Regional New England Rail (Amtrak & State DOT & NEC)

whittle said:
The 10,000 number you refer to includes part time commuters.
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Some of these are people who use their car for work -- i.e. Sales Reps and some Field Service people -- these you are not going to get to abandon driving no matter what

Then there are people who do a couple trips a week to a couple trips a month --

I was in that category for a while when I was teaching some graduate seminars at UNH and also was a key member of a lab there. For the Seminar -- unless there was some extraordinary event which could not be accommodated by the heavily in-bound AM Schedule -- I would take the Downeast out of Anderson directly to the edge of the UNH Campus in Durham in the morning and return that evening

The good the bad and the ugly of it:
  • Good:
    • Wifi on-board,​
    • AM usually fairly empty so there was plenty of room to spread-out my work
      • an opportunity to get a nice new coffee when most needed in the AM.​
    • In the PM usually somewhat more crowded [people going to Celtics and Bruins, etc] so less working space --
      • Big advantage -- grab and beer and relax on the way home​
  • Bad:
    • the AM schedule was heavily tuned toward in-bound commuters,
      • The earliest train from Boston to Durham was just on the edge of acceptability for a Graduate Seminar -- would not work when I was teaching undergrads.​
    • Delays of half and hour were common-enough that when something important such as student presentations was on the calendar I had to drive.​
    • Sometimes I had to drive because I was delivering or retrieving equipment that was not easy to schlep across the campus​
  • Ugly:
    • a few instances of hardware failures in Anderson Station [train and parking ticket printing] which screwed-up a couple of commutes and forced last minute reversion to the car -- loss of fee for parking. etc.​
    • a couple of times when the parking system went awry and I had to pay a fine for parking legally​
    • When I was very spread-out -- doing last minute "homework"
      • I couldn't get off in time -- had to go on to the next stop, etc.​
      • A couple of times when work or winter clothing got left on the train​
 
i drove US6/89 in Utah today covering along side:
i arrived in Green River for gas a couple of hours after dark,
and took a little coffee & Hannity break behind the Love's truck stop....
Happy enough to have beaten the storm over the Wasatch passes--
but, what passed by, but the California Zephyr heading west. :)
i had my camera in hand, but i was being lazy.
I've caught the Southwest Chief sneaking through the passes near Flagstaff
a few times--but this was an extra cool treat!
 
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whighlander said:
I was in that category for a while when I was teaching some graduate seminars at UNH and also was a key member of a lab there. For the Seminar -- unless there was some extraordinary event which could not be accommodated by the heavily in-bound AM Schedule -- I would take the Downeast out of Anderson directly to the edge of the UNH Campus in Durham in the morning and return that evening
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Seems like that would be rather pricey... looks like at least $20 each way. Of course driving would be pretty expensive to do that every day too, it's like 60 miles.
 
jklo said:
Seems like that would be rather pricey... looks like at least $20 each way. Of course driving would be pretty expensive to do that every day too, it's like 60 miles.
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But getting back the hours of productivity is worth it if you can work on the train
 
Arlington said:
But getting back the hours of productivity is worth it if you can work on the train
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I'd argue that for many, it's worth it even if they do no work at all during travel, just to avoid the stress and hassle of driving. But in all cases, people should certainly consider cost and benefit. The train is the best fit for some, less so for others.
 
HenryAlan said:
I'd argue that for many, it's worth it even if they do no work at all during travel, just to avoid the stress and hassle of driving. But in all cases, people should certainly consider cost and benefit. The train is the best fit for some, less so for others.
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It is complex, and anybody planning intercity trains for New England is going to have to try to model first order effects
-AVs will do a great job of making SPG-BOS less painful by car
-AVs will compete with the train as a "I can work and rest because somebody else is driving"

And the second order effects:
- AVs will induce demand on the pike and either mean traffic jams or higher tolls (to fend off jams)
- If trips are easy, east-west "deals" will be more common

AVs will, at various times be an alternative, or a supplement. But more mobility east-west has got to be good for the Commonwealth.
 
This is really a commuter rail question, but what how much does the final stretch of the Worcester line — all the curves and loops — affect train speeds? And as a follow up, is there any chance at all that there would ever be a project within Worcester and Grafton to straighten out the line in order to achiever faster service to Boston?
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
The highway grading is so much steeper than FRA-permissible RR grading
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We talk about the NSRL having very steep grades--achievable only with electrification, and yet that's an FRA railroad, right? (as opposed to FTA transit)

How are the grades that the pike requires different from the grades that the NSRL would be permitted to have?

Is there some "passenger only" grade waiver that a Pike alignment could apply for?
 
Arlington said:
It is complex, and anybody planning intercity trains for New England is going to have to try to model first order effects
-AVs will do a great job of making SPG-BOS less painful by car
-AVs will compete with the train as a "I can work and rest because somebody else is driving"
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Totally off topic, but AV's getting to that level is super bad for Boston and the area because it greatly mitigates Boston's advantage of mass transit. Plus liability wise it might be tough for an people mover AV in snow.
 
^ The "informality of the grill" == coat & tie but no tablecloth
 
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F-Line to Dudley said:
… New Haven's until 1985.
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Though I'm aware that Union Station was rehabilitated that year, I hadn't realized its platforms were low till then. (IIRC, platforms at the other stations along the New Haven line were raised in the early 1970s.)
 
Norval Elliot said:
Though I'm aware that Union Station was rehabilitated that year, I hadn't realized its platforms were low till then. (IIRC, platforms at the other stations along the New Haven line were raised in the early 1970s.)
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They started before then with the physical raising of the platforms because the M2 EMU's introduced in the mid-70's didn't have door traps...but some of the Amtrak & diesel platforms stayed low longer. The accessibility project that got all the egresses + platforms compatible with handicap access didn't wrap until the big '85 reno. Which was a big showcase deal stemming from Metro North's '83 founding.

NH Union spent a solid 10 years in total configuration disarray because MNRR's public spinoff was so much-delayed compared to all other Northeastern commuter rail agencies. Nothing was getting done in the decade of rudderless "Conrail Metro Region featuring ConnDOT fun bux" ops, so the mid-80's were a big burst of state-of-repair renewal flushed through after somebody finally got put in charge.
 
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