The ''Niagara Rainbow'', known as the ''

Empire State Express The ''Empire State Express'' was one of the named passenger trains and onetime flagship of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad (a predecessor of the later New York Central Railroad). On September 14, 1891, it covered the 436 miles ...

'' before 1976, was an American passenger train service operated by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

between

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

via Buffalo and Southwestern Ontario in Canada. The service ran between October 31, 1974, and January 31, 1979.

History

Prior to the formation of Amtrak in 1971, the

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

's ''

Wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscul ...

'' 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 The Empire Corridor is a passenger rail corridor in New York State running between Penn Station in New York City and . Major cities on the route include Poughkeepsie, Albany, Schenectady, Amsterdam, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo. ...

, making a daily run between New York's Grand Central Terminal and Buffalo. The states of New York and

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

provided the funds to extend the train through to Detroit. 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 The Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway was a railway based in Hamilton that ran in Southern Ontario from 1892 to 1987. It never reached the other two cities in its name, although it did have branch lines extending to Dunnville and Port Maitl ...

/ Canadian Pacific Railway service to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Niagara Rainbow at Windsor station, July 1978

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, the ''

Lake Shore Limited The ''Lake Shore Limited'' is an overnight Amtrak intercity passenger train that runs between Chicago and either New York City or Boston via two sections east of Albany. The train began service in 1975; its predecessor was Amtrak's Chicago– ...

,'' with a single train. The proposed service would have separate sections via Detroit and Cleveland west of Buffalo plus separate Boston and New York sections east of Albany. That plan was not implemented and the two trains remained separate. In October 1978 the ''Niagara Rainbow'' finally began stopping in

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...

. Unlike the modern ''Maple Leaf'' which uses the

Whirlpool Rapids Bridge The Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, commonly known as the Whirlpool Bridge or the Lower Steel Arch Bridge (before 1937), is a spandrel braced, riveted, two-hinged arch bridge that crosses the international border between Canada and the United States, con ...

to cross into Canada, the ''Niagara Rainbow'' used the

Michigan Central Railway Bridge The Michigan Central Railway Bridge is an out-of-service steel arch bridge spanning the Niagara Gorge between Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York. The bridge is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway, which purchased the single track str ...

. From Canada the route travelled north then southwest using trackage from

Canada Southern Railway The Canada Southern Railway , also known as CSR, was a railway in southwestern Ontario, Canada, founded on February 28, 1868 as the Erie and Niagara Extension Railway. Its name was changed to Canada Southern Railway on December 24, 1869. The 1868 ...

with the stops at St. Thomas, Ontario and

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the southe ...

before crossing the border again into Detroit. 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 Brockman Adams (January 13, 1927 – September 10, 2004) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of Congress. A Democrat from Washington, Adams served as a U.S. Representative, Senator, and United States Secretary of Trans ...

, proposed re-routing the ''

'', which ran through

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

on the opposite side of

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...

, over the Ontario route but this plan was not adopted by Congress. Amtrak also ran an overnight service between New York and Toronto, also named the ''Niagara Rainbow'', from June 1994 to September 10, 1995. It operated as a once-weekly additional frequency of the ''

Maple Leaf The maple leaf is the characteristic leaf of the maple tree. It is the most widely recognized national symbol of Canada. History of use in Canada By the early 1700s, the maple leaf had been adopted as an emblem by the French Canadians along th ...

'', departing New York on Friday night and returning on Monday morning. In March 2019, Amtrak indicated interest in 'restoration' of a Detroit-Toronto service in its FY 2020 funding request.

References

{{Former Amtrak routes Former Amtrak routes International named passenger trains Named passenger trains of Canada Named passenger trains of Ontario Passenger rail transportation in Michigan Passenger rail transportation in New York (state) Railway services introduced in 1974 Railway services discontinued in 1979 Proposed Amtrak routes