Travel to and from Canada on Amtrak

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Travel to and from Canada on Amtrak

• Transportation Border Working Group

Winnipeg October 28, 2009
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Overview of Amtrak

• Began operations May 1, 1971
• Took over the deficit passenger businesses of
  more than (then) 20 private railroad companies
• 21,000 mile nationwide route system
• 28.7 million passengers carried in 2008
• 27.2 million passengers carried in 2009
• More than 300 intercity trains per day
• Northeast Corridor (High-Speed)
• State Corridors (Include all services to Canada)
• Long Distance System

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Amtrak Services to Canada

• Current
• Portland Seattle Vancouver Amtrak Cascades
  and Thruway buses
• New York Toronto Maple Leaf (A VIA Rail
  Canada train when in Canada)
• New York Montreal Adirondack
• Discontinued
• Chicago Toronto International
• Washington Montreal Montrealer
• New York Detroit Niagara Rainbow

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Current Route System
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Amtrak Ridership to and from Canada

• Amtrak Cascades - Vancouver
• FY 2007 66,175
• FY 2008 67,179
• FY 2009 74,566
• Maple Leaf - Toronto
• FY 2007 59,459
• FY 2008 66,275
• FY 2009 46,575
• Adirondack Montreal
• FY 2007 63,229
• FY 2008 71,599
• FY 2009 66,008

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Customs and Immigration Processes Amtrak
Cascades

• Current northbound
• All customs and immigration done entirely in
  Pacific Central Station
• Current southbound
• Immigration pre-clearance - Pacific Central
  Station
• Customs On board trains stopped at Blaine WA
• Amtrak recommendation in PRIIA Section 406 report
  to Congress
• All customs and immigration in both directions to
  be done entirely at Pacific Central Station with
  closed door train operations in Canada
• TSA, USCBP, CBSA plus local and Amtrak police
  participated in developing these recommendations

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Customs and Immigration Processes - Maple Leaf

• Current Northbound
• CBSA screens passengers on board in Niagara Falls
  ON station. The Maple Leaf becomes a VIA Rail
  Canada train at the border.
• Persons of interest receive secondary screening
  off board
• USCBP may do an outbound screening for a person
  of interest leaving the U.S.
• Current Southbound
• USCBP screens passengers on board in Niagara
  Falls NY Station. The Maple Leaf becomes an
  Amtrak train at the border.
• Persons of interest receive secondary screening
  off board in station including all third country
  nationals receiving biometrics evaluation
• Pending possibility All passengers disembark
  with luggage for processing off-board in new
  consolidated customs and immigration facilities
  on both sides of the border and then re-board
  trains
• Requested Continue current process or,
  preferably, develop a way to process passengers
  enroute with the train underway

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Customs and Immigration Processes Adirondack

• Current northbound
• Passengers screened on board with train stopped
  at Lacolle QC
• Persons of interest taken to nearby highway
  border crossing for secondary screening
• Current southbound
• Passengers screened on board with train stopped
  at Rouses Point NY
• Persons of interest taken to nearby highway
  border crossing for secondary screening
• Pending possibility All passengers disembark
  with luggage for processing off-board in new
  consolidated customs and immigration facilities
  on both sides of the border and then to re-board
  trains
• Recommendation Replicate Vancouver proposal
  with all customs and immigration in both
  directions done entirely at Montreal with closed
  door train operations in Canada, discontinuing
  the current stop at St. Lambert QC

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USDOT High Speed Rail Corridors
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Possible Future Border Crossings

• All three current locations between
• Amtrak Cascades between White Rock BC / Blaine
  WA
• Maple Leaf between Niagara Falls ON / NY
• Adirondack between Lacolle QC / Rouses Point NY
• Plus possibly
• Boston Montreal High Speed Corridor
• Chicago Michigan Ontario Quebec
• Very remote chance of reviving any discontinued
  crossings

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Objectives and Issues

• Objectives from an Amtrak perspective
• Increase cross border ridership
• Link seamlessly with VIA Rail Canada
• Maintain and improve passenger-friendly processes
  with minimal personal disruption
• Achieve progressively faster trip times rather
  than border formalities routinely taking up to an
  hour or more
• Issues
• Conflict between the legitimate objectives of
  border security and higher speed rail service
• Potential offloading of passengers with baggage
  for screening enroute would likely result in a
  two hour delay to trains for unloading,
  processing and reloading particularly risky
  during inclement weather and / or among elderly
  passengers
• Funding to achieve agreed objectives

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Amtrak Preferences

• Where there are no stops in Canada End point
  customs and immigration processing by CBSA and
  USCBP in Canada in both directions with closed
  door operation in Canada (as now northbound into
  Vancouver)
• Where end point processing is not practical due
  to intermediate stops in Canada Continue
  current on-board screening at the border while
  evaluating requirements for processing passengers
  with the train underway