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Re: SouthCoast Rail Discussion Thread

 by trainhq ¦  Tue May 12, 2020 4:07 pm ¦  Forum: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) ¦  Topic: Southcoast Rail ¦  Replies: 1272 ¦  Views: 341758

Yeah, Phase 1 is clearly gonna get done. After all these years, they'll finally get something. But it's still hard to say how many people will ride it. It was a long ways to South Station originally, and the dog leg adds even more mileage to it. When you look at the actual ridership on the Greenbush...

Re: Cape Flyer

 by trainhq ¦  Tue May 12, 2020 3:59 pm ¦  Forum: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) ¦  Topic: Cape Flyer ¦  Replies: 2714 ¦  Views: 733544

I've ridden it before; it's more than 2 hours each way. I dunno, doesn't sound like
a fun way to ride down to the cape, with a mask on the whole way. Don't know how
well this is going to do.

I remember when all this went down about 15 years ago or so. The idea of an FRA compliant DMU made (and still made) a lot of sense. Unfortunately, the people who built them were not known for building quality railcars in volume. That's why they were never able to convince anyone besides Tri Rail to ...

Re: If you could restore a defunct Amtrak route

 by trainhq ¦  Mon May 04, 2020 4:16 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: If you could restore a defunct Amtrak route ¦  Replies: 379 ¦  Views: 70411

Well, folks, now that we're well into coronavirus time, we're probably looking at years before anything gets done; it'll be hard enough to restore the Amtrak service they have now, much less add anything new. They could close this thread for the next two years at least and no one would notice it. Bu...

Re: (Un) Happy 49th - Amtrak

 by trainhq ¦  Mon May 04, 2020 4:03 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: (Un) Happy 49th - Amtrak ¦  Replies: 38 ¦  Views: 3505

It would seem to me the airlines will lose the most business. My daughter works for a major company that does a ton of engineering. Everybody hopes the long distance trips to meet clients ends but both management and labor are very down on continuing working at home once restrictions are lifted cal...

Re: General US High Speed Rail Discussion

 by trainhq ¦  Thu Apr 30, 2020 3:01 pm ¦  Forum: General Discussion - Passenger Rail: High Speed and Heavy and Light Rail Systems ¦  Topic: General US High Speed Rail Discussion ¦  Replies: 424 ¦  Views: 34934

These days, it's almost impossible for anyone in an HSR corridor to build anything on a new ROW. The amount of legal expense and difficulty in taking land, even with eminent domain, makes it very difficult. The country is long past the stage where people can lay down much rail in rural or unpopulate...

Glad to see this project get done finally. I helped do the environmental planning on this nearly 20 years ago. We looked at a lot of options for this; ran up the bills on WMATA on it too (LOL)! :wink: It’s a good idea that took a long time to be built. Can remember flying out of Dulles more than 40 ...

Re: Amtrak Expansion Plan

 by trainhq ¦  Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:35 am ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: Amtrak Expansion Plan ¦  Replies: 559 ¦  Views: 73771

The last post on this was prior to Coronavirus. I think all of us know that the situation has now changed dramatically. All Amtrak expansion plans will obviously be shelved for now, but even when service is resumed, they will all likely be overshadowed by the problem of keeping existing service runn...

Re: Ethan Allen Discussion, including Expansion (Burlington)

 by trainhq ¦  Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:27 am ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: Ethan Allen Discussion, including Expansion (Burlington) ¦  Replies: 372 ¦  Views: 129540

Putting it at the rail yard is clearly the place to be. I took a look at the noise from parking it at the station a while ago from idling late at night (they were actually considering CR to Essex Junction back then), and it was clear the nearby folks wouldn't like it. The yard on the west side by th...

Re: Amtrak Downeaster Discussion Thread

 by trainhq ¦  Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:15 am ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: Amtrak Downeaster Discussion Thread ¦  Replies: 9451 ¦  Views: 2154318

Well, the bigger question all this raises, isn't what happens when the service is suspended, it's what happens when it comes back. I mean Amtrak has spent nearly 20 years building ridership, especially on this route. How many people will ride it again when they get it going again, maybe in late summ...

Re: South Carolina and Passenger Rail

 by trainhq ¦  Fri Apr 17, 2020 8:38 am ¦  Forum: General Discussion - Passenger Rail: High Speed and Heavy and Light Rail Systems ¦  Topic: South Carolina and Passenger Rail ¦  Replies: 23 ¦  Views: 8516

As a Charlottean, I would certainly welcome more intercity passenger service. That being said, I would expect at Charlotte to Atlanta via Greenville, S.C. to be the most likely option before a Columbia to Charlotte route is entertained. The current Crescent has a horrible schedule between Atlanta a...

Re: AllEarth Rail / Vermont Commuter Rail

 by trainhq ¦  Thu Apr 16, 2020 3:19 pm ¦  Forum: General Discussion - Passenger Rail: High Speed and Heavy and Light Rail Systems ¦  Topic: AllEarth Rail / Vermont Commuter Rail ¦  Replies: 127 ¦  Views: 58092

They actually did a ridership study for CR from Middlebury to Burlington a while ago; I worked on evaluating the noise and vibration from the proposed trains. The numbers simply weren't that great; maybe a few dozen people a day would use it to commute to Burlington. I don't know about further south...

Re: AMTRAK NEC: Springfield Shuttle/Regional/Valley Flyer

 by trainhq ¦  Mon Apr 06, 2020 7:33 pm ¦  Forum: Amtrak ¦  Topic: AMTRAK NEC: Springfield Shuttle/Regional/Valley Flyer/Inland Routing ¦  Replies: 2317 ¦  Views: 433231

Good post; sums things up nicely. Boston to Spg CR will never happen; too far, too curvy, not enough population in between. Maybe could toss in one or two three car trains each way for day trip service, if that. The Valley flyer is clearly being designed to fail. If they wanted it to work, they woul...

Re: Cape Flyer

 by trainhq ¦  Sun Apr 05, 2020 1:24 pm ¦  Forum: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) ¦  Topic: Cape Flyer ¦  Replies: 2714 ¦  Views: 733544

Good question. I’ve ridden it before and found it to be a lot of fun. Was looking forward to maybe doing a Sunday day trip to go to Hyannis and go fishing. BTW, there was a lot of work done upgrading the line a while ago. The Cape flyer benefited from that. The fare recovery does NOT pay anywhere ne...

Re: Boston Surface Railroad: Worcester-Providence Commuter Rail

 by trainhq ¦  Thu Apr 02, 2020 6:29 pm ¦  Forum: New England Railfan ¦  Topic: Boston Surface Railroad: Worcester-Providence Commuter Rail ¦  Replies: 847 ¦  Views: 194710

Been years since I have posted, but I always saw this one as an LOL. :-D The basic premise here was always suspect; I cannot think of ONE commuter rail operation anywhere that turns a profit. Even though the P & W tracks and signals are pretty good and don't need too much upgrade, they themselve...

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