The Adirondack is a passenger train operated daily along the Empire Corridor by Amtrak between New York City and Montreal. The trip takes approximately 11 hours to cover a published distance of 381 miles (613Â km), traveling through the scenic Hudson Valley and the Adirondack Mountains. The Adirondack operates as train 68 towards New York, and as 69 from New York to Montreal.
The Adirondack service is financed by the New York State Department of Transportation. The Adirondack service suffers from numerous delays along the route because almost none of the trackage is owned by Amtrak, and also because the route crosses an international boundary. The on-time performance of the route averaged 64.8% for the year ending June 2016. According to Amtrak, 28.8% of the train delay was due to track- and signal-related problems, especially along the Delaware & Hudson (CP Rail) segment.
During fiscal year 2015, the Adirondack carried over 132,345 passengers. The train had a total revenue of $7,453,664 during FY2015.
History
At the inception of Amtrak in 1971 the Delaware & Hudson operated two trains between Albany, New York and Montreal: the Montreal Limited (overnight) and the Laurentian (day). Both trains were discontinued, and for three years the D&H line saw no service. The Adirondack began running on August 5, 1974, from Grand Central Terminal in New York to Albany, then over the D&H's line to Windsor Station in Montreal. From the outset the train operated with financial support from the state of New York.
Route details
The Adirondack operates over Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific Railway, CSX Transportation, Metro-North Railroad, and Amtrak rails:
- CN St-Hyacinthe Subdivision, Montreal to Saint-Lambert (6.15Â mi)
- CN Rouses Point Subdivision, Saint-Lambert to Rouses Point (42.7Â mi)
- CP Canadian Subdivision, Rouses Point to Ballston (169.3Â mi)
- CP Freight Subdivision, Ballston to Schenectady (4.6Â mi)
- CSX Hudson Subdivision, Schenectady to Poughkeepsie (trackage leased by Amtrak) (86.3Â mi)
- Metro-North Hudson Line, Poughkeepsie to Spuyten Duyvil (61.8Â mi)
- Amtrak Empire Connection, Spuyten Duyvil to Penn Station
Note: From 1974 to 1986, the Adirondack used CP Rail's Windsor Station. Until the Empire Connection was built in 1991, the train served Grand Central Terminal instead of Penn Station in New York City. There is a short distance of track between Albany and Schenectady that allows for 110 MPH (177Â km/h) operations.
Station stops
Equipment
The Adirondack debuted in 1974 with D&H equipment, much of it ex-Laurentian, as Amtrak was experiencing equipment shortages. These were supplemented by a pair of Skyline dome cars leased from the Canadian Pacific Railway. Four D&H ALCO PA diesel locomotives hauled the train. On March 1, 1977, new Turboliner gas turbine trainsets took over from the D&H cars. Conventional Amtrak equipment would eventually displace the Turboliners.
The Adirondack operates year-round with General Electric P42DC and P32AC-DM units and Amfleet passenger cars. A typical consist will include:
- 1 P42DC/P32AC-DM locomotive. The P32AC-DM operates between New York and Albany; the P42DC handles the remainder.
- 1 Amfleet I cafe car
- 2-4 Amfleet I coach cars
- 2 Amfleet II coach cars
- 1 Ocean View 'Great Dome' (Certain runs only). Operates only from (Albany to Montreal, due to height restrictions in New York Penn Station.
The Adirondack, unlike other Empire Service trains and the Maple Leaf, does not offer business class seating.
Proposed high-speed line
There is a proposal for a Montrealâ€"New York City high-speed train. On October 6, 2005, the Albany Times-Union reported that New York Governor George Pataki and Quebec Premier Jean Charest "called for the creation of high-speed rail service between Montreal and New York City as a way to boost the regional economy during the third Quebec-New York Economic Summit [on October 4]". Little progress seems to have been made since then, and the Federal Railroad Administration has instead preferred a link between Montreal and Boston, despite the fact that independent ridership analyses have suggested that the New York state route would be much more promising.
In popular culture
In the fourth season of the TV sitcom Friends, in the episode "The One with the Girl from Poughkeepsie," Ross Geller falls asleep on the train, ending up in Montreal when traveling to Poughkeepsie to visit a girlfriend.
The song "Anna-Lisa" by Prozzak plays an announcement of the train's Montreal-bound stops in the background.
See also
- Laurentian
- Montrealer
- Maple Leaf (Amtrak)
References
External links
- Amtrak â€" Adirondack
