First time posting here, but I’m familiar with the RI intrastate rail/”295 belt” service concept. The big question in my mind is whether RIDOT ended up creating a chokepoint between Pawtucket and Providence that now precludes establishing a statewide (or Providence-centric) rail service.
In an earlier thread discussing this topic, but in the context of why it might eventually be worthwhile to reactivate Providence’s East Side Railroad Tunnel, @F-Line to Dudley said:
Yet RIDOT ended up building the Pawtucket/Central Falls Station with platforms directly on the NEC mainline tracks, instead of on passing sidings as originally planned, in an attempt to keep costs down. (It didn’t work – the reduced build cost them 50% more than the quad-track version was budgeted for.)
The segment of the NEC between Pawtucket and Providence would be the busiest in the state if an intrastate rail service were rolled out: it would need to handle Amtrak (both Acela and Northeast Regional), MBTA (Providence Line), and some combination of overlapping RI-centric lines. And all this traffic needs to share the same pair of platform tracks since Pawtucket’s two-track design cannot facilitate overtakes. Are we already at the point where running intrastate rail service north of Providence (whether at 15-min or 30-min frequencies) is going to require either 1) finding a bypass, like the East Side tunnel, or 2) substantially reconfiguring Pawtucket Station?
In an earlier thread discussing this topic, but in the context of why it might eventually be worthwhile to reactivate Providence’s East Side Railroad Tunnel, @F-Line to Dudley said:
Right now "projected local traffic" for 2040 involves RUR-level Providence Line traffic making South Attleboro, Pawtucket, and T.F. Green stops, and RIDOT Intrastate traffic running Westerly-Pawtucket and Woonsocket-Wickford over a central overlap that includes additional infills at Cranston and *maybe someday* (depending on whether 6/10 Interchange rebuild serves up enough land) Olneyville that the Providence Line largely skips. This is with all intermediate stations present and future being constructed/reconstructed with 2 outer platform tracks and 2 center express tracks...and the mainline between East Junction, Attleboro and Providence Station being mostly 2-track with some significant running lengths of triple. The P&W freight track from the state line to Providence Station cannot be plausibly used for passenger service because it has to remain permanently un-wired to clear the large train of autoracks that P&W transports from Quonset Point to Gardner, MA 6 days a week (south of PVD the "FRIP" track is near-totally fair game for electrification, so this capacity constraint is specific to Pawtucket). Therefore the maximal track layout is considerably less spacious here than it is north of East Junction or south of Providence. But despite that, Amtrak has determined that it can coexist with 2040 projected local traffic.
All it takes, though, is one new local-traffic proposal not currently accounted for through 2040 to upset that balance. And this is because of the constrained track layout which leaves limited expressing options. The biggest potential one you could drop in there is real 15 min. frequency Urban Rail distinct from the longer-frequency RIDOT Westerly & Woonsocket overlaps.
Yet RIDOT ended up building the Pawtucket/Central Falls Station with platforms directly on the NEC mainline tracks, instead of on passing sidings as originally planned, in an attempt to keep costs down. (It didn’t work – the reduced build cost them 50% more than the quad-track version was budgeted for.)
The segment of the NEC between Pawtucket and Providence would be the busiest in the state if an intrastate rail service were rolled out: it would need to handle Amtrak (both Acela and Northeast Regional), MBTA (Providence Line), and some combination of overlapping RI-centric lines. And all this traffic needs to share the same pair of platform tracks since Pawtucket’s two-track design cannot facilitate overtakes. Are we already at the point where running intrastate rail service north of Providence (whether at 15-min or 30-min frequencies) is going to require either 1) finding a bypass, like the East Side tunnel, or 2) substantially reconfiguring Pawtucket Station?