Pioneer Valley Commuter Rail/Western MA and Southern VT

CRail wrote: They weren't deemed "too crappy", the were deemed surplus when new higher capacity equipment was brought in. Why do you think they're being stored rather than cut up?

The price of scrap steel now is so low, that it's not worth cutting them up. Storage until prices go up is much more practical.

Lee

Is there a comprehensive full-build plan for how Conn River services will be layered together? For example, in order from less frequent to more frequent, there should probably be:

(1) NYP - MTL
(1) NYP - ESX (or Burlington-proper)
(1) NYP - WRJ
(3) NYP - GFD
(6) NHV - SPG

End result is two round-trips to/from NYP for Burlington and Montpelier, three round-trips to/from NYP for White River Jct and Brattleboro, six round-trips to/from NYP for Greenfield and Springfield, and a grand total of 12 round-trips between New Haven and Springfield.

I'm just spitballing here, trying to imagine how service should be layered and if there is an actual plan (probably at a federal level).

the current plan for the conn river commuter service is roughly six round trips per day between springfield and greenfield period. any interface with connecting services is by happenstance only. the pilot commuter service will be run by an operator which could be anyone from pas to frta to peter pan bus, with suitable low fares to entice ridership.

Well, I guess we're going to find out just how wonderful that springfield to boston passenger corridor is going to be. Apparently this past week, the mass legislature has enabled? MASS DOT to study the situation; which is state legalese to say that Mass DOT has a high ball to hire a multi hundred dollar an hour consultant who will prove that multi springfield to boston train service is the next best thing since sliced bread.

ebtmikado wrote:

CRail wrote: They weren't deemed "too crappy", the were deemed surplus when new higher capacity equipment was brought in. Why do you think they're being stored rather than cut up?

The price of scrap steel now is so low, that it's not worth cutting them up. Storage until prices go up is much more practical.

Lee

Then they'd be in Billerica or some abandoned siding. They were moved to secure locations for a reason, and that reason wasn't to retain their scrap value which has been surpassed by efforts to preserve them by now.

Safetee wrote:Well, I guess we're going to find out just how wonderful that springfield to boston passenger corridor is going to be. Apparently this past week, the mass legislature has enabled? MASS DOT to study the situation; which is state legalese to say that Mass DOT has a high ball to hire a multi hundred dollar an hour consultant who will prove that multi springfield to boston train service is the next best thing since sliced bread.

I wonder where the stations for Boston -Springfield would be. Palmer would be nice as a stop.

Palmer would not be a crowd pleaser for ct amtrak or springfield. the idea is to get to boston quick with no stops. but with political muscle things can happen.

Spencer (Rt 49/9) or East Brookfield.

So..... someone know something we don't?: Concord Monitor

Rail already in N.H.
Right now, the Seacoast, Cheshire County and the Upper Valley are all serviced by rail. In a year, high speed rail will be coming up through Brattleboro and White River Junction, Vt., getting people in Western New Hampshire to New York City in three hours.

Assuming they're speaking of an extension of "The Hartford Line"? or Shuttle service? Or are they referring to something else?

The knowledge corridor is all things to all people. What the knowledge corridor really doesnt have is:
1)Highspeed capability. Two or three decent tangents does not spell high speed between White River and Hartford.
2)Critical mass of people who need to or want to go fast from white river to hartford or vice versa.
3) Sources of funding to increase line capacity and eliminate geometric bottlenecks

What the Knowledge corridor does bring to the table is an already well established recently completed platform connecting the dots north and south of Greenfield to provide the traffic with the inclinationt to utilize a connecting line that could have reasonable speeds at reasonable cost to Boston and North of Boston.

The goliathan obstacle to the Greenfield Gateway is the power behind the corridor who have fixations on a) western new england travel to Boston only through Springfield, b)facilitating a northeast corridor plan b in case of flooding on the NEC, c) and ski traffic from New York to Vermont.