Amtrak Downeaster Discussion Thread

Wayne Davis’ notes from today’s NNEPRA board meeting.

April passengers 48,515 - 4% over target - 1,815 more than 2017

Revenue 9%over target - $910,032

Marketing going to do it's usual Come-to-Me by train advertising blitz in Boston

Cost recovery 59% (target was 52%)

Cafe car cost recovery 95% - target was 84%

Track work in September - outages - bus between Wells & Dover

Finally replacing deck on Saco Bridge which will get rid of annoying slow order

Haverhill Bridge now up to 25MPH for both tracks

Very encouraging report!

I also just read that the dome car will return this fall. I was under the impression this had been uncertain until now. Strangely, the Amtrak site says this is the first time for the Great Dome to Maine. Is this a different dome car from the past visits?

Alan

Speaking of clearing up the remaining speed restrictions - seems to be 40 between the NH line and HHL - it's probably MBTA track so maybe that answers it, but once out of HHL it's not very congested.

And then there is the 15 through Woodfords (and farther), I know they're going to redo the Forest Ave intersection but the restriction goes a lot farther than that. I believe I used to go at least 30 through there when I started riding the DE 5 years ago,

Woodfords. Where is that, please? TIA.

Sorry for not being clear - it's the most densely-populated (yet residential) part of Portland that the DE passes through - there are 8 grade crossings in the space of about a mile with houses right up to the ROW. It will never be possible to barrel through there but the 15mph is painful.

NNEPRA's draft FY2019 budget indicates that additional service (between Portland and Brunswick) will be added in November, 2018. But compared with projected actual FY18, ridership for the year is expected to decline 2% and subsidy per passenger will increase a whopping 17.6% to $23.35.

Having FY 2019 ridership projections 2% below the current projection for FY2018, which I assume is updated based on ridership so far this year, is probably (a) cautious projecting in case this year was an oddity and (b) a realistic assessment of the effects of outages in September (FY starts July 1?).

You can say a whopping 17.6% increase, but a $6.78 per passenger increase doesn't whop that hard, particularly since it is because of an initial expansion of service that will increase the length of the average trip, make the train more convenient for certain people and hopefully lead to more ridership and lower per-rider subsidy in the future.

Track work and busing this fall will likely negatively impact ridership to some degree.

Arborway, the BRU extension did little to nothing to budge average trip length... in part because ridership is pretty thin. And as I've pointed out, ridership declined on the BRU extension when service was added. I'm betting these additional trips do little to enhance further ridership growth east of Portland.

What is the fall trackwork?

Planned PAR track work starting in September between Dover and Saco.

Replace deck on Saco River Bridge and rebuild Saco Main St. Crossing. At least two weeks of busing east of Wells.
Major tie replacement and surfacing between Dover and Wells with speed restrictions and some busing involved.

A year ago, the City of Dover stated that the Chestnut St and Central Avenue Crossings would be rebuilt this year.
They were not upgraded during the 2000/2001 Downeaster route rebuild, as they had been done a few years previous.
The Dover Planning Department has proposed installing a traffic circle at the junction of Chestnut and Third Streets.
I am not sure what the timetable for that is, but the rail line will reportedly run right through the middle of the circle,
At the very least, the crossing protection will have to be relocated to fit the new traffic pattern. Also, whether PAR
has agreed to this project is unknown. Personally, I see some safety concerns for pedestrians and vehicles.

Dick H wrote:Planned PAR track work starting in September between Dover and Saco.
The Dover Planning Department has proposed installing a traffic circle at the junction of Chestnut and Third Streets.
I am not sure what the timetable for that is, but the rail line will reportedly run right through the middle of the circle.

Oh my goodness - I can't even imagine how that would look.

Figure 13 of this PDF has a site plan: https://www.dover.nh.gov/Assets/governm ... -03-06.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kennebunk refocuses on historic station for proposed seasonal Downeaster service. http://post.mainelymediallc.com/news/20 ... _stop.html

I'm probably in a minority here, but I don't support the seasonal DE stop in Kennebunk. I think if you asked most riders what they want to see changed in the DE, the large majority would want faster, more direct service to / from Boston and Portland. I understand that it wouldn't add an outrageous amount of time to the to the scheduled run between North Station and Portland...but that's a segment of track where the DE could otherwise cruise through at 79...plus the train wouldn't be able to make it back up to full track speed between Kennebunk and Wells....which are just a few miles apart. That does makes a difference to passengers who already find the 2h 30m trip too long compared to driving.

On top of that, I highly doubt the stop would provide much in the way of community benefit or ridership gains for the DE. Again, Wells is just a few minutes away by car, and the stop in Kennebunk wouldn't be in walking distance of anything....so most riders would still need to access the station by car anyway.

To me this is just another sign that the DE doesn't know what it wants to be. Does it want to be a commuter train? an intercity train? A tourist train? It can't be all three.

It wants to be a service that does not lose a lot of money. That apparently includes serving the cities of Exeter, Durham and Dover in New Hampshire, which doesn't contribute a dime to support the service.