RI South County/TF Green Airport Commuter Rail Service

My mistake. Get rid of the period. Try

http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/RI_Providence_2006.doc

ok, it works now

There's no spur to T.F. Green, the station would be right on the Amtrak mainline.

Interesting how the service to South County would still only operate on weekdays as does the current service into Providence.

What does RI have against running commuter rail service on weekends??

The first phase will have stations at Wickford Junction and Warwick/TF Green Airport. Future Stations are to be Pawtucket, East Greenwich and Cranston.

Is the proposed station stop in Pawtucket the same one that was called "Pawtucket - Central Falls" during the time the New Haven RR ran from Boston to New York on the "Shoreline"?

There has been "talk" about this happening, and I think that restoration plans, or at least a proposal, have even been drawn up by a RI historical restoration society. (?)

Has anyone seen any news about this happening?

Thanks...

Paul

There's a big dispute over the station. A developer has proposed tearing down the abandoned Pawtucket station to build a shopping plaza. The city then woke up and realized they would lose an opportunity to have a commuter rail station and has considered using eminent domain to get the station.

This is the latest Providence Journal article on the Pawtucket Station from April 1, 2005:
http://www.projo.com/blackstone/content ... a2db6.html

Isn't the abandoned station big enough that part of it could be used for retail stores?

^
Yeah and it has a large parking lot which could be built on.

Heres some photos of what the current station looks like:
http://www.artinruins.com/arch/decay/ce ... /index.php


____
Heres another map I made of what the RI extension would likely look like:
RI MBTA Extension

That proposed redevelopment plan on the A.I.R. site is nice. There is plenty of room for air rights development as the tracks are below grade at the station.

I've read that RIPTAs proposal calls for limited parking, but instead rerouting RIPTA buses from the surrounding area to directly serve the station. I'm not sure what the immediate vicinity of the station is like (I really should take a ride up there), but I assume there's lots of room in walking distance for more residential development.

The Attleboro's would continue to be the main park-n-ride stations for Northern Rhode Island, with future stations in Cranston, T.F. Green, and Wickford Jct. allowing for park-n-ride commuters south of Providence.

pdxstreetcar wrote:What does RI have against running commuter rail service on weekends??

I think that question answers itself. It's commuter rail service, and the number of commuters requiring transportation on the weekends is a fraction of that during the week.

Which is not to say that I agree with them. I think running trains to Providence from both the North and the South would do the state, or at the very least, Providence itself, a lot of good.

Imagine being able to take the train from Attleboro or Cranston for an afternoon of shopping at the Providence Place mall. You could then stay in town for dinner and maybe even a few drinks or a show, and take the train home at the end of the night. Not only would it bring extra business into the city, but it would have the added benefit of reducing the amount of drunk drivers on the roads.

Of course, then they'd have to rename it "Consumer Rail". Hyuk hyuk.

But what good is weekday-only service to an airport? People fly on all days of the week.

Try going to http://www.fta.dot.gov then enter "TF Green" in the search field at the top right. The search will return a link to the document which is in MS Word format.