Maine MEDOT proposed RDC service brunswick-rockland

electricron wrote: ↑Sat Jul 22, 2023 10:38 am I will agree that the entire station should be wheelchair accessible, should not all public buildings
be so by now? Mini-highs are sufficient with RDCs everywhere else, they should be so in Maine as well.

Mini-highs are based on an ADA rule of "one car per train" to meet standards. However NJT has stopped building
new mini highs since the Comet I fleet was retired (not common for the cab car on the east end to be the only
accessible car) and Massachusetts now has a policy of "full accessibility", such as new MBTA stations. Even the
new Port Jervis station is a single car mini high.

R36 Combine Coach wrote: ↑Fri Aug 04, 2023 9:30 pm Mini-highs are based on an ADA rule of "one car per train" to meet standards. However...........

We are discussing Maine, and all ex-TRE, DCTA, via All Earth RDCs are equipped with ramps to reach mini-high platforms. Whereas at each station with a mini high platform can only platform one car at a time, nothing is preventing the carrier from stopping each RDC at the mini-high platform as needed. A train service targeting tourists is not under the same time pressure as commuter services (NJT, MBTA, MTA, etc.
It is just a matter of taking the time to load and unload each RDC at each station as needed. These RDCs consists are limited to 4 cars, and rarely did TRE operate more than three cars, and DCTA more than 2 cars. Making two or three stops at stations is not going to waste a lot of time. If TRE and DCTA could maintain a commuter schedule, I'm pretty sure Maine is not going to have trouble maintaining a tourist schedule using mini-high platforms.

‘Jump start’ of passenger rail to Wiscasset, Rockland: PenBayPilot

...
Betke said instead of starting with a feasibility study that tends to yield a “gigantic” stack of paper with predictions seldom accurate, Midcoast Railservice is “going to get a better answer by trying something in real life.” The diesel, self-propelled train would have its first public passenger runs Aug. 4-6 at the Lobster Festival, making four short trips a day, about an hour and 10 minutes, along the Thomaston waterfront and to South Pond in Warren “to try to expose as much of the interested public as attends the event to what we have to offer to all the communities on the line.”

Due to insurance requirements and other reasons, the line has to start as excursion operator, Betke said. “It would be nice to be able to sell a ticket anywhere here to go to Boston, Washington or wherever,” but for now, the line will likely start offering Friday, Saturday and Sunday, tentatively a daily round trip from Rockland to Brunswick – morning departure, afternoon return – and at midday a shorter round trip to either Wiscasset or, “if the schedule permits and if Newcastle cleans up its station area,” perhaps Newcastle, then back to Brunswick, Betke said.
...
Betke and Simmons will find a date for selectmen and anyone else to check out the train in Wiscasset, possibly at the wastewater treatment plant or the harbor master’s office. Betke told Wiscasset Newspaper later, wherever the Wiscasset stop for excursions ends up being, “We would have a high-level boarding platform ...” that would permit hamdicap access.
...
Asked what MaineDOT’s hopes and goals are for Midcoast Railservice’s Coastliner passenger service, Veilleux told Wiscasset Newspaper: “The current excursion service is something Midcoast is doing on their own. Longer term, MaineDOT and NNEPRA (Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority) hope to work with Midcoast to set up a two-year pilot of a scheduled passenger service on the line to gauge public demand and potential ridership of this type of service. The details and the feasibility of that type of service are still being discussed amongst the parties.”
...

Railfan.com:

...
Midcoast Railservice has been working with the state and the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (backer of the Downeaster, operated by Amtrak) to bring regular passenger service to the line in hopes of taking cars off nearby U.S. Route 1. Earlier this summer, Midcoast brought a Budd RDC to Maine and a second is expected to follow. Eventually, the railroad hopes to run the Budd the entire length of the branch making connections with the Downeaster at Brunswick.

For more information, visit coastlinerexcursions.com.

How can any study count on the fickle nature of tourists to an out of the way place of Rockland and the other stations? Local inhabitants not many at all. Best to just run service as a ridership study.
For the down easter if train crew will note those going to Brunswick and their plans if any to Rockland, Can forward that to RDC operator so they will know if 1 or 2 or more cars needed.

It has been announced that service will be starting the end of August on the Coastliner service between Brunswick and Rockland, Maine. It will fun Friday to Sunday. They are also talking about service between Wiscasseth and Bath. They will be using a 75 passenger Budd retrofited for handicap access.

west point wrote: ↑Sun Aug 06, 2023 8:34 pm How can any study count on the fickle nature of tourists to an out of the way place of Rockland and the other stations? Local inhabitants not many at all. Best to just run service as a ridership study.
For the down easter if train crew will note those going to Brunswick and their plans if any to Rockland, Can forward that to RDC operator so they will know if 1 or 2 or more cars needed.

Yes, cost of hiring consultants to do a ridership study is probably not much more than piloting the service, then you get actual numbers.

R36 Combine Coach wrote: ↑Fri Aug 04, 2023 9:30 pm

electricron wrote: ↑Sat Jul 22, 2023 10:38 am I will agree that the entire station should be wheelchair accessible, should not all public buildings
be so by now? Mini-highs are sufficient with RDCs everywhere else, they should be so in Maine as well.

Mini-highs are based on an ADA rule of "one car per train" to meet standards. However NJT has stopped building
new mini highs since the Comet I fleet was retired (not common for the cab car on the east end to be the only
accessible car) and Massachusetts now has a policy of "full accessibility", such as new MBTA stations. Even the
new Port Jervis station is a single car mini high.

Beware of following in Massachusetts' footsteps on ADA. MA requirements are tighter than federal standards, basically eliminating the "reasonable accommodations" standard. For example, if a station that is being renovated has three entrances, and one of them cannot be made ADA, then that entrance must be closed for all passengers. Platforms must be full-high not mini-high. Only thing that trumps ADA is clearance routes. States like Maine (or New Hampshire) do not have the money or the passenger counts to paper over unlimited ADA costs.

I was away during the August trips. Looking at the site:

[url]https://www.coastlinerexcursions.com/excursions.html[/url]

I only see excursions Oct. 7 and 8, with "Check Back Soon" instead of details or a way to purchase tickets.

Dragon shutting down the plant is certainly going to throw a wrench into things.

wait, dragon shut down!?!?! is that why i stopped seeing the freight train running, around 9:20? also I have 2 videos of the freight on my yt, and one of the RDC's 2nd day of operation. my yt is @RDC2003, or RDC2003 Productions. yes, its named after the unit in maine.

The freight has continued to move, as noted in the Rockland Branch thread....