by F-line to Dudley via Park
Clean Cab wrote:The schedule change was the real death knell. Once they cut the extra runs, which had all the convenient hours, it was pretty much a self-fulfilling prophecy that ridership was going to crater enough to get the route dropped.fl9m2004 wrote:I remember seeing the conductor from the cape codder
He's one of the conductors for Cape Cod Central
A really nice guy
I hope the train between Hyannis and Boston goes well
Hopefully one day I'll get to ride it
By the way why did Amtrak discontinue the cape codder
Imagine if Amtrak and MBTA ran a joint train Amtrak train with MBTA crews
The trains were funded by the State of Massachusetts in an agreement with Amtrak that required the state to cover any losses and a percentage of the operating costs. The train crews were all Amtrak employees that were qualified out of Boston. The funding subsidy was not renewed in 1996 and therefore the trains stopped running. Ridership on the trains had been declining and the trains that at one time were running from Washington DC to Hyannis 4 times (one train from DC to Hyannis on Friday, another train to Hyannis from NY on Saturday, one train back to NY/DC on Saturday and the last train back to NY on Sunday afternoon) between Friday and Sunday edventually dwindled down to a three car one engine push-pull shutlle from Providence to Hyannis on Friday and Sundays only making only one round trip. Another factor was the deteriorating conditions of the tracks on the Cape which created lower operating speeds. The state was faced with spending a massive amount of money on the tracks, and fund the trains that very few people were riding. Since that time, there had been no plans to renew the service until now.
At least Cape Cod Central has done an excellent job maintaining the platforms since. All early-90's era ADA mini-highs in good condition except for non-accessible Wareham. That helps a LOT for Year 2 when speeds should improve enough to absorb adding back the intermediate stops in West Barnstable and Sandwich. That's a total no-build proposition if they can keep chipping away at the maint backlog to allow the schedule to absorb it.