Plans to help Amtrak and improve the service it offers

PLATTSBURGH – With more delays on the horizon on Amtrak’s Adirondack Line, one private sector company believes they have a solution that can solve the problem and ensure safe and reliable travel across the region.

AmeriStarRail is proposing a plan that would extend the Amtrak Empire Service to Washington, D.C. to avoid the railroad’s planned cuts to Albany-New York service by more than 20% beginning November 11, in support of the East River rehabilitation project Tunnel in New York City.

The new service would be the first ever direct train from the cities of Albany and Hudson River to Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., AmeriStarRail says.

AmeriStarRail also wants to restore Northeast Corridor service to Montreal for the first time in nearly 30 years

AmeriStarRail bills itself as a private sector company that is “planning the most dramatic transformation of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor service since America’s first high-speed trains, the Metroliners, in 1969.”

They plan to “privately finance and operate a new standardized fleet of high-speed trains offering Triple-Class service of Coach, Business and First Class on every Amtrak Northeast Corridor train. This will finally ensure transportation equity on all Amtrak trains so that seniors, families, students, individuals with disabilities, and low-income passengers can have affordable and equitable access to high-speed rail in America for the first time in our history.

PLANS

AmeriStarRail Chief Operating Officer Scott Spencer sent a letter to Amtrak Chief Executive Officer Stephen Gardner, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and other New York state officials detailing several solutions to help Amtrak passengers make the biggest cuts to the Empire Corridor in the history of Amtrak.

“Such a draconian cut in service threatens to disrupt the rail travel of businesses, families, friends, seniors, students and tourists, which would cause a significant loss of passengers and revenue for Amtrak on one of the nation’s busiest corridors,” said Spencer.

Spencer said one of the plans to help would be to improve Empire Service operations to Philadelphia and Washington, which would include the possibility of combining some Northeast Corridor and Empire Service trains to improve train movements in the East River Tunnel and offer a one-seat ride from Albany. and Hudson River cities to Washington, DC for the first time ever.

If the Adirondack Line is combined with Northeast Corridor trains, it will restore Amtrak service from Washington, Baltimore, Wilmington and Philadelphia to Montreal, which was discontinued nearly 30 years ago, Spencer said.

This continuous operation would be supported by the use of electric and diesel locomotives at each end of the train and the changing of crews and direction of the train at New York Penn Station. The locomotives and passenger cars would be maintained and serviced at Ivy City Yard in D.C. instead of Sunnyside Yard in New York, Spencer said.

“This is a common practice of what they do in Europe and Asia,” he said.

Amtrak did not specifically address AmeriStarRail’s plans, but said that of the two New York City-Albany roundtrips that have been suspended, one of the roundtrips arrived in Albany-Rensselaer at 1:15 a.m. and departed at 5:10 a.m.; a train leaving from Albany to New York at 5:55 a.m. continues to run.

Customers who would have used the other suspended round trip can still use (in both directions) other trains that run an hour or less earlier and an hour or less later than the suspended round trip.

“To conduct major rehabilitation of New York City’s East River Tunnel, a critical infrastructure component for northeastern travel that was damaged during Superstorm Sandy, Amtrak had to make temporary changes to some long-distance and state-supported services” , Amtrak said.

“We have communicated and collaborated with our partners at NYSDOT on these service changes and have mutually agreed to this new schedule, which maintains 80% of the line’s service while giving this important infrastructure asset a much-needed and overdue upgrade as part of a $ 1.6 billion investments in New York State.”

CHANGES NEEDED

Steve Strauss of the Empire State Passenger Association, an advocate for rail passengers, said the bottom line is that the Department of Transportation and Amtrak have a number of things they can do to reduce the tunnel closure’s impact on Amtrak passengers in the future. soften. Hudson Valley and Upstate, but they have not yet decided to implement them.

“ESPA believes it is easiest to lengthen all remaining trains with one or more cars, so that the number of seats in the corridor remains approximately the same even if the frequency of the trains decreases,” Strauss said.

Service on the Adirondack Line, which runs from New York City to Montreal and back, has been plagued by stops and delays since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The problems have angered regional officials who worry about more upcoming delays.

“Amtrak needs to stop playing games with the North Country,” said State Assemblyman D. Billy Jones (D-Chateaugay Lake).

“For more than four years, we have heard excuse after excuse as to why they cannot operate the Adirondack Line to Montreal, which not only hurts our regional economy, but local residents and students who rely on this service. This new delay due to construction in New York City is a disservice to the North Country that needs to be addressed by both Amtrak and the New York State Department of Transportation.

North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-Schuylerville) is also investigating the case.

“My office has contacted Amtrak demanding accountability following their ill-advised decision to once again reduce the quality of service for passengers on the Adirondack Line just one month after resuming full service,” Stefanik said.

“Amtrak’s continued mismanagement of the Adirondack Line is unacceptable. I am calling on Amtrak to work on a solution that will prevent disruptions to the lives of thousands of New Yorkers and tourists to our region.”

Garry Douglas, president of the North Country Chamber of Commerce, which has long fought for better Amtrak service in the region, said in the near future the impact on the Adirondack and other trains between New York and Albany during construction of the East River in the city needs to be addressed urgently. -think.

“The tentative 90- to 120-minute layovers in Albany should be avoided so that we can finally restore passenger numbers after four years of various disruptions,” Douglas said.

“More broadly, Amtrak needs a cultural shift in our region to become communicative and transparent with our federal and state officials and with key stakeholder groups like ours and the Empire State Passengers Association. Frankly, this might have to include some leadership changes at Amtrak, no matter who the next president is.