CTDOT: Hartford Line

Gotta love it! Amtrak finally posted an announcement about the bus-stitution from the weekend after the fact.

What's the point of posting all that after the fact?

daybeers wrote:What's the point of posting all that after the fact?

Unsure of whether you are criticizing Amtrak posting it late or me posting that here after the fact. In case you are referring to me, I removed the information from my previous post since at this point it is useless info -was more just making fun of them posting it late.

Big E fair shuttle for Hartford Line trains this year:

https://www.ct.gov/dot/cwp/view.asp?A=1373&Q=604870" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I rode trains 417 and 412 yesterday for a pizza dinner in New Haven and made a few observations:

-Shuttle cars are now equipped with the new interiors - carpeting and cushions with the seats still facing both directions due to the push-pull operations.

-Windsor Central Street crossing restoration work proceeding - new platform on track 2 is also coming along nicely, although disagree with them building this temporary low level platform - will post photos from passing by tomorrow.

- Seems to be work going on in the vicinity of the Warehouse Point CT River bridge. Probably just routine repairs in the area.

- The "new" side of New Haven - State Street Station is now open. That was my first time seeing the new "southbound side" of the station.

- At Springfield Union high level platform work progressing - the old platform canopy is fully removed and they are now digging up and removing the former asphalt platform. Springfield line trains are using tracks 8 and 2a during the work - this was the first time I ever was on a train using track 2a at Springfield and the connecting track from the Springfield Line to the B&A tracks in order to access it.

9/15/18 - Hartford Line now operating single track on new track 2 from Windsor to Hartford freight yard. Windsor station new platform operational. Rehab work now underway on track 1 in preparation for double track operations which should begin October.

Does anyone know why they are crossing northbound trains running on track 2 over to track 1 at Elmwood in West Hartford rather than keeping them on track 2 until the end of the double track near the Parkville CTTransit station? Is this permanent or is track work in progress on track 2 north of Elmwood? I have noticed this in every recent train I've been on. It seems that it would make sense to run double track as many miles as possible to reduce the bottle neck at Hartford station. Same thing on the other side of Hartford once double tracking begins to Windsor I would hope the control point for the single track Hartford station would be as close to the station as possible.

Stopped by the Springfield station construction site again. The old platform is completely gone. They are now excavating down for foundation work- some pretty big areas dug out where the platform was and it appears they have begun raising up the new elevator shaft from where it was left during the initial construction. Still seems like a November completion date is overly enthusiastic and I believe the contractor that was awarded the job expressed concerns about the feasibility of MassDOT's timeline during the bid process. I guess we will see..

lordsigma12345 wrote:Does anyone know why they are crossing northbound trains running on track 2 over to track 1 at Elmwood in West Hartford rather than keeping them on track 2 until the end of the double track near the Parkville CTTransit station? Is this permanent or is track work in progress on track 2 north of Elmwood? I have noticed this in every recent train I've been on. It seems that it would make sense to run double track as many miles as possible to reduce the bottle neck at Hartford station. Same thing on the other side of Hartford once double tracking begins to Windsor I would hope the control point for the single track Hartford station would be as close to the station as possible.

I was wondering the same thing and surmised the reason was for temporary storage of Amtrak MOW equipment during the rebuild of the second track. That section of track 2 will have to be regularly used when the West Hartford station is built in the next phase of the Hartford Line project. Will be interesting to see if they use that section of track 2 prior to that point.

I guess we'll know soon as we are approaching the finish line on the NHHS project at least for now. New Track 2 is in service north of Hartford (single track right now as they are doing work on track 1.) The full project thus far should be in service by the end of the month. Hopefully they will move on to finishing the remaining miles of double track relatively soon.

JcPinCT wrote:

lordsigma12345 wrote:Does anyone know why they are crossing northbound trains running on track 2 over to track 1 at Elmwood in West Hartford rather than keeping them on track 2 until the end of the double track near the Parkville CTTransit station? Is this permanent or is track work in progress on track 2 north of Elmwood? I have noticed this in every recent train I've been on. It seems that it would make sense to run double track as many miles as possible to reduce the bottle neck at Hartford station. Same thing on the other side of Hartford once double tracking begins to Windsor I would hope the control point for the single track Hartford station would be as close to the station as possible.

I was wondering the same thing and surmised the reason was for temporary storage of Amtrak MOW equipment during the rebuild of the second track. That section of track 2 will have to be regularly used when the West Hartford station is built in the next phase of the Hartford Line project. Will be interesting to see if they use that section of track 2 prior to that point.

I doubt that second phase will even be started relatively soon.

What kind of top and average speed improvement were the final result?

Top speed is 110 MPH. Longest fast stretch is between Hartford and Berlin. A total of four segments now have speeds in excess of 80 MPH. Other than that stretch, sections with 90 MPH or higher include between Berlin and Meriden, between Meriden and Wallingford, and south of Wallingford to around North Haven (where the new improved double tracked section meets the old it drops to 80 MPH.

Went up to Meriden today to pick something up at Macy's, in the process I gave myself an excuse to see a few trains at Meriden.

1. Amtrak Shuttle train 409, which dropped off 4 people and picked up 3. The inside was over 2/3 full.
2. CTrail train 6456, which dropped off 3 passengers and picked up 1. Train was a little less than half full.
3. Amtrak Shuttle 464, which dropped off 5 people and picked up 2. This train was almost 3/4 full.
4. Vermonter 57, which let 5 people off and 7 on. The Vermonter was nearly full.

Big E/MGM has seemingly generated a decent amount of traffic this weekend. I was on Amtrak 467 yesterday to go to Farm Aid in Hartford and a very large amount of people got on in Springfield - the most I have ever seen board a train in SPG besides opening weekend of the Hartford line - they had to open up the second car which is the first time I've seen them having to open it up on a southbound Shuttle before Hartford. Was also a treat because got to board on Platform 2/Track 2a at Springfield which was a first (arrived on that track on a northbound train a week or so ago.)

An another note - did the Vermonter have locomotive problems Friday/Saturday? I noticed long delays on Fridays northbound and Saturday's southbound and went it arrived in Springfield while I was onboard 467 waiting to depart it had a Shuttle trainset behind it - I was wondering if the Shuttle equipment was sent up to "rescue" the Vemonter and was pushing it. That night I was returning from Farm Aid on 146 I had a treat with the Shuttle trainset leading the 146 Regional consist with the Metroliner cab car leading the train and the two locos sandwiched between the two trainsets - if this was the same equipment I'm assuming it had helped out the Vermonter earlier and was deadheading back up to Springfield.