NYC to Maine... 9 hours?!

Though about taking wife and kids to visit friends in Portland, ME. We are currently in NYC. Airfares are a bit steep for the 1.5 hour flight. We could drive in 5 hours. I decided to check out Amtrak thinking we could do a nice scenic rail trip. I can't believe my eyes but 9 hours??!! Plus we have to change trains in Boston and walk to a different station 2 miles away. Who the hell would do that with the other options available? I don't see how Amtrak competes on that route. Prob a better option would be to take the Amtrak to Boston and then rent a car and drive to Maine.

Changing trains in Boston isn't as hard as you think. Don't take the train all the way to South station. Get off at Back bay station, one stop short of South station, then you can transfer to the Orange line subway and RIDE to North station.

Although Amtrak offers services from Boston to NYC and Maine, I don't think I'd characterize Amtrak as attempting to serve a NYC to Maine market; I characterize Amtrak as serving two different markets that just happen to overlap in Boston.

The Downeaster Service is run by the Northern New England Rail Passenger Authority, with Amtrak as the contracted operator.
The service has been a huge success and the target market is Boston, and Southern Maine.
The focus of the service has never been New York City.

If you are looking for a direct service between New York City and Portland Maine, the private bus company Concord Coach lines provides that.

Ken

PS The transfer in Boston is quite easy, you detrain at Back Bay Station and take a short hop on the Orange Line to North Station.

Also, I wouldn't characterize the majority of the trip east of Westerly RI where the tracks leave the Long Island Sound coastline as being very scenic.

I found multiple options on Amtrak in as few as 6 hours (involving a bus, though), but usually between 7 and 8.

I definitely recommend looking into the Concord Coach Lines direct bus service between NYC and Portland. It's a 3-seat wide configuration and pre-pandemic they had complimentary snacks in the back of the bus (I'm not sure if those are still a thing). The trip is direct with no station stops but with a leg stretch / driver change somewhere in Connecticut. Also, bring headphones with conventional mini-plugs for the movie! (Note: the bus stop in NYC is a city bus stop on East 42nd, a couple of blocks from Grand Central.)

Nightjet wrote: ↑Fri Nov 25, 2022 9:22 am I found multiple options on Amtrak in as few as 6 hours (involving a bus, though), but usually between 7 and 8.

Couple of options in getting from NYC to Boston South Station, but in general Acela Express will delivery you there in about 3 hours and 40 minutes, then it's a 2.5 hour train up to Portland, ME. Course I realize some time needs to be allocated to "change trains" at Boston. I thought it would be a bit of a PIA and nightmare to change between South and North Stations, but honestly, wasn't that bad. Took a cab in one direction, and Ubered it, the other way. Pretty quick transfer, overall, and I haven't done this transfer all that frequently.

On one occasion I took the last Acela Express to Boston South Station. Stayed over in Boston including a breakfast meeting the following day, then I was able to rent a car to visit Portsmouth, NH and then on in to Maine and up to Portland and Camden, Maine. Coming home, I was able to drop the rental car somewhere near the Amtrak Portland Train Station, and then took the train to Boston North Station with connection to Boston South Station. I remember having lunch on the Downeaster (enjoyed the Downeaster service when it was first launched), and then dinner on Acela Express with still a relatively early evening arrival into NYC. Convenient and comfortable.

Plane would have been quicker, for sure. Driving - forget it. Traffic on Interstate 95 (or even the interior routing via Hartford) can still throw one off not by minutes, but hours! For those trying to travel from Washington DC or even Philadelphia, would be nice to take an overnight Northeast Regional with a Viewliner Sleeper tacked on. Arrive into Boston South Station in the morning and then continue on from there. That's more aligned with the European overnight trains and "hotel on wheels." Amtrak's never really been able to get that to catch on..........

Good luck!

? I don't see how Amtrak competes on that route.

As others have noted, it doesn't compete nor is it intended to. The transfer in Boston makes it pretty awkward, even when the MBTA/Uber/whatever mode you take is working optimally.

All that said, if you try to make that trip on a Friday afternoon in the summer, 9 hours might just be time competitive with driving.

Generally speaking, living in Maine, I find it easiest/"quickest" to take Concord Coach bus from Portland to Boston South Station, then catch the train south. Similar story going north (and usually coming north I'm eager to get home). Concord has frequent service Boston to Portland, Downeaster not so much. I've only been burned taking the bus once, and that was the Friday before a holiday weekend when EVERYBODY was heading to Maine.

How say everyone dig out their New Haven RR Form 200 (System Public Timetable) for April 27, 1952, and turn to Table 32. There you will see #125, State of Maine, departing GCT 900P and arriving Portland 640A, or 9h 40m.

Do the math, and there is the nine hours noted here as being in the ballpark.

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Sat Nov 26, 2022 7:38 pm How say everyone dig out their New Haven RR Form 200 (System Public Timetable) for April 27, 1952, and turn to Table 32. There you will see #125, State of Maine, departing GCT 900P and arriving Portland 640A, or 9h 40m.

Do the math, and there is the nine hours noted here as being in the ballpark.

Yes, doing the math requires the distance traveled divided by the time to find average mph.
To find the elapse time, the math requires the distance traveled divided by the average mph.
Or we could just look at ancient timetables, modern trains can not tun over the same tracks faster than trains have in the past, speeds are still limited by the railroad corridor itself.

Highways miles New York City to Portland Maine is 316 miles per Travel Math.
316 miles / 9.66 hours = average speed of 32.9 mph.
Back in the 1800s when trains were the fastest way to get anywhere, 33 mph is very, very fast compared to a horse and buggy averaging 3 to 4 mph. It's 10 times faster.
Automobiles required paved highways to average faster than 33 mph. Lt. Col. Dwight David Eisenhower commanded an Army convoy of Model T based Ford vehicles across America on the famed Lincoln highway in 1919, when most of the roads were not paved but were dirt and gravel, taking 62 days from D.C. to San Francisco Bay. They averaged 5 mph driving 10 hours per day before setting up camp again. I repeat averaging 5 mph.
Before controlled access Interstate Highways, you would consider yourself lucky to average 45 mph on a day long 10 hours or so trip over 2 lane paved highways. You did not see speeds averaging 60 mph or more until the Interstate Highways were mostly completed.
Meanwhile, passenger trains continue to average 33 to 43 mph over most of America's railroad tracks. Passenger trains are no where close to being 10 times faster anywhere in the USA. Even Amtrak's fame Acela services on the NEC average less than average freeway speeds in most of America - although along the very congested NEC region, they acheive slightly faster average speeds than automobiles.

That is the reason why so many are wishing for much faster HSR trains that average 125 or higher mph speeds.

OK Ron, back to the document that was printed before 95% of the membership around here was born (I was 10yo).

The mileage GCT to Portland ( Union Station; a beautiful building that Pat had chopped down to become a shopping center) reported was 376.4, which resulted in an average speed of 38.9mph.

With, then as now, no connection through Boston (OK; save that circuitous route Amtrak uses to handle equipment between North Station and its maintenance facility near South Station), the route was NH (Corridor) to Providence, then to Worcester (P&W) where the B&M (CSX) then took it first over the line through Ayer (read up over on the Pan Am Forum about the new-found importance of this line in the CSX takeover of PAR) and Lowell, and then converging with the existing Downeaster route at Lowell Jct.

the route was NH (Corridor) to Providence, then to Worcester (P&W) where the B&M (CSX) then took it first over the line through Ayer (read up over on the Pan Am Forum about the new-found importance of this line in the CSX takeover of PAR) and Lowell, and then converging with the existing Downeaster route at Lowell Jct.

This is really the only way to connect Northern MA, Maine, and NH to NYC and points south, though I'd expect the most "plausible" future for this would be to connect Worcester to the NEC via Springfield & New Haven instead of Providence. An upgraded line from Springfield to New Haven combined with planned (?) improvements between Worcester and Springfield would cover most of that route.

Until then, bus to BOS is likely the most expedient non-car/non-direct bus option.

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Sun Nov 27, 2022 8:33 am OK Ron, back to the document that was printed before 95% of the membership around here was born (I was 10yo).

The mileage GCT to Portland ( Union Station; a beautiful building that Pat had chopped down to become a shopping center) reported was 376.4, which resulted in an average speed of 38.9mph.

Thanks for the correction on distance travel in moles, and the resulting 5 mph average speed increase, data not easily found on the internet today. But the gest of my earlier response still holds true, passenger trains over historic railroad corridors is slow compared to today's competition, unlike 100 years ago when passenger trains were the fastest way to get anywhere.
If we really want intercity passenger trains everywhere again while being competitive with alternate choices, we need to get them on brand new dedicated HSR corridors.