Amtrak restores partial service for Adirondack Line

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (NEWS10) - Amtrak is restoring partial service to an upstate rail service. NEWS10 breaks down what stops are reopening and when they will be running again.

Right now, riders on the Adirondack Line can only travel from New York City to the Albany/Rensselaer station. But starting Monday, that service will be extended to Schenectady and Saratoga Springs.

Amtrack customers trying to visit the North Country and Montreal just can’t catch a break this summer. There have been many disruptions because of weather, fires, and restrictions on Canadian tracks.

Assemblymember Angelo Santabarabara asked Amtrak to get the trains moving again. In a letter, today, the assemblymember thanked Amtrak for the limited resumption of service. “While I am pleased to see the restoration of service to Saratoga Springs, it is essential that we work towards a prompt resolution to restore service at least to points north as far as Plattsburgh to benefit upstate New York's residents and visitors,” he said.

But he also said that the resuming service is incomplete, and upstate tourism is suffering from the effects. “This is part of our economy; it supports our economy. It's very critical that we have restoration of the service in the state of New York,” said Santabarbara.

Steve Strauss, Executive Director of Empire State Passengers Association, said that things could take some time to restore the Adirondak Line back to full service. “There's some questions about whether there's a place to turn the train around properly or to store the Train on a spare track for a number of hours before it would change direction and then lastly there are federal regulations that limit how long an individual train crew can operate a train without a mandated rest period,” he said.

NEWS10 has reached out to Amtrak to see when full service of the Adirondack Line is expected to resume, and we are awaiting their response.