detroit to windsor border crossing, recommended arrival time

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MichiganKathyJ

Royal Oak, Michigan

posts: 5

reviews: 1

detroit to windsor border crossing, recommended arrival time

Oct 12, 2012, 10:08 AM

Taking the 9 am train from windsor to toronto for a long weekend. How much time before departure is recommended that we arrive at the Windsor station? Do you check in for a train like you do for a plane? We'll take the tunnel from detroit to windsor to cross the border. Can anyone can give me a general idea of how much time to allow on a Friday morning to cross and get through customs? Is there usually rush hour traffic going that way around this time? Thanks!

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5 replies to this topic

krustytripper

Burlington, Canada

posts: 1,607

reviews: 28

1. Re: detroit to windsor border crossing, recommended arrival time

Oct 12, 2012, 10:16 AM

Arriving 15 minutes before your train leaves is good. Theoretically you could arrive on the platform 1 minute before departure and still be fine but you want to give yourself some breathing room so 15 minutes is ample.

Sorry, I'm not qualified to tell you about the traffic crossing the border. I'd say if your train leaves at 9am be at the tunnel by 7:30 just in case. Perhaps others know better.

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WindsorTenor

Windsor, Canada

posts: 335

reviews: 73

2. Re: detroit to windsor border crossing, recommended arrival time

Oct 12, 2012, 12:06 PM

The rush hour between Detroit and Windsor in the morning is ultimately going the OPPOSITE way of you! Most commuters are going into the USA for work at that time.

There really is no way of knowing how much time to allow as anything could happen and slow things down.

In general if you hit the tunnel between 7:30 and 8:00 you should have plenty of time to make your train. It is about a 5 minute drive from the tunnel exit to the train station.

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mattInTO

Toronto, Canada

posts: 6,330

3. Re: detroit to windsor border crossing, recommended arrival time

Oct 12, 2012, 1:39 PM

You can get live border wait times at www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/bwt-taf/menu-eng.html or via Twitter at http://twitter.com/CBSA_DCT .

"No delay" means less than 10 minutes to get to the booth, and looking back through old tweets the maximum delay I see is 20 minutes. You should allow more time than that, obviously, in case of unforeseen problems, but a long wait doesn't seem to be typical.

Re: check-in, if you received an e-ticket that says "Boarding Pass" and has a big 2-D barcode, that's all you need to board the train and there's no check-in process (unless you're checking bags, on trains that allow it). If you have a confirmation of some sort that isn't a full ticket, you'd need to visit the ticket counter or use a kiosk to print your tickets; that shouldn't take long.

Edited: 1:43 pm, October 12, 2012

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