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

Not sure if this should go here or in the "Other peoples' rail" thread, but Amtrak is adding (or re-adding?) sleeper cars to overnight NE Regional trains in both directions starting April 5th. Timings look convenient if your doing BOS-WAS (departing 9:30 pm, arriving 7AM)
 
Link to the Amtrak press release: https://media.amtrak.com/2021/03/amtrak-to-add-private-rooms-to-overnight-northeast-regional-trains/

Here's a portion of the announcement:

WASHINGTON – Amtrak Northeast Regional service will now include private rooms, affording customers an opportunity to enjoy a distinctive travel experience. Private rooms will be offered on select trains operating overnight between Washington, D.C., New York, and Boston. Tickets are now available to purchase for travel beginning on April 5.

The schedule:
  • Train 66 travels daily and departs Washington Union Station at 10 p.m., arriving at New York Penn Station at 1:55 a.m. and Boston South Station at 7:58 a.m.
  • Train 67 travels Sundays to Thursdays and departs Boston South Station at 9:30 p.m., arriving at New York Penn Station at 2:30 a.m. and Washington Union Station at 7 a.m.
  • Train 65 operates with slightly different arrival times on Fridays and Saturdays...
 
There's a push in the CT Legislature to have ConnDOT do a study of extending Shore Line East to Rhode Island (unclear exactly where) and up the P&W line from New London to Worcester. https://www.theday.com/article/20210227/NWS05/210229449
I have a hard time seeing the New London - Worcester link being a going concern, that part of eastern CT is a whole lot of nothing.
 
ceo said:
There's a push in the CT Legislature to have ConnDOT do a study of extending Shore Line East to Rhode Island (unclear exactly where) and up the P&W line from New London to Worcester. https://www.theday.com/article/20210227/NWS05/210229449
I have a hard time seeing the New London - Worcester link being a going concern, that part of eastern CT is a whole lot of nothing.
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well, if they build it, I'll take it; pre-covid I had to make the Worcester to New London drive nearly monthly! /s

In all seriousness, I don't buy the 395 proposal; its too empty. Via PVD? It'd duplicate far too much of the NE regional.

While the full route would be incredibly niche, I do think there's a market for Worcester to Providence via Woonsocket, given how busy 146 gets. It'd be a neat trick; it'd basically be the southern half of the DoA Boston Surface RR proposal, just with a state's funding capacity. But thats MA/RI, not CT.
 
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Because of the concentration of old mill villages along the rail line, New London-Worcester might be worthwhile even though 395 is not congested. In a world where we have New Haven-Springfield-Worcester-Boston shuttles connecting to most Northeast Regional trains, a few New London-Worcester shuttles might make sense. NHV-NLC-WOR and NHV-SPG-WOR running times are nearly identical, so you'd get cross-platform transfers at both New London and Worcester. But that would be an intercity service operated at minimal cost (wooden platforms at some selection of Norwich, Jewett City, Plainfield, Danielson, Putnam, Webster, Oxford, Auburn) with the intention of getting passengers continuing on 95 or 90 off the roads, not a commuter service as the CT legislators think. The only commuter value would be the Massachusetts segment for Worcester commuters or Boston super-commuters.

Providence-Woonsocket-Worcester is probably a higher regional priority - large cities at both ends, and definite commuter demand. Again, a competent public-sector operator (not BSR) could get service going relatively cheaply, given that P&W maintains its track well. Both lines would be valuable regional links in a network designed for timely transfers at the major hub stations. They're never going to be massive ridership generators, but they don't need to be.
 
Wouldn’t that follow the routing of the old East Wind train from DC to Portland, Maine?
 
The New Haven operated several Maine through trains, which used the line at various times:
  • The Bar Harbor Express (summer only) began in 1902 and originally went through Springfield; it used the line from circa-1915 to its suspension after the 1942 season. When it returned in 1946, it was rerouted over the Providence & Worcester until discontinued in 1960.
  • The East Wind (summer only) began in 1940 and used the line until suspended after the 1942 summer season. (The Day Express operated over the same schedule in 1944). It also resumed via the P&W from 1946-50. It resumed via New Haven-Hartford-Willimantic-Putnam-Worcester in 1953, and ended in 1955 when the Air Line bridge south of Putnam washed out.
  • The State of Maine (year-round) began in 1913 through Springfield; by 1915, it and the Bar Harbor Express both went via New London and Worcester. It was rerouted via the P&W in 1946 and ran until 1960.
  • The Down Easter (summer only, Friday NB/Sunday SB) used the line from its 1927 introduction until 1942. It resumed from 1947-50, presumably via the P&W
Local passenger service between New London and Worcester ended in 1928. It resumed with an RDC in 1952, running until 1971. Local service on the P&W lasted until 1960.
 
The EGE said:
Because of the concentration of old mill villages along the rail line, New London-Worcester might be worthwhile even though 395 is not congested. In a world where we have New Haven-Springfield-Worcester-Boston shuttles connecting to most Northeast Regional trains, a few New London-Worcester shuttles might make sense. NHV-NLC-WOR and NHV-SPG-WOR running times are nearly identical, so you'd get cross-platform transfers at both New London and Worcester. But that would be an intercity service operated at minimal cost (wooden platforms at some selection of Norwich, Jewett City, Plainfield, Danielson, Putnam, Webster, Oxford, Auburn) with the intention of getting passengers continuing on 95 or 90 off the roads, not a commuter service as the CT legislators think. The only commuter value would be the Massachusetts segment for Worcester commuters or Boston super-commuters.

Providence-Woonsocket-Worcester is probably a higher regional priority - large cities at both ends, and definite commuter demand. Again, a competent public-sector operator (not BSR) could get service going relatively cheaply, given that P&W maintains its track well. Both lines would be valuable regional links in a network designed for timely transfers at the major hub stations. They're never going to be massive ridership generators, but they don't need to be.
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This idea could work if the service is designed exclusively as a feeder service for the connecting trains at New London and Worcester, where maybe the line is not operationally profitable on its own but functions as a loss leader to enhance the margins on the connecting services.

The big issue with the line, I think, is that one of the largest draws is Mohegan Sun, which is on the wrong side of the river! I've also sometimes thought a New London-Norwich-UConn-Hartford service could prove valuable, but that requires buying up roughly eight miles of new ROW between Vernon and Storrs, which I think places the idea firmly into the "If you were God" category.
 
requires buying up roughly eight miles of new ROW between Vernon and Storrs, which I think places the idea firmly into the "If you were God" category.
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Isn't there a rail trail that goes Vernon- Williamantic? It's not Storrs, but it's close enough for a campus shuttle.
 
Stlin said:
Isn't there a rail trail that goes Vernon- Williamantic? It's not Storrs, but it's close enough for a campus shuttle.
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Yes. Although the existing ROW east of Bolton Notch is extremely curvy and would not be a great reactivation candidate. ConnDOT owns shitloads of linear land here for 50 years of various permutations of canceled I-84/I-384 extensions...all of them much straighter and higher-speed than the old NYNE ROW. The early-2000's "fast-track" plan for a north-of-Hop River alignment expressway with 1000 ft. "greenway" median would be a particularly easy dust-off for completing the reconnection...with or without the accompanying highway build. Few vaporware builds have ever been so immaculately well-scrutinized as all the various I-84 alignments, so between the known-known EIS'ing parameters and state ownership of 95% of the land there's enormous cost-savings to be had for recycling some/all of that alignment.

It's why NEC FUTURE looked to that as one of its Alt. Shoreline alignments. Unfortunately, the study group breaking off into its own 'rogue' outfit eschewing the input from any of the constituent states had them--for reasons that baffle--doubling-down on the impacts + geology -unbuildable I-95 Alternative with pornographic quanties of MOAR TUNNEL. They never paid more than lip service to the Midland highway alignment as a viable possibility, so it still hasn't gotten any rigorous workup to this day. If someday we get a Fed study group that takes its mission statement seriously, the Midland/84 alignment probably will get a serious workup. While feasibility is not outright guaranteed until there is close-enough engineering dive, it certainly can't fail any worse than the wholly unbelievable 95 bypass that NEC FUTURE wasted years trying to stan for. It at least wholly passes the smell test for meriting a much deeper dive.

Hartford-New London CR would be an immediate pickup from reconnecting Vernon and Willimantic, because the Willimantic-south portion of NECR/Central Vermont Main does hit the right mix of commuter trip generating town centers and CT 2 is a highway corridor that could use some load relief. That would help for the construction staging, as you'd be able to get some beneficial immediate use out of it while still figuring out the Willimantic-Providence installment of the HSR bypass. You'd get East Hartford Center, Buckland Hills, Manchester Center, and Vernon on the arrow-straight active tracks...Bolton on the TBD midsection...then Downtown Willimantic, Yantic (near CT 2/I-395 interchange), Downtown Norwich, Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, and New London as stops...while avoiding the Quiet Corner density cavity entirely. Ridership-wise it would be a favorable comparison to Shore Line East...and the portion of NECR south of Willimantic is nothing special for freight clearance needs so it wouldn't be too pricey to electrify the whole circuit. Unfortunately there's simply no there there on the Central VT portion unless you can provide that crucial direct link to Hartford Union, so Vernon-Willimantic reconnection is an outright prerequisite and prospects for that--at least until a saner Fed study body mends fences that NEC FUTURE broke--are extremely poor for the foreseeable future.


As for UConn-Storrs...remember, it was founded via land grants as an Agricultural college. Its off-the-beaten-pathness from forms of transportation was a 'feature' of its placement, because the campus was built bunkered into the center of miles of unbroken farmland. The Central VT main pre-dated the school's founding by more than 3 decades, and the Colonial turnpike that begat CT 32 more than a century older than that. Campus was built nowhere near either of them for specific agricultural reason. The only relation the school ever had with the rail line was sending oxcarts to pick up coal at Mansfield Depot about 3 miles away. So unfortunately a bus shuttle is always going to be part of any transportation solution...and that includes for the highways built-and-unbuilt. NEC FUTURE hilariously crayoned an ungodly 10-mile sojurn of MOAR TUNNEL off-alignment to have a deep-cavern station underneath the campus, but that was just the cherry on top of the shit sundae from all the shade they were already throwing at the Midland alignment. It was never serious.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Hartford-New London CR would be an immediate pickup from reconnecting Vernon and Willimantic, because the Willimantic-south portion of NECR/Central Vermont Main does hit the right mix of commuter trip generating town centers and CT 2 is a highway corridor that could use some load relief. That would help for the construction staging, as you'd be able to get some beneficial immediate use out of it while still figuring out the Willimantic-Providence installment of the HSR bypass. You'd get East Hartford Center, Buckland Hills, Manchester Center, and Vernon on the arrow-straight active tracks...Bolton on the TBD midsection...then Downtown Willimantic, Yantic (near CT 2/I-395 interchange), Downtown Norwich, Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, and New London as stops...while avoiding the Quiet Corner density cavity entirely. Ridership-wise it would be a favorable comparison to Shore Line East...and the portion of NECR south of Willimantic is nothing special for freight clearance needs so it wouldn't be too pricey to electrify the whole circuit. Unfortunately there's simply no there there on the Central VT portion unless you can provide that crucial direct link to Hartford Union, so Vernon-Willimantic reconnection is an outright prerequisite and prospects for that--at least until a saner Fed study body mends fences that NEC FUTURE broke--are extremely poor for the foreseeable future.
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This came up on pg. 23 of this thread and I asked you for a breakdown on why this would help Rt. 2, but I became unavailable to follow up. I have to say that the idea that Norwich and points east relief seems like it would have negligible impact on the Exit 8 onward jam of Glastonbury->Hartford. This is especially true if route 11 is ever finished (HA!). I can see the casino traffic angle, kind of, but the reality is that the traffic heading back from the casino is usually off peak. Would a better tool for addressing rt 2 congestion be to include an add-on provision to branch from Willimantic through Columbia and Amston into Colchester center on the spur? It's definitely not a priority, but it actually gets to the center of the Hartford-Norwich gap, provides transfers to Norwich/The casino/New London and capitalizes on Colchester's change into the Glastonbury of 25-30 years ago. Admittedly, it would be better if the Airline had touched Hebron center, but alas.

I already advocated for the currently bonkers restoration of LRT to Glastonbury center but that's more about Hartford having local transit than about regional/statewide travel. It would help the Rt. 2 issue most though.
 
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Looks like ConnDot/CTRail just got their first P40s back from rebuild, evidently several months late. Gotta say they look good though in black and red, even on the back of a works train. its definitely brighter than the GP40 scheme.
ctr.PNG

 
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Kind of bizarre to see the old pointless-arrow logo on a Genesis loco, never mind a Charger.
 
Wait I thought Amtrak decided they werent buying the alc-42 chargers with the new nose. Is that a leftover graphic from before this was decided? That charger above has the alc-42 style front end vs the ugly ass sc-44, hopefully this is good news.
ALC42_Charger_PHASE-VI_Final-3QTR-scaled.jpg
 
I wonder when that was done. While heading to Wilmington on the Commuter Rail last Monday afternoon, I saw a P42 with that logo pushing a southbound Downeaster into Anderson/Woburn. I don't recall the engine number.
 
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