Cape Cod Rail, Bridges and Highways

Re: Boston to Cape rail

This announcement can also put to rest the notion that the "service cuts" to the weekend Old Colony trains had anything whatsoever to do with saving money. They were already doing weekend cancellations all year long for the tie replacement project on all 3 branches. This Fall the replacement project moved north of Braintree and would've necessitated weekend cancellations to all service regardless. So they're just doing what they were already scheduled to do. The odds were probably 80% or better that weekend trains were going to quietly resume to--at minimum--Middleboro and Plymouth after that was finished, and most likely all 3 lines because if they're putting together automatic-door consists in the yard for any 1 line that's chewing up enough resources that they might as well operate 'em on all 3.

Now they have a feel-good way to announce what they were intending to do anyway. +1 for Cape Rail and the Cape communities for exploiting that loophole with a sell job to the T that got them exactly what they wanted...and were being rebuffed on in previous attempts.


BTW...the E's been quietly resumed to Heath, too, so yes..."cost savings" my ass.



Pics of Cape Rail's existing lounge car with bar: http://www.capetrain.com/roster-capecodder.php. Their new owners Iowa Pacific RR own a bunch of heritage RR's and shares equipment between them all. Quite likely there'll be a couple spiffy new additions to the fleet by the time service inaugurates.
 
Re: Boston to Cape rail

I was a little confused by the article when it discussed scheduling. Please correct me if I'm wrong:

Friday Night: Boston --> Hyannis
Saturday: Hyannis --> Boston & Boston --> Hyannis
Sunday: Hyannis --> Boston

Is that it?
 
Re: Boston to Cape rail

F-Line, will the T be running the sets with a mix of the cape rail cars and mbta cars?
 
Re: Boston to Cape rail

Pretty sure that there's a Sunday morning Boston->Hyannis run too.
 
Re: Boston to Cape rail

rdeastcl said:
F-Line, will the T be running the sets with a mix of the cape rail cars and mbta cars?
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Nothing official, but that's what's being negotiated. MBCR coaches run on a pretty generic standard voltage, so they can trainline with 'foreign' coaches without problems. Private cars aren't unusual for Purple Line ops...they've done unique consists before for special excursions or when bringing political dignitaries out for a golden shovel ceremony. If Cape Rail's own lounges aren't certified for 80 MPH speeds/braking Boston-Middleboro, then more than likely Iowa Pacific will be bringing in outside reinforcements (since they definitely run scenic trips on high-speed track with some of their other tourist RR's). The bike car is simply the one the T uses in summertime for the Rockport Line. Since the first batch of the new bi-level coaches will be in revenue service by then they're thinking they might be able to pry loose a couple of the to-be-retired single-levels, rip out some seats, and fashion more bike or ski cars in a pinch. It's a good interim use for the worn-out surplus.


(Well...maybe not as good a use as recycling them all as booze cars, but I guess there was a reason why our Puritan forefathers banished all the colony's drunks to Connecticut: http://www.vergarastudio.com/pdf/m8_cafe_car.pdf :rolleyes:)
 
Re: Boston to Cape rail

While I'm happy to see bike cars on this new service, I hope they will be additional ones, rather than being removed from the North Shore service.
 
Re: Boston to Cape rail

Ron Newman said:
While I'm happy to see bike cars on this new service, I hope they will be additional ones, rather than being removed from the North Shore service.
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Unless something happens delaying the new coaches from going into service, that's the plan...have the mechanics at BET do a quick-and-dirty swap out of seats for bike racks on the the old single-levels that otherwise would've been retired and put in dead storage. They'll only deprive Rockport of its bike car if something goes awry and the old surplus coaches aren't available.

I could see Plymouth meriting a bike car too. If they've got the spare equipment coming available next summer, why not just throw a few out there on lines that have biking destinations and see what sticks. Doesn't cost them anything to toss some seats and hack together some racks at the shop, and the cars are heading to the scrapper in 2 years anyway.
 
Re: Boston to Cape rail

OMG could my rail dream being coming true...kinda maybe....I would like service to be enhanced....hopefully it will one day...


Middlebough / Cape Cod line
South Station
JFK/UMASS
Quincy Center
Braintree
Holbrook/Randolph
Montello
Brockton
Campello
Bridgewater
Middleborough
Wareham
Buzzards Bay
Sandwich
Barnstable
Hyannis

The Cape Codder
New York Penn Station
New Rochelle
Stamford
New Haven
Old Saybrook
New London
Kingston
Providence
Pawtucket
Attleboro
Taunton
Middleborough
Wareham
Buzzards Bay
Sandwich
Barnstable
Hyannis
 
Re: Boston to Cape rail

Plymouth lost all its weekend service because of the MBTA's fiscal cliff earlier this year. As did Greenbush. I doubt either will come back until the underlying finance problems are addressed.
 
Re: Boston to Cape rail

I'm seeing myself taking my bike on the train in the morning, riding to Provincetown and taking the Ferry back.
 
Re: Boston to Cape rail

Me too. There's a significant market for this.
 
Re: Boston to Cape rail

MBTAddict said:
I'm pretty sure its the corner of Main Street and Center Street, right near the relatively new bus station they built.
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This.

It's only about a block away from the downtown strip, and a couple blocks from the ferry to Nantucket.
 
Re: Boston to Cape rail

Commuting Boston Student said:
I thought that these weren't actually going to get made because Metro-North didn't want to pay for them and CDOT can't afford them?
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CTDOT has an un-exercised contract option for 25 more M8's, and the prior option they exercised were for 25 unpowered singles. The bar car interior was final-designed so they could TBD-assign however many they want to be outfitted in lounge instead of regular livery. They're only 180 cars through a 405 car order, though, so it's two more years before they even build those coaches, and only at the very end where they have to exercise that option for the last 25. They've got lots of time to mull it over because the singles are going to be the very last cars coming out of the factory.

Theoretically they can trainline the ancient bar cars from the M2/4/6 series because they're likewise unpowered coaches (whereas the EMU 2/4/6's are electrically incompatible), but those things are pretty damn worn out by now and after all the other old EMU's are scrapped they're not going to have enough spare parts left to service them. And they DEFINITELY are not phasing out the bar cars because there'd be mass riots from their riders. They have the cars because the stop spacing on the New Haven, Harlem, and Hudson lines are so dense...and require transfers for diesel territory and the CT branchlines...that people at the ends of the lines have commutes >1 hour.

>1 hour is about the threshold where lounges become viable on revenue. Which is why the T's CR trips, which usually top out at an hour, wouldn't generate too much demand for them except for excursion-oriented trips like the Cape. And that's the perfect kind of run to partner with Cape Rail instead of maintaining an in-house fleet because Iowa Pacific has all kinds of special cars at their disposal that can trainline with MBCR equipment.
 
Re: Boston to Cape rail

Ron Newman said:
Plymouth lost all its weekend service because of the MBTA's fiscal cliff earlier this year. As did Greenbush. I doubt either will come back until the underlying finance problems are addressed.
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I think that was just an excuse. The tie replacement project was wrapping this summer/fall, but the portion they had left to do was on the main north of Braintree, which would've necessitated canceling weekend service on all 3 lines anyway. Since those lines are the only ones that use automatic door coaches, if you're going to assemble trainsets at weekend for just one line it's almost cheaper to assemble them for 2 or even 3 lines. Because of that I would bet at minimum Plymouth returning too next year.

Most of these service cuts had absolutely jack to do with saving money. The E's already resumed to Heath most of the time. Except for constantly shat-upon Needham I bet all the CR lines have their weekend schedules quietly restored by the time the spring-term schedules go into effect.
 
Re: Boston to Cape rail

Nexis4jersey said:
OMG could my rail dream being coming true...kinda maybe....I would like service to be enhanced....hopefully it will one day...


Middlebough / Cape Cod line
South Station
JFK/UMASS
Quincy Center
Braintree
Holbrook/Randolph
Montello
Brockton
Campello
Bridgewater
Middleborough
Wareham
Buzzards Bay
Sandwich
Barnstable
Hyannis

The Cape Codder
New York Penn Station
New Rochelle
Stamford
New Haven
Old Saybrook
New London
Kingston
Providence
Pawtucket
Attleboro
Taunton
Middleborough
Wareham
Buzzards Bay
Sandwich
Barnstable
Hyannis
Click to expand...


And keep in mind that there's a potential for PTC exemptions on the unsignaled portions. Since PTC only serves the purpose of preventing train-on-train collisions and there's no headway-packing to be had on the Middleboro line because of the single-track bottleneck north of Braintree, so long as only one train is occupying the line in dark territory they can safely operate signal-less. Those waivers are probably going to happen on signal-less lines with manageable schedules like the White River Jct.-St. Albans portion of the Vermonter (50 miles...that ain't cheap to install signals) or the proposed Ethan Allen Express extension from Rutland-Burlington where the state is upgrading the track to 60 MPH for a projected 2017 start date.

Nearly all of the grade crossings on the Cape are gate-protected, so those are safe too (except for the one right next to Buzzards Bay station). Because the bridge openings are limited and MassCoastal really doesn't run on-Cape freight more than once or twice a day, they have the wide enough spacing to make a PTC exemption and signal-less operation work comfortably. Right now the only signalized portion south of M'boro are the wayside signals protecting either side of the bridge and the junction on the Cape side with the Falmouth Branch, so that effectively divvies the operating blocks up into M'boro-bridge and bridge-Hyannis...which would allow them to mix BB-turning trains while simultaneously having something else puttering on-Cape.

So if they work on chipping away at the track speeds, starting with M'boro-BB, they can build something sustainable here. Do the basic maint to get the speeds up to a uniform 40 MPH, then work on getting M'boro-BB up to 60. I think the demand is going to be inevitable for a full commuter schedule to BB, and they'll have the actionable ridership numbers to go fishing for some signal system funding...especially if they start roping in Amtrak. Cab signals + PTC infill to BB wouldn't cost that much, and they'd only have to rehab the mini-layover at BB to store one short-term idling train to support the full commuter rail schedule. Shift changes and overnight they can just deadhead the short distance to the spacious Middleboro layover. BB station is in excellent shape and ADA-compliant, so the most they'd really need to do to it is upgrade that mini-high to a full-high and install parking fare collection.

That'll get them 80 MPH mainland track, and divide the dark territory and 60-or-less speeds to just bridge-Hyannis and (for Amtrak or Providence-Cape excursions) the Middleboro Secondary from Attleboro-Middleboro. Attleboro-Middleboro does have some gate-unprotected crossings that would have to be upgraded, especially the one at Route 140 where the traffic queues from the 140/24 interchange routinely back up onto the tracks. But otherwise it's in fair shape and would be similarly cut-rate to upgrade to 60 MPH (it's arrow-straight throughout). It DOES have a partially installed wayside signal system that Amtrak was putting in for the Cape Codder mid-90's, but it was abandoned half-complete when the CC got whacked in '96. A lot of the cable has already been trenched, and there some never-activated waysides sitting there. If they ever did want to turn those on and get everything on the mainland-side signalized it wouldn't be a ton of money. But they probably could operate for a few years signal-less with a PTC waiver because that line only gets used 2 or 3 times a day for freight and is pretty short.

It really could pay for itself if they approach it in sloowww baby steps like this and stay on-point with the public-private partnerships and roping in other stakeholders like Amtrak. It makes the cognitive dissonance about South Coast FAIL and attempting to do that one in a monolithic build that much more absurd.
 
Re: Boston to Cape rail

BostonUrbEx said:
This.

It's only about a block away from the downtown strip, and a couple blocks from the ferry to Nantucket.
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Here's all the Cape stations, with locations: http://www.capetrain.com/directions-hyannis.php.

Wareham, Buzzards Bay, West Barnstable, and Hyannis are beautiful historic stations. Cape Rail does a great job maintaining the BB-east ones, and Wareham is a town-maintained public restroom. All except Wareham are ADA-compliant mini-highs leftover from Amtrak. Hyannis got a major renovation the last few years.
 
Re: Boston to Cape rail

Is there no line that goes beyond hyannis? I don't think a full service would be viable beyond leisure cars, because when you get to that end, the boat from boston seems better. But, out of curiosity, is there anything there?
 
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