Montrealer

A special train celebrating the return of theMontrealer poses atAmherst station on July 17, 1989, the day before regular service began.
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Discontinued
Locale	Quebec New England Mid-Atlantic states
First service	June 15, 1924
Last service	March 31, 1995
Successor	Vermonter
Former operators	Amtrak Boston & Maine Canadian National Central Vermont New Haven Railroad Pennsylvania Railroad
Route
Termini	Washington, D.C. Montreal, Quebec
Stops	27
Distance travelled	666.2 miles (1,072.1 km)
Service frequency	Daily
On-board services
Seating arrangements	Reclining seat coaches
Sleeping arrangements	Sleeping car (1975)
Catering facilities	Dining car (1975)
Baggage facilities	Baggage car

TheMontrealer was an overnightpassenger train betweenWashington, D.C.,United States, andMontreal,Quebec,Canada. The train was operated from 1924 to 1966, and again underAmtrak from 1972 to 1995, excepting two years in the 1980s. The train was discontinued in 1995 and replaced by theVermonter, which provides daytime service as far north asSt. Albans, Vermont. Current Amtrak service to Montreal is provided by the daytime Adirondack from New York City via Albany.

The originalMontrealer entered service on June 15, 1924. The train provided overnight service from Washington, D.C., to New York City and Montreal on a route that passed throughNew England. TheWashingtonian operated over the same route in the southbound direction.^[1]

Both trains ran over five railroads: thePennsylvania Railroad, theNew Haven Railroad, theBoston & Maine Railroad, theCentral Vermont Railway, and theCanadian National Railway, which worked together to provide the equipment and crews to operate the train.^[1]

When it was inaugurated, theMontrealer also provided through service toOttawa andQuebec City. During the summer months the Quebec car originated a few days a week inMurray Bay, a resort area 86 miles (138 km) northeast of Quebec City.^[1]

North of the U.S.-Canadian border, in early years the train traveled east ofMissisquoi Bay and throughIberville on the route north to Montreal.^[2] By the 1950s the route was rerouted throughAlburg, Vermont, and in Quebec made stops atCantic,St. Johns andSt. Lambert before reaching Montreal.^[3]

TheMontrealer and theWashingtonian first ran during the days ofProhibition in the United States.The Washingtonian became known unofficially as "TheBootlegger" or simply "The Boot" because passengers often carried well-hidden bottles of liquor on the southbound train. During the Prohibition years theWashingtonian was a favorite target of U.S. federal agents who would board in St. Albans and search the train looking for illegal liquor.^[1][4] During the 1940s extrasections of the train were added for skiers on weekends in the winter months from New York toWaterbury, Vermont.^[1]

By the 1960s, service consisted of two daily round trips: the Washington–MontrealMontrealer/Washingtonian, and the New York City–Montrealer section of theAmbassador. On September 6, 1966, the trains were unceremoniously discontinued between Montreal andSpringfield, Massachusetts.^[5] Previously, theAmbassador had been an entirely separate day train counterpart to theMontrealer. The New Haven Railroad continued to operate its portion of the train between Springfield and New York City until December 31, 1968, when most passenger service on theNew Haven–Springfield Line was discontinued, upon the implementation of the merger of the New Haven Railroad into thePenn Central.^[1]

Montrealer (1972–1987)
Legend
0  Montreal 4 km 2 mi Saint-Lambert Quebec, Canada Vermont, USA 69 mi 111 km St. Albans 93 mi 150 km Essex Junction 115 mi 185 km Waterbury 125 mi 201 km Montpelier 186 mi 299 km White River Junction 226 mi 364 km Bellows Falls 249 mi 401 km Brattleboro VT MA 292 mi 470 km Northampton 309 mi 497 km Springfield MA CT 334 mi 538 km Hartford 344 mi 554 km Berlin 352 mi 566 km Meriden 368 mi 592 km New Haven 385 mi 620 km Bridgeport 408 mi 657 km Stamford CT NY 417 mi 671 km Rye 444 mi 715 km New York NY NJ 454 mi 731 km Newark Penn 501 mi 806 km Trenton NJ PA 529 mi 851 km North Philadelphia 534 mi 859 km Philadelphia PA DE 561 mi 903 km Wilmington DE MD 630 mi 1014 km Baltimore 660 mi 1062 km Capital Beltway closed 1983 MD DC 670 mi 1078 km Washington, D.C.
This diagram: view talk edit

In 1972, Congress passed a spending provision that required Amtrak to restore service to Canada, specifying the new route had to connect Montreal to Washington, DC. The law set off a competition between officials in New York State and Vermont as both vied to host the new route. New York officials cited better track conditions on the Delaware & Hudson Railroad route and that fact that it was 59 miles shorter. It also required less expensive infrastructure work to host passsenger trains, just $1.6 million compared to $3.4 million in Vermont. However, Vermont won out as the train would have been able to serve Pennsylvania Station and points south such as Philadelphia and Washington. The New York route would have required a transfer from Grand Central Terminal. New York state funded its own Adirondack service in 1974, its day-time service complimenting the Montrealer’s overnight schedule.^[6]

Amtrak began operation of a New York train, called theMontrealer northbound andWashingtonian southbound, on September 30, 1972.^[4] St. Lambert was the only intermediate station in Quebec retained from the previous iteration.^[7] It was the first train for which Amtrak hired its own staff, rather than contracting with the host railroad.^[8]: 27 The train was namedMontrealer in both directions on May 19, 1974.^[9] TheWashingtonian was also Train 185, which came from New York and later, along with most other regular trains on theNortheast Corridor, folded into oneNortheastDirect in 1995. TheMontrealer acquired a reputation as a party train due to the large numbers of skiers who would take the train, staying up late into the night or not sleeping at all.^{[citation needed]} Amtrak equipped the train with its own dedicatedlounge car, outfitted with an electric piano, dubbedLe Pub.^[9]

Amtrak'sMontrealer suffered numerous derailments during its years of operation:

• On January 5, 1973, the train derailed inRandolph, Vermont, due to a wrongly set switch.^[10]
• On September 5, 1981, nine cars of the southbound train derailed inHatfield, Massachusetts. No serious injuries were reported among the 328 passengers.^[11]
• On February 14, 1982, the train derailed inHolyoke, Massachusetts, near the Smith's Ferry section of the city. Four people were treated for minor injuries. An investigation found that the cause of the derailment was a spreading of the tracks.^[12]
• On February 14, 1984, the train derailed inVernon, Vermont.^[10]
• On June 29, 1990, the train derailed inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, ona curve just west of the Philadelphia Zoo. Two passengers were injured.^[13]

On the morning of July 7, 1984, the northboundMontrealer (carrying 262 passengers and 16 crew) was derailed by a washed-out culvert betweenWilliston andEssex, Vermont. Heavy rains over the previous night had broken beaver dams upstream, resulting in a 50-foot (15 m) washout in the 20-foot-high (6 m) embankment.^[14][15] Five of the train's thirteen cars fell into the stream, with one sleeper car buried under several other cars.^[16] Three passengers, one Amtrak attendant, and oneCentral Vermont Railway crew member were killed; 29 others were seriously injured.^[17] The train included four private chartered passenger cars, doubling the usual passenger load and increasing the number of injured; the resulting rescue operation involved extricating dozens of trapped passengers and was then the largest in Vermont history.^[15]

Despite the severity of the wreck, the death toll was low due to circumstances permitting quick rescue: area hospitals were at shift changes with doubled staff levels, a 2,400-personVermont National Guard detachment with helicopters and a tank retriever was nearby preparing for training, and a largemobile crane was at a construction site in nearbyGeorgia, Vermont.^[15] TheNational Transportation Safety Board investigation faulted Amtrak for the lack of a proper cab radio and recommended changes in locomotive battery placement, improvements in baggage rack and seat cushion retention, and the use of shatterproof mirrors in passenger cars.^[17]

TheMontrealer was suspended north ofSpringfield, Massachusetts, on April 6, 1987, because of deteriorating track conditions betweenBrattleboro andWindsor, Vermont.^[18] During the suspension, Amtrak offered bus service (operated byPeter Pan Bus Lines) betweenBurlington, Vermont, and Springfield, with connecting Amtrak service in Springfield.^[19][20]

This situation precipitated the only instance of Amtrak seizing another railroad byeminent domain, followed by the re-sale of the track by Amtrak to theCentral Vermont Railway. The matter went all the way to theSupreme Court inNational Railroad Passenger Corp. v. Boston & Maine Corp., which upheld Amtrak's action. Led by U.S. SenatorPatrick Leahy of Vermont and RepresentativeSilvio Conte of Massachusetts, Congress appropriated $5 million to rebuild the track.^[21] Only the section betweenWindsor andBrattleboro, Vermont, was transferred, however, leaving theConnecticut River Line betweenEast Northfield and Springfield, Massachusetts, as an obstacle.^[20]

TheMontrealer was reinstated in July 1989 with a longer routing to avoid the Connecticut River Line. The train used the Central Vermont Railway between East Northfield andNew London, Connecticut (with a stop atAmherst to replace the formerNorthampton stop) and theNortheast Corridor between New London and New Haven. Although slightly slower than the old route, this allowed for safe and reliable service.^[20] A special daytime train was run on July 17, 1989; regular service began with the northbound train on the 18th and the southbound on the 19th.^{[22]: 47 [20]} On November 1, 1991, an intermediatestop was added atWillimantic, Connecticut.^[23]

Montrealer service ended on March 31, 1995, amid a budget crisis. It was replaced with theVermonter, a daytime train sponsored by the state of Vermont, the next day. TheVermonter terminated at St. Albans rather than Montreal; it was routed over the New Haven-Springfield Line plus a section of theBoston Subdivision to reach the Central Vermont atPalmer.^[22]: 74

Efforts have been underway for many years to extend theVermonter to Montreal. In 2012 theFederal Railroad Administration awarded $7.9 million to allow for the upgrade of the existing freight rail line between St. Albans and the Canada–US border.^[24] Work on this project was completed in late 2014.

On March 16, 2015, the United States and Canada signed an agreement that would allow for the establishment of a pre-clearance customs and immigration facility withinCentral Station in Montreal. Before theVermonter can be extended to Montreal the agreement must first be approved byCongress and theParliament of Canada, and a preclearance facility must be constructed within Central Station.^[25][26]

On December 8, 2016, US President Barack Obama signed bipartisan legislation enabling US-Canada preclearance. On December 12, 2017, Canada'sGovernor General gave a royal assent to Bill C-23 enacted by Canada's House and Senate. The remaining hurdles to implementing the preclearance regime are anOrder in Council in Canada, and a joint agreement between the two countries on construction of the facilities in Montreal and the service operating procedures.^[27]

• Lapointe, Joe (September 12, 1993)."To Montreal, the Restful Way".The New York Times.
• Nelligan, Tom (October 1989). "Amtrak's Montrealer returns".Trains.ISSN 0041-0934.
• United States Congress Senate Select Committee on Small Business.The Impact of the Proposed Elimination of the "Montrealer": Hearing before the Select Committee on Small Business, South Burlington, Vt., May 11, 1979 (Report). U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 99.OCLC 5750460.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMontrealer (train).

• Montrealer timetable | August 8, 1960

• Former Amtrak routes
• Named passenger trains of Canada
• Night trains of Canada
• Night trains of the United States
• International named passenger trains
• Passenger rail transportation in Vermont
• Passenger rail transportation in Massachusetts
• Passenger rail transportation in Connecticut
• Passenger rail transportation in New York (state)
• Passenger rail transportation in New Jersey
• Passenger rail transportation in Pennsylvania
• Passenger rail transportation in Delaware
• Passenger rail transportation in Maryland
• Passenger rail transportation in Washington, D.C.
• Passenger rail transport in Quebec
• Railway services introduced in 1972
• Railway services discontinued in 1995

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