50 YEARS AGO

Additional Amtrak service sought

A subcommittee of the state’s congregational delegation presented the National Railroad Passenger Corp. with arguments to persuade Amtrak to route its passenger service from New York City to Montreal via Albany, Saratoga Springs and Plattsburgh. The congressmen met with Roger Lewis, Amtrak president, to also protest the cutbacks earlier between Rensselaer and New York and between Buffalo and Syracuse. Several area congressmen reported a Montreal route over Delaware & Hudson tracks would be 65 miles and two to three hours shorter than another route through the Connecticut River Valley. An amendment authorizing $2 million ($13.8 million today) for international train service between the U.S. and Montreal and Vancouver, Canada, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, had passed both Senate and House versions of the Amtrak bill.

—Times Union, May 4, 1972

Compiled by C.J. Lais Jr. and Azra Haqqie.