Berkshire Flyer: Pittsfield - New York City Service via Albany

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Mon Jul 03, 2023 3:48 pm Why the Commonwealth chose to improve the HRR to benefit a Connecticut industrial facility is uncertain to me, but then that's Mass for you.

Maybe because former Governor Patrick has a home in the Berkshires and the State was making a case for new rail service to NYC? Nah, that would never happen.

Mr. Train Guy, I can only reiterate; from what I saw of that sorry excuse of a railroad from X-ing it several times at New Milford last month. I wouldn't even want to be aboard a handcar on its rails.

How they operate the "one a day" that I learned while at School (as an Alum 62 years out) they do - and keep it on the rails - totally escapes me. What I observed looked like FRA Excepted (< FRA Class 1).

"Taxachussetts" owns the line from Pittsfield to the state line, and CT owns it from thence to New Milford. CT won't pay a cent for service to Canaan, but that makes sense as an endpoint. MASSDOT can pay for the train to go there, or one from Boston, if Amtrak is willing to do it. Or it could provide it's own equipment and find an operator for that single stretch. However, being in the far western part of the state, some "Massholes" don't even know it exists.

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 5:39 am Simply put, there's nothing in it for CT except for New Milford - Southeast. The upgrade cost is prohibitive, and they'd only gain service of (little) significance to Kent and Canaan.

"Back in my day", there was a lumber yard in Kent (VSP Woodworking) that may have been good for a car or two. There was also a passing track South of Kent along CT341. The additional Sat only NB #146 and the Daily SB 143 would meet there.

There was also a House Track at Woodrow (South Kent). Long before my day, the School did receive a 4X4 Weapons Carrier and several Jeeps (all of which were in service "in my day" and I got to drive). Otherwise, the only thing I ever saw on it was a Bad Ordered car that had to be set out. Woodrow at one time was even an Open Agency; it ceased to be a regular passenger train stop "after The War", except that when School would recess (Freedom Train) and convene (Prison Train), a stop would be made there.

Railjunkie wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 8:15 am The Berkshire Flyer follows the exact route from Albany/Rennselaer to Pittsfield as the Lake Shore Limited. As an added bonus The Flyer normally catches more abuse from CSX than the LSL .

And ultimately, what will kill the Flyer so to speak, is that Massachusetts has bigger plans for that Boston and Albany route, which will include a couple of trains a day between Albany and Boston. Once that happens, the Flyer concept becomes obsolete anyway.

We didn't ride the Berkshire Flyer, but the point about local transit still applies. Last week my wife and I took a trip to Pittsfield using the Lake Shore to visit the Divine Mercy Shrine in Stockbridge. We rode Berkshire Regional Transit buses, which have a hub at Pittsfield Amtrak. The second bus diverted from its regular route to take us to the shrine, but this diversion is offered in the bus schedule. You just have to tell the driver. To get a bus to stop at the shrine if you are not already on the bus, you have to call the Berkshire Regional Transit dispatcher. (There are other stops like this in the bus schedule.) The Berkshire Regional Transit person in Pittsfield told us to call an hour ahead. I did, and whoever answered didn't think their buses served that stop. That's when I started to worry. I said I'd just gotten off a Berkshire Regional Transit bus at the shrine. After verifying that it is one of their stops, the person said that if the driver is notified an hour ahead of time, the driver might forget, so call back in half an hour. In half an hour, the bus was out of the dispatcher's radio range. I worried that we might miss the Lake Shore, but when I called back in 15 minutes, and this was cutting it close, the dispatcher said that the bus was coming for us. Whew! And the bus driver was the same one who had dropped us off at the shrine and was expecting us. Just one incident, but the Berkshire Regional Transit isn't as good as it looks on paper.

Its back for another money loosing summer, WHY??? I can't figure it. But that is the rumor around the crew room. Guess its the square peg round hole thing again...

Let me remind you that common sense is everything but... lol

What's the old saying? Ours is not to wonder why...?

the bottom line is that a retiring local legislator thought that creating a rail route would be a swell going away attaboy present. Amtrak bought into it because they want their foot in the door Springfield to Boston corridor emergency plan b operation. CSX bought into it because they needed mass dots support at STB for acquiring pan am. Mass Dot bought into it because Richie Neal wanted it. Mass tax payers bought into it because their leaders told them that funding failure prone passenger rail operations are good for the soul.

Railjunkie wrote: ↑Wed Feb 14, 2024 11:50 am Its back for another money loosing summer, WHY??? I can't figure it. But that is the rumor around the crew room. Guess its the square peg round hole thing again...

Cmon, you know Amtrak. Comon sense doesn't make sense with Amtrak

Except this is really Mass funding it. Without that, Amtrak would have pretty much zero interest.

Greg Moore wrote: ↑Thu Feb 15, 2024 8:00 am Except this is really Mass funding it. Without that, Amtrak would have pretty much zero interest.

Seconded. You gotta question things when they sink a major highway under the city and then hoist the bill onto the MBTA, despite giving it funds to expand service under the entire scheme.

to get the large subsidies the MBTA demands they have to get support from the rest of the state, by creating stuff like a Berkshire Flyer or subsidizing Regional Transit Agencies (buses) that don't connect to each other. Out west they should be spending money on roads but that isn't PC....

Or maybe the money was allocated for a 3 year plan to see if it works? People complain about all the money that goes to study after study. Something done with very little study gets complained about too. And I will admit the passenger counts were real bad.

I thought it was a 2 year funding plan and this is an additional year on top of that.

That said, I think a) it needs better marketing and b) my be one of those things that Mass might want to keep doing as a way of ultimately building a longer-term goal of more east-west rail and just keeping "rail" in people's minds.