Herring wrote:Sarge wrote:RearOfSignal wrote:
Groups Seek to Fast Track Commuter Rail Project
That's a great link. I just read through it, and it answers a lot of questions about the possible Springfield line commuter service.
The State Rep who wants through service to Penn and LI though... that seems a little pie-in-the-sky. I think lining it up with MNCR the way SLE is would be a great start. A Bradley connection would be great though.
I read part of the executive summary of the State report on it (linked from the article). The only two things that really jumped out at me were:
1. Grade-separated pedestrian crossings. In stations like Wallinford, the town is quite dense in the railroad area, and lots of people walk or drive across the tracks, so this doesn't seem realiistic. I am guessing, however, that it would cost less $$ than the SLE stations, as there is no catenary to avoid/ build around/ go over.
2. The lowest cost implementation alternative, while it would be a good start with no new construction, only runs one direction. People in Wallingford and Meriden work both in New Haven and Hartford, so it wouldn't function well as a single direction service like the SLE can.
At first I couldn't find information about wheelchair accessibility, but there is a sentence that says lifts could be used with low level platforms.
They also talked over and over about Amtrak connections, but MNCR connections would likely be more valuable/ used.
It would also be boosted by building out the SLE stations to allow bi-directional operations, creating a full triangular rail system that would be usable in any direction either in the morning or afternoon, and would stretch from GCT to OSB and Springfield.
I then read the part about the equipment. It skipped over the logical path of electrifying the SLE and then moving that equipment northwards. What I found very interesting, however, is that DMU's are MUCH more fuel efficient than push-pull. This isn't easily understood. If the locomotive in a push-pull train was to be downsized a bit, I should think it would be more fuel efficient, but I guess the weight of the locomotive outweighs (pun intended) the possibility of fuel savings through a larger, centralized locomotive. The study seemed to favor DMU's, even though they are totally unproven, and there wouldn't be any used ones available.
It cited noise and vibration as a big problem with locomotives. On a side note, GE will be coming out with hybrid diesels that basically work sort of like a Prius with the dynamic braking energy stored for use during acceleration, and these could solve some of the efficiency and noise problems that plague the current generation of big diesels, and would likely prove perfect for commuter rail. Although the report didn't explicitly say so, acceleration out of stations like Wallingford would probably be significantly impacted if the current GP-40's or P40's were used on this service because of their noise and vibration profile.
