Amtrak Vermonter / Montrealer

Arlington wrote:

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:We know it's a political launch.

Ok, now that we agree on what kind it is, let's be clear-eyed on what degree it is. It is at the bad "10 days before I leave office / victory lap" degree.

And they hate going backwards at Palmer, so to make them happier they're going to sit completely still for a longer amount of time than they ever went backwards (not just for every minute of backing move saved, but also to burn up every minute of track mile saved) 3 times each trip? (NHT, GFD & BRA northbound a and GFD, NHT, and SPG southbound)

Yes. Because the Palmer backup and the deteriorating ride quality on NECR to Northfield is just that big a turd in the punchbowl. That is no-joke exactly the reason. Riders hate that part of the trip with malice, and say so loud and often. You don't have to agree with them, but popular opinion has spoken: fix that first, and we're with you through he rest of the job.


But why is this schedule such an outrage when it's not fitted to a finished product, nobody has made promises that it's a finished schedule, and no other stick of rail on the whole previously-upgraded route to St. Albans saw a new and faster schedule until months, if not over a year, after the track speed limit increased (nor was promised instant gratification on those segments either)?

This is not news. This is how they planned it. They're actually ahead of where they planned it, since NO stops were planned between Springfield and Brattleboro for most of Year 1...until the towns threw in for those expedited temp platforms. The directly-affected users of said corridor...they seem to be plenty OK with it because they can see the work going on and have been well-informed of what the to-do's are for a project that no one said would be 'complete' after the route switch. So WHO is this an outrage for? Please answer that, because I fail to see what the unpleasant surprise is, and who misread the progression of events here such that they expected Day 1 was going to be something completely different for completely different set of reasons. This is what we were told we were getting for Day 1. It doesn't become a problem unless 18 months from now when every signal, track, and bridge replacement SPR-StA is done and every piece of Amtrak MOW heavy equipment south of Hartford is gone...and that schedule hasn't improved at all. The 12/29/2014 schedule is not a problem, unless you mistakenly expected that to be the "100% completion" date. It's more like 80-85% completion when the entirety of the first-half 2015 NHV-WRJ construction schedule is factored in. Like we were told all along.

Yes. Because the Palmer backup and the deteriorating ride quality on NECR to Northfield is just that big a turd in the punchbowl. That is no-joke exactly the reason. Riders hate that part of the trip with malice, and say so loud and often. You don't have to agree with them, but popular opinion has spoken: fix that first, and we're with you through he rest of the job.

Yeah, I think this about gets it right. When I rode it more than 10 years ago, it was
already getting bad (slow and bumpy), and it's gotten worse since then. Eliminating
this mess really is that big of a difference maker. I think you will start to see ridership increasing noticeably once this gets cleaned up.

Does the new route mean that the Vermonter no longer needs a second engine or control car? Can all the seats now face forward?

Does the new route mean that the Vermonter no longer needs a second engine or control car? Can all the seats now face forward?

Yes to both!

The train gets wyed at St. Albans every night now, at least when a cab car is used. The backup move at Springfield can be handled by having a crew member on the back platform with a radio.

Who the heck really cares that it's a political launch, it's still a net improvement for passengers in the next 10 days.

Political grandstanding would be of the "inaugural launch" for the Pittsfield CR service is scheduled before the lame duck leaves office

Plus would you rather have 10 schedule adjustments for every tweak of service that is still ongoing, or a handful once major milestones are reached with respect to the line and Vermont travel times. As a passenger trying to set a schedule, I would rather have only a couple future changes to my itenary, vs. it changing every two weeks.

The real testing is if my 40GB Verizon Data plan works correctly on the new route. If not, then I may just resort to driving.

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:The 12/29/2014 schedule is not a problem, unless you mistakenly expected that to be the "100% completion" date. It's more like 80-85% completion when the entirety of the first-half 2015 NHV-WRJ construction schedule is factored in. Like we were told all along.

The Day 1 schedule is a problem, to some degree, for people who live in greater Northampton/Greenfield area.

There are now people who live in this area (myself included) who are visiting the Amtrak web site as part of their process to decide whether to take the train from Northampton or Greenfield now.

What they see, if they look closely, is a schedule that says that the Vermonter will take 63 minutes SB and 45 minutes NB to travel between SPG and NHT. (And 79 minutes SB between departing NHT and the departure from SPG.) People have trouble understanding this since it isn't being explained to the public very well at all. (Amtrak did print the text "The schedule shown here is the Vermonter’s initial schedule via Greenfield, Northampton and Holyoke. Schedule adjustments will be implemented in the coming months upon completion of additional infrastructure improvements", but I suspect that most people look at the schedule on the web site rather than the schedule on the timetable.)

When the new schedule was released, the Daily Hampshire Gazette ran this story (http://www.gazettenet.com/home/14790948 ... ing-dec-29) which included this text:

Fair Use Quote
The run to New York is a trip of just under five hours, which is similar to current service between Amherst and New York, even though current service has had to detour from Springfield, through Palmer, Amherst, Millers Falls and Northfield on slower track since 1989.
...
Dana Roscoe, transportation planning manager for the Pioneer Valley Regional Planning Commission, said, “That’s either an error or an oversight. It’s absolutely quicker to go from Greenfield to Springfield than from Amherst to Springfield.”

And now we start to see local people who question what is going on with the schedule, using social media:

e.g. this comment on the recent recent Daily Hampshire Gazette http://www.gazettenet.com/home/14856460 ... e-corridor article:

Fair Use Quote
Speedier travel? 70 miles an hour? Okay, 50 miles an hour? No, it's going to be 20 miles an hour, according to the Amtrak website: 1 hour and 4 minutes from Northampton to Springfield. True, the return ride, from Springfield to Northampton, will take only 45 minutes. But that's inexplicable too.

Last week, returning from New York on the Vermonter (to Springfield), I asked the conductor why the short stretch will take so long. He said it must be a website typo. It's a straight run up there, he told me, and the point is to make the trip shorter, not longer.

The Gazette could do a little investigative reporting here, instead of just repeating our high hopes for a full-blown commuter rail service. Whether we ever get commuter service will depend in part on estimates of demand, and that will depend in part on whether the train goes faster than a bicycle.

Maybe this schedule has been part of the plan for a long time, but the reasons for it have not been communicated well at all.

The lead planner for the project at the PVTA apparently wasn't informed and apparently even an Amtrak conductor couldn't explain what is going on. And not to go off topic, but you also have the MassDOT Knowledge Corridor - Restore Vermonter Project website (http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/knowledgecorridor/) which has not been updated with any current information since about 2012, so clearly people are not learning anything new from this site.)

In a few months the initial schedule will just be a part of history, but in the mean time Amtrak and MassDOT must do a far better job explaining to the public in this area why the initial schedule is what it is -- or they should be prepared to spend some marketing dollars to explain the new revised schedule once it becomes available, to get people to take another look at the schedule and the service.

Alternatively maybe Governor Patrick will explain this on Monday when he talks to the media during the "inaugural trip of the Vermonter."

Report elsewhere on Railroad.net that the test train was cancelled today (Saturday)
due to crew and equipment shortages. Possibly related was PAR doing work on the
Deerfield River bridge, which has been an ongoing project.

Here's what today's special Amtrak move on the Conn River Line looks like, from what I can see in this mornings papers:

dp. 1 p.m. - Springfield Union Station with Governor Patrick and other federal, state and local officials

ar. 1.50 p.m. - Holyoke (Dwight St)
Official ground breaking ceremony for the new Depot Square Railroad station

ar. 2.20 p.m. - Northampton station platform
Official ceremony

ar. 3.15 p.m. - Greenfield station platform
Official ceremony


Of course all times are subject to change.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:Gents, for what it worth, the pre-Amtrak day train over The Vermonter's route was named "The Ambassador". When I see Montrealer, I'm wondering if somebody is envisioning "two a day" or an extension of the existing service to Montreal.

The Vermonter was a local train operating over the CV New London-St. Albans.

Nice background. And two a day service would be very nice, too.

But iiuc, the State of Vermont subsidizes the current train and will subsidize it after
it's extended to Montreal. So if Vermont pays for it, Vermont should get to name it.

(Do any of us expect Montreal, Quebec, or Canada to pay for it? LOL.)

Here's a set of twelve images from today's dedication ceremony at the new passenger boarding platform in Northampton:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/26316537@ ... 471399339/
:

Notice how the station sign looks a lot like those found on the T in Boston. Right down to the typeface.

NH2060 wrote:Notice how the station sign looks a lot like those found on the T in Boston. Right down to the typeface.

I can't quite tell from the lighting in the pictures, but is it actually purple?

deathtopumpkins wrote:

NH2060 wrote:Notice how the station sign looks a lot like those found on the T in Boston. Right down to the typeface.

I can't quite tell from the lighting in the pictures, but is it actually purple?

It's some kind of dark blue. I thought it might even be indigo. I guess the Indigo Line will have it's own separate line out there?

deathtopumpkins wrote:

NH2060 wrote:Notice how the station sign looks a lot like those found on the T in Boston. Right down to the typeface.

I can't quite tell from the lighting in the pictures, but is it actually purple?

I took took the pictures. Yes, it looks like T signage - right down to the color and the font.

I'll take another picture of the sign one day when the lighting is better.

The font is MBTA, but the color looks more Amtrak-y in the photos--equidistant in the color triangle between purple, blue and silver ( maybe call it steel blue / battleship blue-grey). To me that'd be an ideal color for CT River & Amtrak service sponsored by MassDOT