For AK cruisers: Amtrak to restore service from Oregon to Vancouver B.C. in September!

[xlxo]

https://www.kptv.com/2022/07/01/amtrak-restore-service-oregon-vancouver-bc-earlier-than-expected/

 

> Amtrak declared in May that staffing concerns had forced the Cascades route reopening to be postponed until this December

 

> they were able to advance the schedule by three months to September

 

 

 

 

[Ferry_Watcher]

Yup, just as the Seattle/Alaska cruise season wraps up.

[AV8rix]

Not soon enough for me, although I've ALWAYS taken the Cascades pre-COVID.  For my August cruise gonna cost me about $500 to stay for a night at the Richmond Radisson or Holiday Inn Express and park my car for the two weeks 😬.  And that's not even including the cost of gas in the car for the 220-mile round trip.  Even if I choose just the Canada Place parking (without an overnight stay) it's about $500.

 

So why don't I just fly?  Not even taking into consideration the hassle of YVR arrival/departure, cost me $200+ round-trip for Lyft or shuttle to Sea-Tac from Snohomish County.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I'll believe it when I see it.

 

I love the Cascades from Portland or Seattle up to Vancouver, and I was disappointed that I had to fly from Portland to avoid the change to a bus in Seattle. Amtrak has promised and promised--like Macbeth's speech "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow..."

[GTJ]

Hopefully Amtrak will provide more notice than it did recently for the restoration of service between New York and Toronto via the "Maple Leaf." In that case the Amtrak press release with the service resumption notice was issued on the same day that service was resumed . . . and it was operating into Ontario even before Via Rail Canada had any corresponding information on its website! No one knew about! (It reminded me of the quote from Dr. Stangelove: "The whole point of the doomsday machine . . . is lost if you keep it a secret!") While the planned resumption will miss the summer travel season--a curse that apparently applies equally to the Washington State Ferries in its inability to resume service between Anacortes and Sidney this summer!--at least both Seattle and Vancouver are business cities with year-round travel and commerce between them.

 

On 7/2/2022 at 11:57 AM, AV8rix said:

So why don't I just fly?

I might well reverse the question: Why would one fly? If one lives in Washington state, and traveling only to Vancouver, B.C., there is no reason to fly. Much easier, more comfortable, and likely quicker, by railroad or bus.

 

On 7/3/2022 at 11:10 AM, 3rdGenCunarder said:

I was disappointed that I had to fly from Portland to avoid the change to a bus in Seattle.

Is there an issue with having the bus transfer at King Street station, versus a bus transfer at some other point? While it has been some time since I was last at King Street, my understanding is that the station has been nicely maintained since its restoration in 2013, and that it is an easy boarding of Cantrail Coach Lines right at the station.

[3rdGenCunarder]

11 hours ago, GTJ said:

 

Is there an issue with having the bus transfer at King Street station, versus a bus transfer at some other point? While it has been some time since I was last at King Street, my understanding is that the station has been nicely maintained since its restoration in 2013, and that it is an easy boarding of Cantrail Coach Lines right at the station.

 

I was sailing with Cunard, so lots of luggage to schlepp. More than the change to a bus was the whole drag your stuff to/through/from customs & immigration. And there's the bus limitation on carry-on. I am very possessive of my camera and laptop, and didn't want them under the bus in my rollaboard airplane carryon. 

 

Yes, the station is beautiful. But nobody at Cantrail could tell me where the bus boards. The woman I spoke to said something about Chinatown! I think she was trying to give me the general location, but I wanted specifics. All in all, it sounded like misery. The Air Canada flight, while more expensive, was easy, fast, and comfortable.

[cat shepard]

Thank you for sharing this info. I was just about to ask a question. My friend and I want to take the train from Vancouver to Seattle, so we can visit her brother after our Alaska trip.  But when I called, the recording only offered tickets for a bus. We were confused.  We plan on traveling September 13th. I wonder what our odds are of the train being restored by then?

 

Some of the above comments Don’t give me much hope. 

[xlxo]

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

The woman I spoke to said something about Chinatown! I think she was trying to give me the general location, but I wanted specifics.

When I used to travel on the former Bolt bus, pickup was near the intersection of 5th Ave South and S Weller.  This intersection is one block East of Amtrak station and one block West of Chinatown.  Just outside of the Boiling Point restaurant is a staging area for charter buses.

[GTJ]

7 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I was sailing with Cunard, so lots of luggage to schlepp. More than the change to a bus was the whole drag your stuff to/through/from customs & immigration. And there's the bus limitation on carry-on. I am very possessive of my camera and laptop, and didn't want them under the bus in my rollaboard airplane carryon. 

 

Yes, the station is beautiful. But nobody at Cantrail could tell me where the bus boards. The woman I spoke to said something about Chinatown! I think she was trying to give me the general location, but I wanted specifics. All in all, it sounded like misery. The Air Canada flight, while more expensive, was easy, fast, and comfortable.

At King Street there are red caps, so baggage is not an issue there. But Surrey-Blaine is another matter! A big part of the problem is that immigration and customs officials don't care about travelers, there are no baggage carts, and there's no one from Amtrak or Via Rail Canada to provide assistance. In this 21st century there ought to be a better way to inspect! Immigration and customs at Niagara Falls has started doing the same thing with railroad passengers: compelling them to alight from the train, with all baggage in tow, report for inspection inside the station, and then re-board the same train for the remainder of the journey to Toronto. But the Cascades train has the benefit of clearing immigration and customs at the Pacific Central station without that inconvenience! There's talk of doing the same thing at Gare Centrale in Montréal . . . but at least until then the inspection is done on board the train, there being no facilities for off-train inspection as in Niagara Falls!

 

I am also possessive of my camera equipment. Probably more so than most people these days since I continue to use film and avoid x-ray exposure. Never place such items below the coach: I have never had any issues with using the overhead racks. No bus driver would want to take responsibility for having camera or computer equipment being placed under the coach!

 

Ordinarily, coaches board on the west side of the station, on King Street itself. You can see a coach in the picture here. It is terrible that the Cantrail representative would have been ill-informed in not knowing the details of loading location. Usually in small companies like Cantrail most employees have the knowledge (the problems usually arise in larger companies, including Amtrak, where many telephone representatives are isolated and have no contact with day-to-day operating people!) My experience is that when Amtrak arranges for Thruway bus service, it provides substantial direction within stations to its passengers as to the boarding of the coaches.

 

Much depends on personal perception. I gave up on commercial aviation more then twenty years ago, largely because it had become so miserable and invasive. I am much more comfortable traveling by railroad, bus, and ocean liner.

[xlxo]

14 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

the bus limitation on carry-on

The main bus limitation I found is like 7 or 8 inches thickness!  Carry-on a plane needs to be less than 9 inches thick that winds up under a bus..  I now cram what I can into a 6 inch thick backpack or  6 inch thick briefcase to ensure I can use the bus overhead storage area.

[xlxo]

5 hours ago, GTJ said:

At King Street there are red caps

What are "red caps"?

[3rdGenCunarder]

8 hours ago, xlxo said:

What are "red caps"?

Amtrak's official porters. Small stations don't have them. They put your luggage on a cart and take you to the train. I didn't know if the red caps at Seattle would take passengers to the bus. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

CTJ, I agree about flying, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. I will fly if it's the most convenient option. 

 

My problem was so much luggage. I could have shipped the garment bag with the "posh frocks," since I didn't need them for the conference I attended before the cruise. I've shipped luggage in the past, no problem. But with all the understaffing and airport issues, I was afraid to risk it. 

 

Thanks for the info about Niagara Falls. I'm thinking about Chicago to Toronto next year. I think I'll take Amtrak to Chicago, but fly home instead of the very early and very long day on the Maple Leaf. 

 

Amtrak should be more forthcoming in its description of the border crossing procedures. For anyone going to Alaska from Seattle or Portland, I hope they get the Cascades running sooner than announced.

[GTJ]

14 hours ago, xlxo said:

The main bus limitation I found is like 7 or 8 inches thickness!

I have never liked Setra motorcoaches because they have traditionally had very short overhead parcel racks. The same had been true of the Le Mirage motorcoaches manufactured by Prevost for many years, but that design has since evolved into the X3-45 models with decent overhead parcel racks. Cantrail uses the Prevost H3-45 model motorcoaches (slightly superior to the X3-45), which I believe use the same overhead parcel racks. MCI motorcoaches have always had good overhead parcel racks (as had the former Eagles used as mainstays by Trailways). But it is true that, in modern coach designs, the use of enclosed parcel racks leaves less room than the formerly open parcel racks (just as on aircraft). One of my complaints of the Ultra Dome rail cars, manufactured by Colorado Railcar and used by Alaska Railroad, Princess-Holland America, Wilderness Express, and Rocky Mountaineer, for their complete lack of any overhead parcel racks--solely for aesthetic reasons--and requiring all carry-ons to be stored on the floor.

 

6 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

[Red caps are] Amtrak's official porters. Small stations don't have them. They put your luggage on a cart and take you to the train. I didn't know if the red caps at Seattle would take passengers to the bus. 

Amtrak has a page on its website describing the service here. Unfortunately there are only twelve stations with the service, but Seattle is one of them. Generally, red caps will handle baggage between all Amtrak services (and the Thruway bus to Vancouver is an Amtrak service), as well as to connecting transportation including taxis. I have used red cap service at Pennsylvania Station, in New York City, when connecting from an Amtrak train (typically being heavily burdened with baggage from having returned from a ski trip) onto a local Long Island Rail Road train to my home. Most convenient had been use of Via Rail Canada red caps at Gare Centrale in Montréal, on the day I return to New York City. The Amtrak train has no checked baggage, so in the early morning I leave my baggage with a red cap and spend the remaining time in Montréal doing last-minute errands, sightseeing, and eating breakfast. At train time I go directly to the gate, with no baggage, onto the platform and into the car, the red cap having already loaded my baggage into the overhead parcel racks. So convenient! I would imagine that the red caps in Seattle are just as helpful and proficient as they are in New York and Montréal. Alas, according to the Toronto Star article here, the red caps that had worked for Via Rail Canada have all been terminated as being "obsolete." (This would not affect Vancouver, as the service was being provided only in Montréal and Toronto.) Yet despite this assertion, most large airports continue to offer this well-used service, though with the term "red cap" adjusted for aviation . . . "skycap."

 

6 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

Thanks for the info about Niagara Falls. I'm thinking about Chicago to Toronto next year. I think I'll take Amtrak to Chicago, but fly home instead of the very early and very long day on the Maple Leaf.

I think that all involved have done a poor job with the cross-border service between Toronto and New York. Going to Toronto, there is 45 minutes allocated for inspection at Niagara Falls, Ontario. In the opposite direction, to New York, there is 1 hour 40 minutes (!) allocated for inspection at Niagara Falls, New York. The cross-border service between Montréal and New York is not quite so bad, with one hour allocated for inspection at Rouses Point, New York, going to New York; and about 45 minutes allocated for inspection at Lacolle, Québec, going to Montréal (but not a real allocation because there are no schedule times that must be followed north of Plattsburgh). Many years ago Delaware & Hudson Railroad and the Central Vermont Railroad allocated only about ten minutes to cross the border. The added time today is not the result of post-9/11/01 concerns because virtually the same schedules were being operated by Amtrak prior to 2001. Ideally immigration and customs should be carried out while the train is in motion between Rouses Point and St. Lambert . . . as well as between Blaine and Vancouver! (But inspection moving could not really be done on the "Maple Leaf" because there's not enough time between Niagara Falls, New York, and Niagara Falls, Ontario, to do so.) Even with the excessive time at the border, however, the trip between Toronto and New York by railroad is more pleasant than flying.

[jsglow]

On 7/2/2022 at 6:14 AM, Ferry_Watcher said:

Yup, just as the Seattle/Alaska cruise season wraps up.

Ha! Exactly Ferry.  Came back here to read up on the latest.  DW and I have bus tickets already purchased for trip from Seattle to Vancouver one day before cruise in late August.

[cruising cockroach]

On 7/6/2022 at 7:43 PM, GTJ said:

a curse that apparently applies equally to the Washington State Ferries in its inability to resume service between Anacortes and Sidney this summer!--

 

 

Only one SOLAS-equipped ferry left so it's unlikely this service will ever resume (back up ship Elwha as retired a few years ago).  No one in the state who doesn't need to use the ferry systems wants to put a red cent towards new ship.

[GTJ]

15 hours ago, cruising cockroach said:

 

Only one SOLAS-equipped ferry left so it's unlikely this [Anacortes-to-Sidney] service will ever resume (back up ship Elwha as retired a few years ago).

I hope that will not be the case. Nonetheless, there are alternatives: the Black Ball line operates its ferry to Victoria from Port Angeles (where there is Greyhound Lines service to and from Seattle) and Clipper Vacations operates is ferry to Victoria from Seattle. Indeed, access to Anacortes is the least convenient of all, with the thru bus service operated by Evergreen Trailways, between Victoria and Seattle and traveling on board the Anacortes ferry, having long ago been discontinued, and with the remaining local public transportation to and from Anacortes not particularly well-scheduled or useful. Nevertheless, being an enthusiast of ferries generally, I would be saddened if service in fact never resumes.