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I fully agree if you're talking about building infill stations for a RI intrastate rail service - increasing frequencies to pass the minimum "usefulness" threshold is where that conversation starts. But if you're building stations for MBTA service, I think Olneyville and Cranston could be...

For measuring curves when I don't have access to the official track charts, I use Alon Levy's Google Earth method described in this blog post.

This year’s update of the Northeast Corridor Commission’s 5-year Capital Investment Plan includes an item for demolishing the old Pawtucket-Central Falls Station. Shows a $500,000 FY25 expenditure out of a total project cost of $15 million. I share your sentiments. It was a station befitting...

Agreed. Boosting frequencies while decreasing trainset lengths doesn’t suggest they’ll be moving substantially more people along the corridor each day, so this isn’t addressing future capacity needs. Hopefully they at least leave space for future platform lengthening in the station designs.

The list of Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grant recipients was published this morning: https://railroads.dot.gov/sites/fra.dot.gov/files/2024-10/FY23-24%20CRISI%20Selections.pdf

New London’s on a slightly sharper curve (8 degrees vs 6 degrees, if memory serves), but Mystic has to contend with both curvature and superelevation. That adds more engineering complexity. New London doesn’t rely on movable gap fillers, which are vulnerable to mechanical issues — instead it...

Even if the locals did want it, Stonington Borough would probably be the weakest station on the whole line. For reference, it’s only about 1/3 the size of Niantic, which had been a proposed infill stop for a while…until CDOT’s feasibility study found its ridership projections were too poor to...

West wouldn’t get you any closer to downtown Mystic. If the station has to move (and it almost certainly does, as F-Line said), Appendix I of the ECRTS discussed (on p.32) how you make the most out of the situation: by establishing a new local bus route that functions as a shuttle, extending...

The cost sandbagging is largely due to an assumption that the Palmer Line would be upgraded to Class 4 standards. They openly acknowledged in Appendix A that they have no way of substantiating that assumption…they didn’t confirm whether you’d even have enough clear stretches of 80mph running...

https://www.ctpublic.org/news/2024-10-09/ct-rail-shore-line-east-service-new-haven-new-london Shore Line East hasn’t been running at its full former strength for years at this point, but one of the two new round-trips they’ve restored includes peak service to/from Stamford — the first time...

https://www.pressherald.com/2024/10/07/cumberland-postpones-rail-to-trail-vote-abutting-property-owners-opposed/ The Casco Bay Trail Alliance (bike lobby) is hoping to get Portland City Council to pass a resolution next month in favor of converting the Berlin Subdivision into a trail. This is...

https://www.maine.gov/mdot/ofps/docs/Rockland%20Branch%20RFP-9.20.24.pdf MEDOT’s Rockland Branch RFP was posted about three weeks ago. They’re seeking an operator for a 10-year term. It also included the following language to set expectations for scheduling freight to accommodate Amtrak’s...

On peak weekends, Newport's daytime population can climb as high as 100,000, at least according to this article. Would 576 more day-trippers really be so noticeable in comparison? If anything, you'd be more likely notice parking spaces aren't quite as hard to come by. The more Boston-area...

The study I mentioned a few posts ago, the 2002 Aquidneck Island Rail Study, estimated the Newport-Fall River segment would take about 30 minutes with 5 intermediate stops. It was assuming track would be maintained to Class 3/60mph standards, and diesel rolling stock would be used. In a SCR...

https://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/you-can-park-for-free-for-the-next-six-months-at-the-south-attleboro-mbta/article_3dcc28be-7f62-11ef-989a-6b2f484ddade.html Free parking at South Attleboro to try to drum up ridership and take pressure off adjacent stations

Today’s Narragansett and South Kingstown began as plantations. New England soil being what it is, they mostly focused on animal husbandry and all that comes with it (hay, dairy, etc), but some agricultural crops like corn were grown. After about 75 years, the planter class started turning to...

Dovetailing with what I said the other day, WPRI quotes Providence Mayor Smiley’s thoughts on Capital Center being an attractive potential landing spot for a new Hasbro HQ, in addition to the I-195 land...

A good starting place for this discussion would be to recap the original (WWI-era) plans for a subway system in Providence. The East Side Trolley Tunnel was built because the grade up College Hill was too steep for streetcars to climb, but City leaders were aware that tunnels like Boston’s...

100% agree. Portions of those corridors are already at Green Line densities, and those that aren't could be shored up with TOD. But before we get too excited...

https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/politics/state/2024/09/16/ripta-wants-to-build-a-new-transit-line-where-should-it-go/75250830007/ Very end of the article says that Pawtucket has been talking with the State about redeveloping the surface parking lots at the station into structured...