MetroNorth Fantasy System

Otto Vondrak wrote:I've got to start a Fantasy Railroad Forum...

hahahahahaha
if the thread is called project for obamagrants its gonna be more of a fantasy railroad otto, its like think about what you'd want with the money, it might be unrealistic or it might be what the railroad can actually do at this moment, even if we get the money most of it will probably go into doing studies and we wont see anything for a couple of years

the danbury hatter wrote:its probably unrealistic at this point but id like to see passing lanes on the danbury branch so that there can be north and south bound trains at the same time, get trains running more frequently

That's exactly how it works right now.

RearOfSignal wrote:

the danbury hatter wrote:its probably unrealistic at this point but id like to see passing lanes on the danbury branch so that there can be north and south bound trains at the same time, get trains running more frequently

That's exactly how it works right now.

the only form of passing lane on the danbury branch is the 2 tracks at wilton station but even then it doesn't do anything about the trains running ever 3 to 4 hours on weekends and every 2 to 3 hours on weekdays

So what you REALLY want is a population & ridership base to justify more frequent service and the capital improvements that would be required to support that more frequent service.

Jim

yeah,more ridership would definitely make the line more frequent, the only time it gets good ridership is the commuting peak hours and for there to be more times would mean a lot more riders

Erie-Lackawanna wrote:So what you REALLY want is a population & ridership base to justify more frequent service and the capital improvements that would be required to support that more frequent service.

Jim

Although I could be wrong, I don't think the Harlem north of Brewster has the population that the Danbury Branch has but it
got signals, upgraded track and much more service. There is probably no justification for 2 tracks but signals and
controlled sidings should have been done before this. The upper Harlem has better roads too than exist between Norwalk
and Danbury.
Right now Connecticut is looking for cuts in their budget and so I guess it doesn't look very good for too much state
participation.
Noel Weaver

Otto Vondrak wrote:I've got to start a Fantasy Railroad Forum...

Otto is right. With multi-billion dollar defecits looming and doomsday budget proposals, let's hope we can hold on to what we've got. Completing east side access will be a plus. To go from proposal, to studies, to public hearings, to RFPs, to actual construction takes longer than the term of any president. I think they began talking about the new Tappan Zee Bridge 30 years ago.

Penn Central wrote:

Otto Vondrak wrote:I've got to start a Fantasy Railroad Forum...

Otto is right. With multi-billion dollar defecits looming and doomsday budget proposals, let's hope we can hold on to what we've got. Completing east side access will be a plus. To go from proposal, to studies, to public hearings, to RFPs, to actual construction takes longer than the term of any president. I think they began talking about the new Tappan Zee Bridge 30 years ago.

Our newly elected president Obama proposes spending close to a trillion dollars in the next two years on new roads, bridges, and transit projects to stimulate the economy. The projects must be ready to stick the shovel in the ground. The Tunnel project would be one of the beneficiary of the stimulus bill, it is ready to start it just needs funding. So this is not a fantasy. My question is what projects MetroNorth and the LIRR has ready to stick the shovel in the ground? I guess in a month we will see the "fantasy" list.
You certainly could argue it's wasteful spending, it's going to hurt the economy, but this is not the place to debate these issues. Since Otto brought up the doomsday budget, just remember under a so called conservative president George W. Bush, the national debt went from $5,000,000,000,000.00 to $10,000,000,000,000.00 (5 trillion to 10 trillion).

Herring wrote:Our newly elected president Obama proposes spending close to a trillion dollars in the next two years on new roads, bridges, and transit projects to stimulate the economy.

Yes, and so far NONE of it is specifically earmarked to LIRR or MN. Until it is, this is purely an academic discussion. What's more, it's all moot until at least Jan. 20.

Herring wrote:My question is what projects MetroNorth and the LIRR has ready to stick the shovel in the ground?

[fantasy]

MNRR is going to rebuild GCT, connect to Penn station, electrify Harmon to Poughkeepsie, Southeast to Wassaic and electrify all the branches. ACSES on all lines, new HSR on all lines max of 185 mph and operate trains to Montauk, Albany and Atlantic City, bring back the railfan windows on all equipment, repaint all locomotives and equipment in predecessor colors, trim back tress from ROW for optimal photo ops and maybe change a few lights bulbs and a new coat of paint for Melrose station if there's any money left.

[/fantasy]

[reality]

Who knows? The man hasn't even taken office yet.

[/reality]

RearOfSignal wrote:

Herring wrote:My question is what projects MetroNorth and the LIRR has ready to stick the shovel in the ground?

[fantasy]

MNRR is going to rebuild GCT, connect to Penn station, electrify Harmon to Poughkeepsie, Southeast to Wassaic and electrify all the branches. ACSES on all lines, new HSR on all lines max of 185 mph and operate trains to Montauk, Albany and Atlantic City, bring back the railfan windows on all equipment, repaint all locomotives and equipment in predecessor colors, trim back tress from ROW for optimal photo ops and maybe change a few lights bulbs and a new coat of paint for Melrose station if there's any money left.

[/fantasy]

[reality]

Who knows? The man hasn't even taken office yet.

[/reality]

The man might not be in office yet but Mr. Bloomberg already has met Obama with a list of projects for NYC that are "shovel ready". I emailed his office to get a copy of the list but no reply yet.

[giggle] I have this really neat idea for a model train layout under my Christmas tree, and it's shovel ready. It will cost about $1B[/giggle]

Either way the the only really shovel-ready projects would be SAS and ESA, nothing to do with Metro-North.

RearOfSignal wrote:Either way the the only really shovel-ready projects would be SAS and ESA, nothing to do with Metro-North.

I'll personally bring my shovel (I've been known to shovel "stuff" hehe) and we can get trains running on Springfield, New Milford, and Hopewell Junction!

Hey, this is a fantasy thread, so pardon my foam.

Sarge wrote:

RearOfSignal wrote:Either way the the only really shovel-ready projects would be SAS and ESA, nothing to do with Metro-North.

I'll personally bring my shovel (I've been known to shovel "stuff" hehe) and we can get trains running on Springfield, New Milford, and Hopewell Junction!

Hey, this is a fantasy thread, so pardon my foam.

Hey get your shovel ready for your Springfield fantasy. It looks like they are going to try to sneek it in as a "shovel ready" job.

Groups Seek to Fast Track Commuter Rail Project

"According to Balaban, President-elect Barack Obama's proposed economic stimulus package is calling for "states to prepare a list of projects that are ready to go and receive federal funding." She said these projects are called "shovel ready projects" and that's what she and other groups are trying to get the commuter rail project to be -- "shovel ready."