Evidently Canada and the US has come up with a way to speed up customs clearances. Although this Canadian newspaper article is sparse on details the indications is that this will take several years. Maybe finally Cascades, Maple Leaf and Adirondac will stay on time more? May make possible more inter border trips possible some which were cancelled in past years?
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1098484--new-u-s-canada-border-deal-aims-to-cut-bottlenecks-but-at-a-price?bn=1
It should be as easy to move between the USA and Canada as it is to move among the states or among the provinces.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
In light of the current political climate regarding illegal entrants and secure borders, I don't think that we're going to see any improvement in Immigration and Customs procedures in the foreseeable future.
CSSHEGEWISCH In light of the current political climate regarding illegal entrants and secure borders, I don't think that we're going to see any improvement in Immigration and Customs procedures in the foreseeable future.
Speeding up and easing US - Canadian border crossing are much of what the agreement is about. The Cascades service by the end of 2012 will have a pre-departure check in Vancouver for the US bound trains that will eliminate the border inspection and holding up the entire train if they encounter passengers who need further inspection. Article in the Seattle Times on the agreement for the Cascades service and the push to add a 3rd daily train:
http://today.seattletimes.com/2011/12/amtraks-new-years-resolution-a-faster-train-ride-home-from-vancouver-b-c/
It has been reported that New York State and Quebec have been working towards a similar arrangement for the Adirondack to save an hour or sometimes more on the border crossing. Vermont is also an interested party as the state is seeking to extend the Vermonter to Montreal.
Alan F CSSHEGEWISCH: In light of the current political climate regarding illegal entrants and secure borders, I don't think that we're going to see any improvement in Immigration and Customs procedures in the foreseeable future. Speeding up and easing US - Canadian border crossing are much of what the agreement is about. The Cascades service by the end of 2012 will have a pre-departure check in Vancouver for the US bound trains that will eliminate the border inspection and holding up the entire train if they encounter passengers who need further inspection. Article in the Seattle Times on the agreement for the Cascades service and the push to add a 3rd daily train: http://today.seattletimes.com/2011/12/amtraks-new-years-resolution-a-faster-train-ride-home-from-vancouver-b-c/
CSSHEGEWISCH: In light of the current political climate regarding illegal entrants and secure borders, I don't think that we're going to see any improvement in Immigration and Customs procedures in the foreseeable future.
This is good news! It was just silly doing the border stop.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
Perhaps if in 2009 the US had not started requiring Canadians to have passports for all entry by sea and air - for the first time in our history - we might be more sympathetic to your desire for free movement.
I do not know if my wife and I have been profiled or not, but customs inspectors (both US and Canadian) have barely paused when we have gone through the checkpoints. On our last trip across Canada (in the spring of 2009), we were at the head of the line in Vancouver, and we were more or less waved on. Coming back through Rouses Point, the inspectors glanced at our passports and did not even ask for a declaration of what we had bought while in Canada (we were in Canada for two weeks and a day). The most interesting question we were ever asked was the one when we came back into the US in Port Huron, back in the spring of 1989: "Are you two hitched?"
Johnny
Until a couple of years ago you didn't NEED a passport to go to Canada. Of course that was before Americans turned into a spineless mass of Jello quivering under our beds.
Phoebe Vet Until a couple of years ago you didn't NEED a passport to go to Canada. Of course that was before Americans turned into a spineless mass of Jello quivering under our beds.
It's not that you need a passport to enter Canada, it's that you need a passport to enter the United States.
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