BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Congressman Brian Higgins and Niagara Falls Mayor Rob Restaino want the Amtrak Train Station in Niagara Falls to be prioritized as part of the American Jobs Plan, the $2.1 trillion infrastructure plan which would allocate $80 billion to improve and expand Amtrak.
Currently, there is no train travel from Canada to the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, there is normally access via the Maple Leaf Train, which goes from Toronto to New York City and has stops in between at Niagara Falls and Buffalo.
"Existing cross-border train service includes a two-hour transfer time across the board due to customs processing and a US-to-Canada crew change," Higgins said Monday in Niagara Falls. "The reduction of border wait time will make existing and new international passenger rail services more efficient and a viable mode of transportation compared to other options."
Higgins said there is $2 billion of economic activity daily between the border thanks to the hundreds of thousands of people who cross.
The Niagara Falls Train Station opened in 2016 with a price tag of $43 million. In 2020 there were approximately 16,000 riders, an average of 43 riders per day. The year before that, an average of 86 people rode the train daily. Higgins believes initiatives like the expanded services will lead to increased ridership. https://www.greatamericanstations.com/stations/niagara-falls-ny-nfl/
"Anything we can do to improve that would justify the investment in building this over the longer term," Higgins said.
Higgins is hopeful the Canadian government will collaborate with the US, saying there needs to be a substantial infrastructure investment in Canada, too.
