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Commuter Rail to Rhode Island Discussion

Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.

Moderators: sery2831, CRail

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 #458747  by mental757
 
sery2831 wrote:From another thread:
mental757 wrote:Narragansett Times: "Commuter rail in the works?"

http://www.narragansetttimes.com/content/view/75012/
this article is among the first "public" information that I've seen regarding the long talked about CR to Kingston, RI (URI/South Kingston).

That station has the room to easily add a 3rd line just west of the existing 2 (including going under the route 138 bridge just to the north).

 #458802  by peconicstation
 
Wasn't the train that they referred to as coming off in 1977, the then Amtrak run Beacon Hill?, run with state funding from RI and Mass. ?

As I recall a big part of the train dying was RI pullling their funding, just as they did with the Providence Commuter trains, that wound up not running past S. Attleboro for quite some time.

(Edited by mod to stay on topic)

Ken

 #458918  by acela 2036
 
peconicstation wrote:Wasn't the train that they referred to as coming off in 1977, the then Amtrak run Beacon Hill?, run with state funding from RI and Mass. ?
Yes

 #459274  by sery2831
 
PLEASE keep this to a MBTA discussion...

 #459445  by Tom coughlin
 
[Wasn't the train that they referred to as coming off in 1977, the then Amtrak run Beacon Hill?, run with state funding from RI and Mass. ?]

Penn Central and later Conrail ran a train from Westerly to Boston until 1977. It was an extention of MBTA service.

For the service, RIDOT owned a group of former Pennsy P-70 coaches and Conrail supplied a boiler equipped former New Haven GP-9 (the only one with a functioning steam gen. that wasn't sold to the MBTA).

Stops beyond Providence were E. Greenwich, Shannock, Kenyons, Wickford Jct., Kingston and Westerly.

 #499979  by trainhq
 
So, what else is new? They've been trying to work this out for about 10 years! Both sides keep trying to get the other to pay for it, and they never get it worked out.
Meanwhile everybody else is forced to wait. The problem with this serivice is that lots of people want it, but none of the principal parties can make any money off it. That means its up to RIDOT to figure out how to break the logjam. Any suggestions?

 #513421  by mental757
 
PBN: "Businesses see benefits to airport expansion"

http://www.pbn.com/stories/30055.html

"...the $225.5 million train station, dubbed the Warwick Intermodal Facility. When that facility is completed in 2010, it will offer Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) commuter rail service to Boston and might in the future attract Amtrak service, said Kevin A. Dillon, who in January was named the new director of T.F. Green and president and CEO of the R.I. Airport Corporation."

 #513491  by Arborwayfan
 
Amtrak and MBTA commuter rail use the same platforms in various stations, so I assume the door height is the same or close enough. Well, and isn't the height of coach floors and at least end doors pretty much standardized across the whole country? Amtrak used to run will all different railroads' former equipment, and before that railroads used to handle each others' cars, lease extra equipment, etc., and even now Amtrak uses some commuter cars at Thanksgiving.

 #528708  by trainhq
 
Note the last sentence of the article:
However, he said, “we firmly believe” that once the Wickford site is built, commuters will demand other sites in West Davisville, Kingston and possibly Westerly.
This is kind of what I expected; once they started seeing CR planned for Wickford, the other areas south were going to try and get it too. Kingston is a no-brainer; they already have a station and parking. Westerly may be a bit too far. Don't know about West Davisville. Needless to say, $$$ have to be gotten from RIDOT and schedules coordinated with the MBTA. Don't know how much progress (if any) has been made on this.

 #528728  by mental757
 
Westerly also has a (recently remodeled?) station and is right in downtown (street parking and other amenities). WST is also fairly close to the casinos, which could be a good draw for some additional traffic.

I agree that Kingston is a no-brainer - there is room for a 3rd track on the west side of the 2 Amtrak mainlines that could accomodate CR.

Wickford and the airport/Warwick are slated to be open in 2010 and the MBTA schedules are already secured (8 roundtrips).

A Quonset station would be great and makes sense, but the service side of things could get a little trcky since it brances off the NEC, which would basically create the need for additional trains or a split branch line that would have to share or alternate trains.

Unless they use a differant operator of course...

 #528738  by mbta1051dan
 
mental757 wrote:Westerly also has a (recently remodeled?) station and is right in downtown (street parking and other amenities). WST is also fairly close to the casinos, which could be a good draw for some additional traffic.

I agree that Kingston is a no-brainer - there is room for a 3rd track on the west side of the 2 Amtrak mainlines that could accomodate CR.

Wickford and the airport/Warwick are slated to be open in 2010 and the MBTA schedules are already secured (8 roundtrips).

A Quonset station would be great and makes sense, but the service side of things could get a little trcky since it brances off the NEC, which would basically create the need for additional trains or a split branch line that would have to share or alternate trains.

Unless they use a differant operator of course...
Does this mean that they will have to build a layover yard closer to the southern terminus of the route? Heck, we might see two "Kingston" layovers!!!

-Dan

 #528756  by Guilford Guy
 
What would really be "awesome," is if they could get closer to Connecticut, and have Shore Line East extend Eastward, so that you could take a commuter train from Boston to Western Rhode Island, Tranfer to Shore Line East to New Haven, and take Conn Dot/Metro North East to Grand Central, costing about half as much as an amtrash ticket!

 #528834  by MBTA F40PH-2C 1050
 
mbta1051dan wrote: Does this mean that they will have to build a layover yard closer to the southern terminus of the route? Heck, we might see two "Kingston" layovers!!!

-Dan
i doubt they will build another layover, not with this new Pawtucket Facility, crews will just be on duty earlier to get the trains to the originating station
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