SLE Weekend Service To New London To Begin In April 2013

Do you think with the overhead walkways, trains that do not stop in New London CT most Acelas etc will be able to pass thru the area a lot faster allowing for travel times NYC-Bos to be 2-5 minutes faster? I doubt it but I'd figure I ask.

Probably not unless that grade crossing right by the station goes.

State St. and Gov. Winthrop Blvd. will never be able to be eliminated. Cars have to use those to access the automobile ferries.

S. Water St. by the movable bridge might be able to go if the city is willing to part with the 16 spaces in that parking lot for a parking increase elsewhere and expand the park space on the landing. Service trucks can access that area just fine from the walkway. But that really is a crossing of least concern, so the only reason to try for it is if the landing gets spiffed up as an attraction tied to the museum and merits a little more greenspace in place of the parking lot.


Any which way it won't improve travel times one bit. These are all very light-use crossings for car traffic and primarily used by pedestrians catching a train or ferry. Track curvature would have the exact same speed restrictions if it were all grade separated. The only advantage to separating is safety and liability for train-on-ped collisions. It's much better for pedestrians to use the walkway, so the climate-controlled walkway will implicitly reshape the foot traffic and reduce (but not eliminate) the people scurrying across the grade crossings and/or eluding the gates.

Otherwise these are NEC crossings of least concern. Miner Ln. matters much more since it's in a spot close to track speed, has an infamous fatal collision on its rap sheet, and will get the biggest traffic increase from SLE of them all. If it's a choice between funding Waterford elimination and trying to squeeze some extra cash to pare or restrict a New London crossing...Waterford all the way.

The Central Vermont Railway Historical Society held their annual convention in New London
at the end of September this year. As part of the event, they were able to get a complete
tour of all three floors of the New London station, most of which is off limits to the public.
One of the station owners was the tour guide. The owners are hoping that the siting of
the Coast Guard Museum across the tracks from the station will lead to some commercial
tenants renting space in the station. One problem is that there is no elevator in the station.
Any elevator would have to be constructed on the outside of the building, so perhaps such a
project could be combined with the pedestrian overpass.

shadyjay wrote:Honestly, I think for this service to do well, more stations need to be added between Saybrook and New London. For instance, Old Lyme and Niantic. I think a stop at Rocky Neck for the summertime would be beneficial as well. Unfortunately, the costs to build stations are a lot higher than the simple parking lot/wooden low level platforms of the 1990 SLE startup. But at least for Rocky Neck, you wouldn't need a parking lot at all... just a platform.

I remember riding SLE in the early days in 1990 when we took a trip from Saybrook to New Haven. Back in those days, it was F-units and PATrain coaches. And there was never more than 3 cars on a train. Now when I take SLE connecting from Amtrak from Vermont, its 4 coaches and they're all pretty well full. It's amazing how far the service has come. Though, parking lots on the Shore Line are beginning to look like those west of New Haven. Just hope I don't see the day when a parking garage goes up in Saybrook, though judging by recent parking issues there, it wouldn't surprise me.

Rocky Neck would be a good stop -- Especially if there were a commuter train from Hartford to NH for the SLE..thou, myself, if the Valley Railroad was smart...have a weekend Rocky Neck train from Hartford to Old Saybrook and meet the SLE to take them to Rocky Neck. It would help raise funds for the museum and if the P&W wants to use it...added bonus.

SLE ridership up 35% over last year. Not too shabby I must say!
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Whenever I take Shore Line East on weekends the cars are relatively full - far more than I expect. Even this time of year. Now if only we could hurry up with bidirectional service from Branford, I'd use it more!

,O'Donnell said ridership increases have been spurred by both increases in train service as well as fuller cars. Trains are full on Fridays and Sundays, he said, bringing people from New York City and Fairfield County to local tourist attractions, including the region's two casinos."

To site the article that was provided, The connections to the casino are horrible. I like to go up from Stamford connecting with the Casino bus in New Haven. Hopefully this will get improved and maybe a SLE train to mystic or Westerly where MBTA wants their southern terminus.
Now can I get $5 on number 6&8 please

Where does the sle jeeps get rebuilt when time comes
I assume they go to ge in Pennsylvania

fl9m2004 wrote:Where does the sle jeeps get rebuilt when time comes
I assume they go to ge in Pennsylvania

The MBTA had Norfolk Southern perform the recent top-deck overhaul on their GP40MC's. AMF's York, PA factory did the original passenger conversion of those MBTA units from freight GP40-2LW's back in '96, same company/factory/year that CDOT's fleet was originally converted from freight GP40-2's to passenger GP40-2H's. Good chance that the midlife rehab would stick to similar vendors since the T's midlife overhaul of their MC's proved very successful.

fl9m2004 wrote:Where does the sle jeeps get rebuilt when time comes
I assume they go to ge in Pennsylvania

we told you not to assume, it goes to cheapest bidder when contract is awarded.

theozno wrote:To site the article that was provided, The connections to the casino are horrible. I like to go up from Stamford connecting with the Casino bus in New Haven. Hopefully this will get improved and maybe a SLE train to mystic or Westerly where MBTA wants their southern terminus.

It's not SLE's job to connect to the casinos. As for SLE service to Mystic or Westerly it won't happen for some time.

NH2060 wrote:

theozno wrote:To site the article that was provided, The connections to the casino are horrible. I like to go up from Stamford connecting with the Casino bus in New Haven. Hopefully this will get improved and maybe a SLE train to mystic or Westerly where MBTA wants their southern terminus.

It's not SLE's job to connect to the casinos. As for SLE service to Mystic or Westerly it won't happen for some time.

No, but they have it on the State Rail Plan as a priority extension for the direct RIDOT transfer. And RIDOT is still shooting for 2020 for their service rollout. One of the reasons why it works for them is the Westerly layover yard behind the station that they can share with RIDOT. It's going to offer up lots more room for service expansion than whatever they can cram in New London next to NECR at the state pier.

There's a lot of busywork to take care of this decade with the CT River Bridge, the 2nd platform installations, New London high platforms, Mystic high platforms, and Amtrak doing the Westerly 3rd track + high platforms. But the state's very well-motivated to do it. It's a linchpin for substantially increasing frequencies on the east end of SLE.