope that when I board at Toronto, they don't squeeze all of us US-bound folks into the Amfleet I coach like they did on my 2005 return trip. On that day, after leaving Oakville, I had noticed more than enough room in two of the adjoining Amfleet II coaches and asked an attendant if I could move up one car, which she readily agreed to.

At new york penn it was the other way around, we (CN bound) got the amfleet 2 up next to the loco. Everyone else boarded the cars behind ours.

That's what they did when I rode my round trip to Niagara Falls, ON in Feb of 2011. Amfleet II right next to the loco. I caught the same trainset home three days later and ended up in the Amfleet II that was the 2nd car from the loco.

Interesting operation that occurred for the eastbound train: when VIA 97 arrived at Niagara Falls (on time), the VIA crew and on board staff got off, along with maybe four passengers. The Amtrak crew (who had signed up at Niagara Falls, NY and taxied across the border) got on. Now Amtrak 64, they moved the train up two cars and the VIA cafe attendant offloaded all the food as the Amtrak attendant loaded his supplies. THEN, passengers were boarded, and the train departed. That whole operation took about 10 minutes, and yet the schedule allows a 2 minute dwell time. The train was technically 10 minutes late departing. Not that it matters much since you have to sit through Customs on the US side anyway and they finished their work a half hour before the scheduled departure time.

Yea, precise scheduling is difficult due to customs & other factors. At the end of a 10 hour trip another few minutes doesn't matter, but if they get too out of their "slot" they could be delayed by other traffic.

I've booked on The Maple Leaf through VIA Rail from Toronto to Niagara Falls and return. The reservation system advises that Club/Business Class is not available but I know the train has a Club Class. Does anyone know how it's possible to overcome that problem to get a seat in the Club/Business Class Car. I'm from Melbourne Australia. Travelling in August.

Trainplanner wrote:I've booked on The Maple Leaf through VIA Rail from Toronto to Niagara Falls and return. The reservation system advises that Club/Business Class is not available but I know the train has a Club Class. Does anyone know how it's possible to overcome that problem to get a seat in the Club/Business Class Car. I'm from Melbourne Australia. Travelling in August.

It's possible the Business Class seats are sold out already. It's possible someone might cancel, so I would keep checking if any become available.

Trainplanner wrote:I've booked on The Maple Leaf through VIA Rail from Toronto to Niagara Falls and return. The reservation system advises that Club/Business Class is not available but I know the train has a Club Class. Does anyone know how it's possible to overcome that problem to get a seat in the Club/Business Class Car. I'm from Melbourne Australia. Travelling in August.

Remember......in Canada the Maple Leaf uses Amtrak equipment but it is a VIA operated train and “VIA” Business Class is a totally different product......hot meal, complementary wine and beer......very similar to Acela First Class on Amtrak. It’s just not offered on the Maple Leaf.

“Amtrak” Business Class seats are available but only between US and Canadian stations, not within Canada. You can obtain a Business Class seat by purchasing an Amtrak ticket from Niagara Falls, New York to Toronto.