Niagara Rainbow

Niagara Rainbow
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Discontinued
Locale	Michigan, New York, Ontario
First service	October 31, 1974
Last service	January 31, 1979
Former operator(s)	Amtrak
Route
Start	New York
No. of intermediate stops	16
End	Detroit
Distance travelled	676 miles (1,088 km)
Average journey time	14 hours 50 minutes
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	63, 64
Technical
Gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map Legend 0 mi (0 km) New York 32 mi (51 km) Croton-Harmon 73 mi (117 km) Poughkeepsie 88 mi (142 km) Rhinecliff-Kingston 114 mi (183 km) Hudson Lake Shore Limited to Boston 141 mi (227 km) Albany-Rensselaer Hudson River 151 mi (243 km) Colonie-Schenectady Adirondack to Montreal 178 mi (286 km) Amsterdam 238 mi (383 km) Utica 252 mi (406 km) Rome 286 mi (460 km) Syracuse 372 mi (599 km) Rochester 438 mi (705 km) Buffalo (Central) Lake Shore Limited to Chicago 440 mi (710 km) Buffalo (Exchange Street) 465 mi (748 km) Niagara Falls U.S./Canada border 467 mi (752 km) Welland 564 mi (908 km) St. Thomas 673 mi (1,083 km) Windsor Canada/U.S. border 676 mi (1,088 km) Detroit

For the Empire Corridor service, see Empire Service (Amtrak).

The Niagara Rainbow, known as the Empire State Express before 1976, was a daily passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York and Detroit via Buffalo and the Canadian province of Ontario. Prior to the formation of Amtrak in 1971 the Penn Central's Wolverine and Motor City Special had served the route, but Amtrak had truncated the Wolverine to Detroit and discontinued the Motor City Special.

The Empire State Express, as it was then known, made its first run to Detroit on October 31, 1974. Before that it was one of the trains on the Empire Corridor, making a daily run between New York's Grand Central Terminal and Buffalo. The states of New York and Michigan provided the funds to extend the train through to Detroit.^[1] A day train, the Empire State Express carried no sleeping accommodations but did run with a baggage car and diner. At Buffalo, passengers could connect with a Penn Central/Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway/Canadian Pacific Railway service to Toronto.^[2]

Amtrak changed the name of the train to Niagara Rainbow on April 25, 1976, although Niagara Falls itself continued to be served by a bus connection. In 1978 several state governments proposed replacing the Niagara Rainbow and its Chicago—Cleveland—New York counterpart Lake Shore Limited with a single train with separate sections via Detroit and Cleveland west of Buffalo and separate Boston and New York sections east of Albany.^[3] In the end the two trains remained separate. In October 1978 the Niagara Rainbow finally began stopping in Niagara Falls.^[4]

Amtrak truncated the Niagara Rainbow to Niagara Falls on January 31, 1979 after Michigan and New York withdrew their support. The United States Secretary of Transportation, Brock Adams, proposed re-routing the Lake Shore Limited, which ran through Cleveland on the opposite side of Lake Erie, over the Ontario route but this plan was not adopted by Congress.^[5][6]

References

1. ^ "States Seeking Rail Service". Beaver County Times. July 17, 1974. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4QgvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wNoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2931,272328&dq=amtrak+detroit&hl=en. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
2. ^ Amtrak (May 15, 1975). "All-America Schedules". http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19750515&item=0036. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
3. ^ Wald, Martin (February 8, 1978). "New East-West Rail Plan Would Have Buffalo Hub". Schenectady Gazette. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=19kwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qeAFAAAAIBAJ&pg=977,2084180&dq=amtrak+niagara+falls&hl=en. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
4. ^ Amtrak (October 29, 1978). "National Train Timetables". http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19781029&item=0032. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
5. ^ "Paring Down Amtrak". Toledo Blade. August 8, 1979. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EA0wAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iAIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5229,5211216&dq=amtrak+detroit&hl=en. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
6. ^ "Trains Will Return". Ludington Daily News. February 1, 1979. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=MnUvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YtwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3541,2356130&dq=amtrak+detroit&hl=en. Retrieved 2010-09-11.