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  • AMTRAK NEC: Springfield Shuttle/Regional/Valley Flyer/Inland Routing

  • Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

 #1531582  by Traingeek3629
 
How is ridership on just the Valley Flyer? Not the normal Hartford Line.


ALSO --- Every Valley Flyer train should have 3 cars, even if the normal trains stay with two. I do believe there is a 3-car trainset traversing the Hartford Line, or at least there was when I was in NH a few weeks back and saw a three-car amfleet set in the yard, but you would need two for Valley Flyer service.
 #1531680  by lordsigma12345
 
Traingeek3629 wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2020 5:02 pm How is ridership on just the Valley Flyer? Not the normal Hartford Line.


ALSO --- Every Valley Flyer train should have 3 cars, even if the normal trains stay with two. I do believe there is a 3-car trainset traversing the Hartford Line, or at least there was when I was in NH a few weeks back and saw a three-car amfleet set in the yard, but you would need two for Valley Flyer service.
No one knows. Amtrak is not separating out the valley Flyer in its ridership numbers. It is unclear whether Amtrak is rolling the VF numbers into the new haven - Springfield or Vermonter service line. You’d think it’s the former, but HLK, NHT, and GFD go into the Vermonter account for Vermonter rides (while SPG/WNL/HFD/MDN go into the NHV-SPG account on the Vermonter.) so it really could be either or.
 #1531698  by Safetee
 
with an operation start up like the valley flyer and the proverbial eyes of the potomac upon it, nobody knows what the actual flyer figures are?? I have to believe that somewhere out there is a bean counter or two who track this operation every day. You can be sure that if the ridership figures were extra good, the midwives of this operation would be doing cartwheels in the local press. the silence is deafening.
 #1531735  by lordsigma12345
 
Safetee wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2020 8:47 am with an operation start up like the valley flyer and the proverbial eyes of the potomac upon it, nobody knows what the actual flyer figures are?? I have to believe that somewhere out there is a bean counter or two who track this operation every day. You can be sure that if the ridership figures were extra good, the midwives of this operation would be doing cartwheels in the local press. the silence is deafening.
Im sure but Amtrak's published ridership numbers do not include the valley flyer - the numbers are bundled with either NHV-SPG or Vermonter.
 #1531776  by NRGeep
 
Enough time to develop ridership (or not) would be good. There was a new bus service a few years ago from Boston via Worcester that served "out of the way" communities like Athol, Gardner, Bernardston etc that was quickly defunded by the state of Mass due to lack of ridership before it had a chance to develop ridership.
 #1531906  by daybeers
 
Does the Hartford Line ridership include the Amtrak trains as well? I get why they wouldn't be included but it makes way more sense from a cost/benefit and ridership standpoint to include them.

Here are a few articles on the Hartford Line's 1 million riders mentioned earlier along with extra statistics per month. Looks like ridership is increasing 25% year-over-year so far.
https://www.courant.com/politics/hc-pol ... story.html
https://www.wtnh.com/news/business/gove ... ce-launch/

I'd imagine the towns with planned stations are getting antsy without movement from the governor or DOT. Meanwhile, Windsor is looking to install quiet zones: https://www.courant.com/community/winds ... story.html
 #1533279  by lordsigma12345
 
For those hoping for inland route/east-west rail it's going to be an uphill battle. MassDOT released numbers for the six alternative numbers which are raising a lot of eyebrows. Exorbitantly high costs and extremely low ridership projections. The numbers seem to indicate that the Baker Administration is opposed to the project and that MassDOT is trying to kill it with the study - the numbers are way off from the previous study and seem off from what they should be.
 #1533288  by Safetee
 
well i don't believe for a second that pittsfield has a pile of people waiting to go to boston by train at any speed. if the folks in pittsfield get urban visitation fever, albany is right around the corner and nyc is doable as well.

In the case of springfield, they already have the masspike, and rte 20 heading east. They already have a passenger train in each direction. Peter Pan has an excellent service to and from boston. consequently i have to believe that springfield to boston transportation market is largely taken care of at the present time.

Taking into consideration all the stuff already going on in boston, such as the fifty plus story building being built over south station, the removal of the postal building and yard expansion, current capacity problems with all the south coast stuff, the need for a tunnel in framingham , that springfield to boston super railway is going to be a long lonnng ways off.
 #1533311  by lordsigma12345
 
Safetee wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 1:00 pm well i don't believe for a second that pittsfield has a pile of people waiting to go to boston by train at any speed. if the folks in pittsfield get urban visitation fever, albany is right around the corner and nyc is doable as well.

In the case of springfield, they already have the masspike, and rte 20 heading east. They already have a passenger train in each direction. Peter Pan has an excellent service to and from boston. consequently i have to believe that springfield to boston transportation market is largely taken care of at the present time.

Taking into consideration all the stuff already going on in boston, such as the fifty plus story building being built over south station, the removal of the postal building and yard expansion, current capacity problems with all the south coast stuff, the need for a tunnel in framingham , that springfield to boston super railway is going to be a long lonnng ways off.
Amtrak has advocated at the meetings for an Albany - Boston corridor but the state is only looking at Boston - Pittsfield for some reason - I think adding connectivity from the Boston - Albany area would add more usefulness to this corridor as well as serving Pittsfield and Springfield. The best way to run this corridor is NOT to run an MBTA service, it would be to split it between Albany - Boston Amtrak trains and New Haven - Boston trains timed to maximize Springfield - Boston time options. The Mass Pike is absolutely atrocious for commuting into Boston during the week but I suppose you can drive to Worcester and get on the MBTA if you want to. But this corridor would get used if properly designed as the traffic can be horrendous - a Palmer stop would also do very well and would probably be very similar to Northampton's Vermonter stop with a lot of folks from the Amherst area and the University of Mass.

It's funny you mention Peter Pan - it is widely believed lobbying by Mr. Picknelly is a major reason the Administration is opposed - he is very friendly with Governor Baker and is likely concerned about the potential competition.
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