Washington, D.C. - Today, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik announced that following her advocacy, Amtrak and the Canadian National Railway (CN) have reached an agreement to make the track improvements needed to prevent any future summer stoppages of service of Amtrak’s Adirondack Line.
“I am proud to announce that following my advocacy, Amtrak and CN have reached an agreement that will allow them to continue serving Upstate New York and North Country communities that rely on the Adirondack Line for transportation,” said Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. “This result will allow tourism to flourish through the summer months, strengthening economic development in the region and our partnership with our Canadian neighbors.”
Service of the Adirondack Line is expected to be modified in the coming weeks to ensure completion of the track work needed to help increase reliability of the service during the summer months in the future.
"While the journey to a favorable conclusion has seemed longer than the railway itself, we welcome the finalization of an agreement between Amtrak and CN that will avoid another summer long shutdown," says Garry Douglas, President of the North Country Chamber of Commerce. "This means that the six-week suspension starting May 20th will allow the heat related challenges on a stretch of the CN line north of the border to be fully resolved so that, when service resumes at the end of June, we should see no more rail condition interruptions for hopefully years to come. And that means service will be back for most of the summer and can resume the increase in ridership we were seeing before these suspensions. We thank our federal representatives and especially Congresswoman Stefanik for the persistent pursuit of this needed agreement and commitment."
“The Adirondack Train that runs between New York City and Montreal is an important mode of transportation in the North Country for residents and visitors alike. The closures in past years have been detrimental to our communities and I am pleased that they are finally addressing this issue so that we can keep the train operating in the future," said Assemblyman Billy Jones (D-Chateaugay Lake).
“I’m pleased to see an agreement be reached to make significant upgrades to this essential rail service. Once these ongoing repairs are completed, riders will enjoy a much better experience,” said State Senator Dan Stec.
In June 2023, CN implemented safety restrictions of 10mph which shut down service of the Adirondack Line when the temperature reached 86 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, citing concerns about the condition of the track. As a result, Amtrak suspended service north of Saratoga Springs for seventy-nine days.
In September 2023, Congresswoman Stefanik sent a letter demanding that Amtrak and CN provide a plan of action to avoid a future summer stoppage of service of the Amtrak Adirondack Line. The past ten months, Stefanik’s office has been engaged with Amtrak and CN, advocating to keep the Adirondack Line fully functional. Stefanik has been a longstanding advocate of the Adirondack Line. Following her continuous advocacy, Amtrak fully reopened the Adirondack Line in April 2023 after it was closed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
