[Jonny5]

Catching the next train is only a viable option if the next train is not 24 hours later!

They don't care. I once had a reason to take the bus to Syracuse from Toronto. It crossed at Queenston Lewiston into the US.
Someone had entry denied by US border agents and they told her to leave and walk back across the bridge to Canada.
She said "But how can I get home?"
The response was simply "I don't care. Leave right now without saying anything more or we arrest you for immigration fraud and put you in jail while awaiting court hearings."

This happened something like eight years ago. I imagine it's worse now.

 

[nfitz]

There would only be one station, though with two distinct areas - one for VIA and one for Amtrak.

I'm really, really, suprised (and impressed) that it could get from the existing Amtrak station, to the existing VIA station, in only 15 minutes.

The main Amtrak Detroit station at Woodward and East Baltimore?

So after it arrives there from Dearborn (Dearborn Transit Center) it would have to back out the Grand Trunk (CN) track from the station - for 4 km, and then change, presumably through low-speed switches, to the North Yard Branch, and do 1.5 km and two very tight curves onto the old Michigan Central line, through the tunnel (about 3 km to the border), onto the CP track for 4 km and then change to the Essex Terminal Railway for 5.5 km to the VIA track. And then change direction again for 2 km into the VIA Windsor station? Almost 20 km! In 15-minutes!

That makes VIA's 20-minute 18-km tour-de-Montreal from Dorval Station to Central Station look like a cakewalk!

They could save some time by not using the Amtrak station in Detroit, and then built new platforms where the Michigan Central Detroit Station platforms were - but you still have to do 13-km, through the tunnel, and over some slow track, before reversing direction to the VIA station.

Wouldn't it be simpler to just rebuild the Michigan Central Windsor station, and put the border stuff there. And after clearing customs for the train to wind slowly to the VIA station (though surely a bus bridge, or a 5-minute taxi ride woud make more economic sense.

They don't care. I once had a reason to take the bus to Syracuse from Toronto. It crossed at Queenston Lewiston into the US.
Someone had entry denied by US border agents and they told her to leave and walk back across the bridge to Canada.
She said "But how can I get home?"
The response was simply "I don't care. Leave right now without saying anything more or we arrest you for immigration fraud and put you in jail while awaiting court hearings."

This happened something like eight years ago. I imagine it's worse now.

Are you sure this was the Lewiston Bridge? Did it used to have a sidewalk?

I'd have thought that bus traffic would have used the Rainbow Bridge.

 

[dowlingm]

Now we are adding the cost of rebuilding a station on the CPR to modern standards, even before we get into the CPR wanting that in their way when they only promised some tunnel slots?

It’s starting to make my “rebuild the old CN Sarnia tunnel for passenger and extend Blue Water to the VIA” look positively rational

 

[ShonTron]

I'm really, really, suprised (and impressed) that it could get from the existing Amtrak station, to the existing VIA station, in only 15 minutes.

The main Amtrak Detroit station at Woodward and East Baltimore?

So after it arrives there from Dearborn (Dearborn Transit Center) it would have to back out the Grand Trunk (CN) track from the station - for 4 km, and then change, presumably through low-speed switches, to the North Yard Branch, and do 1.5 km and two very tight curves onto the old Michigan Central line, through the tunnel (about 3 km to the border), onto the CP track for 4 km and then change to the Essex Terminal Railway for 5.5 km to the VIA track. And then change direction again for 2 km into the VIA Windsor station? Almost 20 km! In 15-minutes!

That makes VIA's 20-minute 18-km tour-de-Montreal from Dorval Station to Central Station look like a cakewalk!

They could save some time by not using the Amtrak station in Detroit, and then built new platforms where the Michigan Central Detroit Station platforms were - but you still have to do 13-km, through the tunnel, and over some slow track, before reversing direction to the VIA station.

Wouldn't it be simpler to just rebuild the Michigan Central Windsor station, and put the border stuff there. And after clearing customs for the train to wind slowly to the VIA station (though surely a bus bridge, or a 5-minute taxi ride woud make more economic sense.


Are you sure this was the Lewiston Bridge? Did it used to have a sidewalk?
View attachment 689909

I'd have thought that bus traffic would have used the Rainbow Bridge.

Scheduled bus routes between Toronto and Buffalo take the Peace Bridge, even if they stop in Niagara Falls ON. Peace Bridge has a sidewalk.

 

[Urban Sky]

They could save some time by not using the Amtrak station in Detroit, and then built new platforms where the Michigan Central Detroit Station platforms were - but you still have to do 13-km, through the tunnel, and over some slow track, before reversing direction to the VIA station.

What do you think “Detroit MCR” stands for?

 

[nfitz]

What do you think “Detroit MCR” stands for?

That makes sense - though there hasn't been any services there for years, and the recent renovations reportedly eliminated the connections from the old station to where the platforms are/were. Someone had mentioned it uses the Amtrak station - which does have better transit connections.

Still, 15 minutes from there to the VIA station seems iffy. About 15 km? Presumably much of it at 45 km/hr? And changing direction just outside the VIA station? Unless the schedule is wrong, I gotta think the new Amtrak facility is on the CP mainline, somewhere between College and Tecumseh. That's what the talk was at one point - perhaps the schedule is from an earlier phase of work.

 

[Bordercollie]

I haven't seen any videos of the double shot venture sets are they doing testing or are they in service?

 

[Jonny5]

I'm really, really, suprised (and impressed) that it could get from the existing Amtrak station, to the existing VIA station, in only 15 minutes.

The main Amtrak Detroit station at Woodward and East Baltimore?

So after it arrives there from Dearborn (Dearborn Transit Center) it would have to back out the Grand Trunk (CN) track from the station - for 4 km, and then change, presumably through low-speed switches, to the North Yard Branch, and do 1.5 km and two very tight curves onto the old Michigan Central line, through the tunnel (about 3 km to the border), onto the CP track for 4 km and then change to the Essex Terminal Railway for 5.5 km to the VIA track. And then change direction again for 2 km into the VIA Windsor station? Almost 20 km! In 15-minutes!

That makes VIA's 20-minute 18-km tour-de-Montreal from Dorval Station to Central Station look like a cakewalk!

They could save some time by not using the Amtrak station in Detroit, and then built new platforms where the Michigan Central Detroit Station platforms were - but you still have to do 13-km, through the tunnel, and over some slow track, before reversing direction to the VIA station.

Wouldn't it be simpler to just rebuild the Michigan Central Windsor station, and put the border stuff there. And after clearing customs for the train to wind slowly to the VIA station (though surely a bus bridge, or a 5-minute taxi ride woud make more economic sense.


Are you sure this was the Lewiston Bridge? Did it used to have a sidewalk?
View attachment 689909

I'd have thought that bus traffic would have used the Rainbow Bridge.

That's possible. I might be picking the wrong one. It was an old Megabus trip. I know it wasn't the Peace Bridge as it was about a 20 to 30 minutes drive to the next stop after the border which was the Buffalo bus terminal (what a depressing place).

 

[reaperexpress]

That makes sense - though there hasn't been any services there for years, and the recent renovations reportedly eliminated the connections from the old station to where the platforms are/were. Someone had mentioned it uses the Amtrak station - which does have better transit connections.

Yeah, it's disappointing that Ford didn't leave space for a proper station there. There's basically just room for a simple platform. Michigan Central would be a much better location for the customs since there are more Canadians heading to Detroit than Americans heading to Windsor. Locating the customs there would save an hour for passengers heading from Canada to Detroit compared to the customs in Windsor.

Sadly it seems like the ship has sailed on my vision of establishing Michigan Central as an international railway hub:

Still, 15 minutes from there to the VIA station seems iffy. About 15 km? Presumably much of it at 45 km/hr? And changing direction just outside the VIA station? Unless the schedule is wrong, I gotta think the new Amtrak facility is on the CP mainline, somewhere between College and Tecumseh. That's what the talk was at one point - perhaps the schedule is from an earlier phase of work.

The fact sheet and diagram both include a new track connection so they don't need to change direction at Windsor. So the distance is about 12 km:

12 km in 15 min is 48 km/h average, which seems possible assuming they rebuild the ETR trackage to a decent speed (60 mph?). According to OpenRailwayMap the CPKC line is 40 mph (64 km/h) but that's presumably for freight, so maybe passenger trains could reach 50 or 60 mph:

 

[Sauga89]

That makes sense - though there hasn't been any services there for years, and the recent renovations reportedly eliminated the connections from the old station to where the platforms are/were. Someone had mentioned it uses the Amtrak station - which does have better transit connections.

Still, 15 minutes from there to the VIA station seems iffy. About 15 km? Presumably much of it at 45 km/hr? And changing direction just outside the VIA station? Unless the schedule is wrong, I gotta think the new Amtrak facility is on the CP mainline, somewhere between College and Tecumseh. That's what the talk was at one point - perhaps the schedule is from an earlier phase of work.

If you read earlier posts in the thread, you'll see Michigan announced last week that a new station would be built adjacent to the old Michigan Central.

Michigan announced yesterday that it would build a new train station in Detroit to serve cross-border trains. The station is to be built adjacent to the old Michigan Central station so that trains can use the existing CPKC tunnel.

Under the plan, Amtrak trains will cross the border and passengers will have to switch to VIA in Windsor. The Detroit Free Press is reporting that there will be a customs facility on the Canadian side, and that Amtrak is waiting on approval for $50 million from the Canadian federal government for new platforms and other infrastructure.