Upselling...repeatedly...in public statements that you can start a wholly private commuter rail service within 18 months for a total of $3M capital with no government money when the itemized capital estimate of repairing
just the grade crossing surfaces on this line well enough to operate at passenger speeds is $10M isn't a little shady? Mr. Bono's statements contradicts P&W's own legal counsel's statements in the linked newspaper articles about the readiness of the line.
Upselling...repeatedly...in public statements a route that 1) requires permission from Amtrak to physically enter the Providence station they own and dispatch, 2) requires permission from the Worcester Redevelopment Authority (a half- state-level agency) to physically enter the Worcester Union Station that they own, 3) requires FRA permission to incorporate self as an operating railroad, 4) requires FRA-inspected compliance for Positive Train Control to enter PTC (pre-existing since 2001)-controlled Providence station...can be up-and-running within 18 months without saying how one would acquire any of that permission, isn't a little shady? Mr. Bono contradicts his own statements on timetable in the linked newspaper articles by admitting that he hasn't talked to the feds yet.
Upselling...repeatedly...in public statements that the this can stay within $3M and turn profit when the known-known insurance rates for Amtrak co-mingling, and the comparable insurance rates for liability on the MBTA trackage rights into the P&W yard...well exceed $3M by their lonesome...isn't a little shady?
Upselling...repeatedly...in public statements that the company have a private trainset collection that they are putting together for a service to be up and running within 18 months while there is zero evidence that one exists and admitting that they have only ridden P&W's business train/excursion fleet...isn't a little shady?
Finally, this may not be shady unto itself, but it is curiously-timed:
-- The company is incorporated out of thin air within 4 months of RIDOT filing its federally-mandated 2014 State Rail Plan with the FRA, itemizing a full state-level study of Worcester-Providence commuter rail within the 8-year term covered by the rail plan.
-- The company magically appears out of nowhere in the press with his 2-year/$3M plan the same week Woonsocket passes zoning reform on the 3 potential station sitings for the RIDOT Providence-Woonsocket commuter rail project.
-- The company magically appears out of nowhere in the press the same month
this outfit, incorporated at a residential P.O. Box with offer of pay-by-mail "membership packages" that offer no proof-of-membership, shows up in New Hampshire with the same sales pitch on Conway Branch ski trains. And also
in Maine and NH on the ex-MEC Mountain Division long-haul service. Precisely when the states in question are preparing RFP's to be issued within 6 months time (they're out now) on freight operator candidates in that territory, and while sale negotiations (since completed) are underway for private purchase of Conway Scenic RR--the incumbent passenger carrier on the NH portion of the Mountain and the northern tip of the Conway--by the owner of Grafton & Upton RR and Edaville. An outfit with nearly the exact same sales pitch, similar unexplained cost gap, similar unexplained whereabouts of their train collection (although this guy claimed to actually have the trains, except the photo evidence provided was a Photoshop of another RR's), and similar unexplained plan for overcoming the paper barriers associated with using someone else's stations and territory. This 2 years after the same outfit made a similar sales pitch on the St. Lawrence & Atlantic mainline that SLR denied having any knowledge of or conversations for...then disappeared before resurfacing this year. The same month; the same media blitz.
^^These events happening in such close proximity to each other with companies incorporated so quickly sans assets are one hell of a coincidence. Maybe not a
coordinated coincidence, but an opportunistic one.
If you are going to fling an accusation of malice here, please provide your own pile of evidence that it is malicious and defamatory. Malicious intent is not something RR.net takes lightly in the forum rules. There is a specific post on the site announcements subforum warning against slander, and the risks it poses to the site owners. I provided my evidence that something smells very off about the truthiness gap in the public statements, the numbers, the permissions from public authorities and lack of explicit confirmation therein, the operations plan, and the timing. So have other people in these threads. You provide yours that this is crossing the line into slander, because that's a very serious charge.