Backshophoss wrote:Montrealer was a federal funded train From "A" day onward(DC to Montreal and return)if it goes back online,only way to extend a pair of shuttles
to St Albans would be the $$$ used to fund the Vermonter for a sate supported shuttle runs Springfield-St Albans.
The NNEIRI study does call for an optional third Vermont frequency joining the
Montrealer and BOS-MTL direct, by means of a New Haven to St. Albans short-turn. But that's unlikely to make the cut if they proceed on the primary study recs since VTrans will already have its finances tapped thin by its initial subsidy of the BOS-MTL frequency. Chances are the short-turn frequency becomes a later add-on in the second decade when they ID a schedule gap between the
Montrealer and BOS-MTL slots that's ripe for hole-plugging. Won't be an instantaneous thing. Would be better if VTrans could chuck in a few bucks to bring a
Springfield Shuttle to Brattleboro since that's a slightly better terminus than MassDOT's option of funding a poke to Greenfield. But Bellows Falls, White River Jct., or St. Albans are definitely too far for meager VTrans resources.
Deeper-pocketed MassDOT still has interest in keeping a toehold on the
Shuttles for repurposement while it mulls its NNEIRI options. Since the lack of funding action on Armory Layover moves out the practical timetable for both full-blown HFD-SPG schedules on the Hartford Line and any speculative start dates on Knowledge Corridor commuter rail into the 2020's (as well as places upper limits on how long they can practically sit on stored retired MBTA equipment), poking a few
Shuttles north in the interim becomes a potentially practical means of getting the ball rolling. Even if it's just a temporary thing until the Inland Route upgrades end up re-routing all
Shuttles away from Greenfield to Boston...with the commuter trains then backfilling those temporary north-of-SPG slots.