Ethan Allen Discussion, including Expansion (Burlington)

[Railjunkie]

At a saftey meeting last week and overheard my big boss stating he would have to leave as he had a meeting with the former head of Vermont DOT. Who is now in charge of getting the service up and running within the next two years. According to him there is only a little track work left and MAS should be 60mph. Hopefully it will be less than two. I havent heard any scuttlebutt about the details. But it seems the Gov. of VT is in a hurry to get this up and running.

[Greg Moore]

That would be nice.

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

At a saftey meeting last week and overheard my big boss stating he would have to leave as he had a meeting with the former head of Vermont DOT. Who is now in charge of getting the service up and running within the next two years. According to him there is only a little track work left and MAS should be 60mph. Hopefully it will be less than two. I havent heard any scuttlebutt about the details. But it seems the Gov. of VT is in a hurry to get this up and running.

2017 was their target all along, and they've been working like they intend to meet that date. If it's late, it won't be by much. Maybe 2018 if there's a snag with a couple of the stations, or 2017 with any malingering stations coming online in '18 after start of service. But it was always going to be some finishing touch like that, not the hardware on the ground, that would answer the question. They've been getting a ton of work done very quietly to make it real.

[newpylong]

There are some wacky siding placements on PAS and CP in the track diagrams.

[BM6569]

Vermont was awarded a ten million dollar tiger grant to fund the upgrades to Burlington. This should keep the plan on schedule.

"Vermont's congressional delegation and the governor announced late Monday a $10 million federal grant to improve rail service along the state's Western Corridor, which will remove the final hurdle for restoring passenger service between Rutland and Burlington."

Was the last hurdle the track work?


http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/stor ... /74651708/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jp1822]

So I am a little lost in this multi-page thread (which I don't like), but last I heard Ethan Allen Express (EAE) comes into Rutland, makes station stop, and then does a reverse move to head up to Burlington,VT. Yes, it's the "Palmer Junction" debacle, but over less time/mileage to final terminal of Burlington. Train would likely reduce speed through Middlebury, but that's expected.

Unfortunately I don't think there us enough room to build a direct connection from Rutland right up to Burlington that would avoid a reverse move. But the Vermonter no longer operates with two cab cars so give them to the EAE. This train is still popular with a business class car though.

And I would still try to schedule the EAE so it runs as late as possible from NYC to Burlington on Friday, with equal return schedule on Sunday......A 4 pm departure out of NYC would be great, for example, with arrival I to Burlington at 11:45 pm. Amtrak needs to truly run it as an Express with limited stops between NYP and Albany. This will help keep travel time down and ensure Vermont is getting it's money's worth and not be a combined corridor and once a day long distance train north of Albany. Perhaps a local at 3:30 pm (or train to Niagara Falls), then the EAE at 4 pm, and bump the Lake Shore Limited to 4:30 pm out of NYC - a slot it used to have for years!!!!

[jp1822]

Course cutting over at Mechanicsville to reach Bennington and then on up to Burlington would be great! However, how much time would this add to current schedule and how much more money to run totally up the western corridor....

[NH2060]

It's hardly like the Palmer reverse move. Not doing it on CSX trackage at a junction is one big plus. And the changing ends would be done at the station, not out in the middle of nowhere. And building a direct connection results in the train bypassing Rutland altogether which just isn't going to happen; though from checking StreetView it appears that one could be rather easily constructed if needed with little to no disruption to the environs around it. Perhaps such a connection used to exist decades ago?


If the EAE wanted to run a faster sched Amtrak could in theory cut the Yonkers and Croton-Harmon stops and just have folks take Metro-North to Poughkeepsie and switch (though it would be a longer ride for them). I'm sure MNRR would have no problem with that. But every other stop should remain in lieu of an added NYP-Albany "local". I don't know if you could get Metro-North to agree to have 3 outbound Amtrak trains running on their tracks in a 60 minute timeframe.

[Rockingham Racer]

I just took a look at the Hudson Line schedule. Trains to Poughkeepsie skip Yonkers now, for the most part. Something I didn't know. So Yonkers people would have to change 2 times to get to upstate New York. In general, I don't think skipping stops save a lot of time, anyway.

[Ridgefielder]

It's hardly like the Palmer reverse move. Not doing it on CSX trackage at a junction is one big plus. And the changing ends would be done at the station, not out in the middle of nowhere. And building a direct connection results in the train bypassing Rutland altogether which just isn't going to happen; though from checking StreetView it appears that one could be rather easily constructed if needed with little to no disruption to the environs around it. Perhaps such a connection used to exist decades ago?

According to the 1897 USGS map, what is now the tail track of the Rutland wye used to loop around west of town, crossing East Creek and joining the existing route in Center Rutland. No idea when that trackage was removed, but it would allow a train heading east on the ex-D&H to turn north on the ex-Rutland without changing ends.

To that point, though-- would it be possible to just wye the train with passengers on it? Might not be the quickest thing in the world but it would eliminate the need to use an NPCU if those things are going away.

[Balerion]

Amtrak train service to reconnect Rutland and Burlington, state says -- WPTZ

State rail officials say that will allow "Ethan Allen Express" passenger train service now terminating in Rutland to continue north to Burlington, starting within four years.

There's a video embedded in the article in which the state Transportation Secretary makes this "within four years" remark. Hopefully he's just being conservative and trying not to overpromise, as four years would be well beyond the 2017 target.

[Balerion]

I found another article with a bit more clarity on the issue. Also, some details about intermediate stops.

VERMONT LANDS $10 MILLION TO FINISH RUTLAND TO BURLINGTON PASSENGER RAIL -- vtdigger

“We have four years to do the work,” said Chris Cole, the secretary of VTrans. “I’m encouraging staff to try to get it finished in three. Either at the end of three years or at the end of four years you’ll be able to take the train from Rutland to Burlington.”

Cole said the state wants the maximum train speed to be 59 miles per hour. The agency would build a railroad station in Middlebury and a whistle stop in Vergennes, just north of Middlebury. The towns of Brandon and Shelburne have requested stops, he said, but the state hasn’t promised to build them.

[gokeefe]

With this link and the connection to Montreal Vermont will have restored almost all of their lost passenger service from the previous "legacy era". Amazing.

[Woody]

...
If the EAE wanted to run a faster sched Amtrak could in theory cut the Yonkers and Croton-Harmon stops and just have folks take Metro-North to Poughkeepsie and switch (though it would be a longer ride for them). ...

But keep in mind

http://www.narprail.org/site/assets/fil ... s_2014.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

that Yonkers-Sarasota Springs and Croton Harmon-Sarasota Springs are among the train's top 10 city pairs by passenger totals and revenue.

Also note that this route has joint custody. It's not just Vermont's baby. Check the Timetable:

The Ethan Allen Express is financed
primarily through funds made available
by the Vermont Agency of Transportation,
and the New York State Department of
Transportation.

Dropping two busy New York stations would not be easy at all.

However, there should be a few minutes saved when the upgrades to the line from south of Albany to Schenectady are completed in a year or two.

[Balerion]

OFFICIALS ALL ABOARD WESTERN RAIL CORRIDOR PROJECT -- VTdigger

Cole said the grant would require the state to finish the project by mid-2020, and that service would commence sometime after that “at the latest.”

“I’d love to have it done sooner, but I really need to sit down with my staff and talk about all the elements,” which include his agency’s cash management, he said. “It’s premature to put a date on when the service will start.”

Cole said the train’s only certain stop between Rutland and Burlington will be Middlebury, while Vergennes is “likely,” and Brandon “has made requests.” He declined to elaborate on the prospects for Brandon.

He did, however, clarify public statements he has made about building, in conjunction with the other upgrades, a wye track — a triangular configuration of rails for turning a train around — in Burlington. Asked if the money for building the wye might be better spent on upgrading the 8 miles of track from Burlington to Essex Junction, and then taking the train to an existing wye and servicing facility in St. Albans, he said VTrans had not finalized the wye’s location.

“That’s in play,” he put it.