Want to visit Montreal by train? Durham, UNH stop would be part of route from Boston

DURHAM — Officials in Canada are renewing previously-derailed plans to launch an overnight passenger train running from Montreal to Boston — and a stop in Seacoast New Hampshire is in the mix.

Train enthusiasts over the northern border are proposing a 14-hour overnight journey from Canada’s second-most populated city to Boston, including a stop at the Durham train station on the University of New Hampshire campus.

Durham, which has an existing Amtrak Downeaster platform adjacent to the UNH Dairy Bar, is one of 17 locations along the proposed route. Durham would be the second to last stop in the journey from Montreal to Boston, and the second stop for overnight trains from Boston to Montreal, a city of about 3.6 million people.

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Durham Town Administrator Todd Selig said the town has not engaged in any discussions with railroad authorities about the proposal but called the possibility of the overnight route “a very positive development.”

“From the perspective of the town of Durham, that would be absolutely fantastic,” Selig said. “It would provide potential Durham riders with the ability not only to travel south to Boston but also north up beyond Portland and Brunswick into Canada, which would be a real benefit to the Durham and University of New Hampshire community. We’re very positive about this news.”

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At the forefront of the proposal is the Montreal-based nonprofit Fondation Trains De Nuit, which conducted studies a few years ago to review whether the overnight route could be viable. According to Fondation Trains De Nuit President François Pepin, the condition of the tracks throughout Quebec would cost about $100 million in Canadian currency to repair, a project price that comes ahead of negotiations with private railroads involved with the route. 

Though the proposal fizzled out a few years ago after cost studies, a meeting between planners and elected legislators from Canada and New England was held last week in Coaticook, a town in southeastern Quebec, to revisit the idea. 

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“We want to start the movement back up again, while in the states, especially in Vermont and Maine, people really want that project. There’s a lot of interest on both sides,” said Pepin.

Fondation Trains De Nuit reports the cost of the full trek from Montreal to Boston, a 14-hour ride, would be about $212 in Canada, or about $160 in U.S. currency under the current exchange rate. Sleeper cars would be provided for those taking the full trip. Food and drinks would not be included in the fee.

Additional noteworthy stops across New England along the proposed train’s route include Portland and Old Orchard Beach, a traditional hotspot for Canadian tourists in the warmer months.

After Montreal, the overnight train would pass through seven Canadian towns and cities: Candiac, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Farnham, Bromont, Magog, Sherbrooke and Coaticook. The train would travel south to Island Pond, Vermont, then venture east to New Hampshire’s North Country,  where it would stop in Berlin and Gorham. 

Moving into Maine, the train would stop in Bethel and Auburn, loop down to Portland and Old Orchard Beach, then south to Durham before arriving in Boston. 

Dover and Exeter, which have Amtrak train station stops in New Hampshire, are not included in the Montreal-Boston plans at this time, but organizers have not ruled out adding them in the future.

Why would train run in overnight hours?

People riding the overnight train, which would depart Montreal around 6 p.m. and arrive in North Station in Boston around 8 a.m. the following day, would have access to dining and bar cars and could listen to live musical acts, Pepin said. 

Benefits to riding the overnight train, he added, include avoiding traffic in major cities, utilizing public transportation, and lodging as the long trip unfolds.

Pepin said, “Night trains are more and more popular in Europe, so there is a trend on the other side of the Atlantic that we hope could be the same on this side.” 

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Former Quebec politician François Rebello is working with the Fondation Trains De Nuit and investors to lobby for the overnight train, which he noted could fit 120 passengers in sleeper cars and an additional 70 people riding coach for portions of the trip.

Rebello's work stretches back to the Fondation Trains De Nuit's work to analyze the railroad tracks in Canada. He said railroad companies rejected an overnight proposal in 2017.

Now, because progress has been made with railroad companies in Canada and investors are on board, Rebello said, the time has come to revisit proposing the ideas to American railroad companies.

"It’s not done, but this project is progressing a lot," Rebello said.

Before each overnight trip commences, Rebello said the same train would offer five high-speed round trips from Montreal to Sherbrooke, Quebec, in a route that offers stops in five other locations in Canada. At a pace of 25 mph, there would be two overnight trains each evening — one departing Montreal for Boston and vice versa.

“Two trains passing in the night,” Rebello said.

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Rebello hopes the Fondation Trains De Nuit will have agreements in place with railroad companies, including Amtrak, the MBTA and Genesee and Wyoming, Inc., by the midway point of 2023, though discussions are in the preliminary stages.

If deals are reached, and once the necessary repairs are made to the tracks in Canada with possible government grants and investor funding, the hope is for the overnight train to begin taking passengers in 2024.

“I think that all the pieces are there and I don't see why we can’t have this train,” Rebello said.