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Amtrak is Rolling Along
The service of Amtrak in upstate New York
The Acela Express rushes along the Adirondack scenery as it makes its way to the next station. Trees standing next to each other become a blur as the train travels at 150 miles per hour. They become collections of red, orange and green as they mesh together during the fall. Large bodies of water are frozen in their immense state as the mountains are softly blanketed with white snow during the winter. The next stop on this seasonal express brings us to wild yellow sunflowers blossoming in the North Country wilderness during the spring. This scenic journey ends in Penn Station of New York City where a brand new adventure awaits the Amtrak passengers.
Amtrak is one of the few available services for travel in upstate New York. “Amtrak's Empire Service provides convenient service throughout the Empire State,” says Clifford Cole, spokesperson for Amtrak. Cole says business and leisure travel is easier because daily trains between New York City and Albany also continue to Buffalo and Niagara Falls.
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The path up north has much to offer. The Ethan Allen Express brings a view of the Hudson River Valley's wine country, summer wildflowers, and New York and Vermont wilderness, says Cole. Travelers can see Niagara Falls and Buffalo if they take the Empire Service to the Finger Lakes region. With this scenic route, Amtrak also offers fewer stops, adjustable lighting, reserved business and first class seating, conference tables, electrical outlets, a meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in first class, and access to ClubAcela lounges on the Acela Express.
“It's connecting Montreal to Penn Station,” says the Plattsburgh Amtrak station caretaker, who refused to give her name due to professional reasons. Many students from New York City use this form of transportation. The average amount of student travelers is usually 10 to 15 depending on the college schedule, says the caretaker. During the summer and winter breaks, there are 50 to 90 students riding Amtrak rails. “It's a way for them to travel. You either take the bus, drive, or you take Amtrak.”
“It's connecting Montreal to Penn Station”
Still, with all these young individuals riding Amtrak, problems do arise. “Things go wrong and people get pissed,” she says. There’s a list of situations that can go wrong. Amtrak passes through customs in Montreal, so this can slow down the trains’ arrival time. “Everything has to be checked and rechecked,” says the caretaker. At times, the freights or the gates would break. In this situation, the train operators have to notify the dispatcher that the tracks need to be repaired. “Two passenger trains, one track, do the math,” says the caretaker. Then, there are also weather problems. The weather can affect the train signals. “If the signals aren't working right, the train has to slow down to a crawl.”
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Through all these problems, Amtrak conductor Chris Dipace enjoys the opportunity to interact with different people. “It's a great way of seeing different cultures and of seeing how people live,” he says. Dipace says he gets to learn how to deal with different people and has constant contact with them. “It's a good experience. You get to travel for free.”
Not only do the workers enjoy Amtrak's service, Adonica Wilson says riding Amtrak was fun. “It was actually relaxing,” she says. Wilson was in Plattsburgh visiting her son and it was her first time riding the Adirondack rails. “It was better than driving,” she adds. Marc Punnette, international student at SUNY Plattsburgh says Amtrak has good service. “The conductors are nice and easy to work with,” he says. Punnette says it was surreal riding the Adirondack rails. “It was amazing. You could just look out and see all the scenery.” Punnette says he enjoyed the experience with all his friends from Trinidad once riding back to school. “It was a romanticized thing. I would recommend that everyone take the train (Amtrak) at some point. The North country is a really beautiful place.”
Amtrak began making its way across the states on May 1, 1971. Passenger rail service was a dying transporation use during this time. Congress decided to pass an act called the Rail Passenger Service Act. This created a private company called Amtrak.
The National Railroad Passenger Corpaoration's (AMTRAK) act was signed on October 30, 1970 by President Richard Nixon. This act authorized Amtrak to manage the national rail network and operate trains with the contracts of the railroads.
This service was carried out to almost all of the 29 cities throughout the United States at the time. More than 250 smaller communites received Amtrak transportation.
With everything in place, Amtrak continues to offer service throughout the United States from the 1970s to the 21 Century.