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I think you're wrong on every point here. The middle class is cost conscious. Unless youre a snob i cant see why anyone would opt for the slower, more expensive commuter rail option over the bus. Commuter rail is an inadequate substitute. That's non-sensical. Commuter rail is MORE expensive? I've n...

Why buy expensive dual modes when you are already planning on electrifying the whole system?

SEPTA has been well-pleased with the two-week-long diversions in early August the past two years. With that much time, there's a lot of opportunity to get things done in the tunnels, without losing so much time to setup and teardown. I would expect it to happen again in the late July/early August pe...

I think Amtrak Virginia would take in a orphaned Cardinal day train stub as far as White Sulphur Springs, just over the WV border. Whether WV would pay to extend that train to Charleston, I would estimate as a coinflip; Huntington is unlikely on the merits but internal WV politics may intervene. IN ...

Those planning on attending the next round of meetings next month can come prepared: SEPTA pre-announced that they're selecting the PECO+Turnpike alignment as the LPA: http://mobile.philly.com/blogs/?wss=/philly/blogs/in-transit/&id=370272241&" onclick="window.open(this.href);retur...

As of right now, the only equipment not capable of the 25 hz/60 hz changeover on the fly, running between NYP and PJC, are the Arrow IIIs, and the only reason those are on the NEC at all is a tail-wagging-the-dog situation; EMUs would be a better fit on Midtown Direct services, with closer-spaced st...

Again, what does family structure or gender have to do with trains? Three generations ago, the Class I railroads supported about eight times as many employees, in a nation with about one-half the present population. That trend diminished the likelihood that an individual would have direct exposure ...

You're talking about NYP; I"m talking about the deep cavern terminal on 34th from ARC. Amtrak would not have used that terminal; NJT would dispatch it to the point that it rejoined the NEC. I was talking in the context of another member's suggestion that Amtrak buy the MNRR portion of the NEC ...

Am I correct in surmising that the only way to get a train from Philadelphia to Allentown these days is the long way around through Reading? As though Lehigh Valley-NYC service wouldn't raise eyebrows at NS headquarters on its own.

Such a schedule was what was looked at by Amtrak and PennDOT when they were last considering a new day train on the line. The thought was that the earlier train would take more of the ridership looking to get to Pittsburgh as a destination in itself, at a reasonable hour, while the later train would...

I've pushed for an overnight Pittsburgher before, and had my own reason to make a trip to Pittsburgh recently (the Abaddon XM Anomaly ) that would have been much more civilized with the option to take a train at convenient hours. Since Pittsburgh is <750 miles from the East Coast, PRIIA 2008 applies...

The parking crunch in Downtown Lansdale is the proximate reason for 9th Street, but the real reasons are Lansdale Hospital on one side, and 90 acres of developable land on the other. Much as Development Oriented Transit makes me twitchy, it's still a bargain. And please, BPP, never imply that NYC do...

Heathrow is also the third-busiest airport on the planet, and serves the seat of a national government with far more willingness to invest in infrastructure capital than ours. The comparison is slightly ridiculous.

Breathe easy, F-Line, I was assuming any train would go to North Station via the Grand Junction. That said, it's worth taking a look at the NYC weekender market, and comparing to the Ethan Allen Express. The EAE is currently carded at around 5:30 NYP-Rutland, depending on the direction and day of th...

To nudge us back to topic, I admit I am losing track of what, precisely, the purpose of a direct train from Maine to points beyond Boston is. Is it to connect to the smaller cities of inland New England? How big of a market is that? I don't see how however many passengers would merit a direct train,...