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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

 #1483630  by lordsigma12345
 
If my assumptions are correct on that it would be similar to how CTrail is currently handling Springfield. Presently all CTrail trains are stored in New Haven except for one I believe which is stored in Hartford. For Springfield a northbound trip always precedes a southbound trip because no equipment lays over in Springfield.

I suppose its possible these could be full Greenfield- New Haven round trips both ways but I don't see how the present schedule could accommodate that - they'd have to add a new full Shuttle leg in the morning and southbound leg late at night. Which is why I think it will be two round trips Springfield to Greenfield daily and one round trip Greenfield to New Haven daily.
 #1483834  by Palmer5RR
 
Is there any chance that the extra trains to Northampton will start before UMass Amherst first day of classes Tuesday September 4th and Smith College Northampton start date, Thursday, September 6? It's a shame that big travel days at Northampton leave so few seats available for people going through to Vermont. Especially when the State of Vermont pays for the train.
 #1483843  by Train60
 
Palmer5RR wrote:Is there any chance that the extra trains to Northampton will start before UMass Amherst first day of classes Tuesday September 4th and Smith College Northampton start date, Thursday, September 6? It's a shame that big travel days at Northampton leave so few seats available for people going through to Vermont. Especially when the State of Vermont pays for the train.
Assume you're talking about 2019. Also keep in mind that the Vermonter is financed by CT, MA and VT.
 #1483877  by Palmer5RR
 
Assume you're talking about 2019. Also keep in mind that the Vermonter is financed by CT, MA and VT.
I wasn't aware MA & CT paid for Springfield line trains. Do they pay for all of them?
You are correct, I went back and read the news announcements about the 2 trains extended to Greenfield, I guess I missed the 2019 part of the start date. When Gov Baker made the announcement back in January I didn't realize it would take a year and a half to simply extend two existing Springfield line trains to Greenfield. I suppose they need to budget the money first.
 #1483880  by lordsigma12345
 
Yes all service north of New Haven on the Springfield line and beyond is state supported. There are two programs - New Haven - Springfield which is paid for by CT and MA and covers the Shuttles and the regionals that run through to Springfield - this program also serves as part of the Hartford Line commuter rail. The Vermonter is a separate program in the state budgets as Vermont is also a party to the agreements. CT, MA, and VT all fund the Vermonter.
 #1484156  by lordsigma12345
 
This extension is dead if what came out today about Amtrak’s board requiring PTC even when law exempts it and that it will discontinue routes. Also would be the end of the Vermonter and any hope of Montreal connection. I suppose in the event this happened MassDOT could approach CTDOT about having CTrail trains make the runs and replace the Vermonter service to Greenfield. But CTRAIL likely could not accommodate it until it gets more rolling stock and until MassDOT builds the required CTRail layover yard in Springfield that they need to expand service.

Massachusetts and Vermont folks should be hammering Amtrak about this especially with Mass about to begin a project to upgrade the Northampton platform that could become worthless if this came to fruition.
 #1484188  by Arlington
 
"We ran/run without PTC" is not a winning liability/insurance strategy.

Seat belts went from novelty to optional to mandatory, and so has PTC.
 #1484196  by bdawe
 
Arlington wrote:"We ran/run without PTC" is not a winning liability/insurance strategy.

Seat belts went from novelty to optional to mandatory, and so has PTC.
This is like a if a bus company refused to run buses through stop-sign controlled intersections.
gokeefe wrote:This is a play for capital funding and it is an exceptionally smart one at that ... I would not buy tickets for travel in January.
What makes it 'smart' to demand large sums for resignalling lightly used routes? How many centuries is this expected to pay off over?
 #1484230  by gokeefe
 
bdawe wrote:What makes it 'smart' to demand large sums for resignalling lightly used routes? How many centuries is this expected to pay off over?
As it turns out the report is not correct. That being said I saw a lot of similarities between this and the efforts with the Southwest Chief. In both cases Amtrak was making (or reported to be making) threats regarding service continuation on politically popular routes.

In both cases they had the upper hand and in both cases it looked as though they would be able to secure capital funding for improvements that they might otherwise have to pay for in part themselves or seek funding with state partners.

There was no downside as it was clear that Amtrak appeared to be taking steps to deal with a safety vulnerability or financial weakness. That's why I would describe the proposal as "smart".
 #1485048  by lordsigma12345
 
Springfield Line and Vermonter is bus-stitued all this weekend north of New Haven. Bus-stitutions begin tomorrow (9/7) with 136 and 148 northbound through trains being bussed north of NHV. All trains will be bussed Saturday and Sunday. Springfield - New Haven train service resumes Monday 9/10 except that train 141 (southbound through train) will be bussed due to the equipment being in New Haven. The Vermonter will continue to be bussed between New Haven and St. Albans, VT on Monday 9/10 and Tuesday 9/11. Friday night's northbound Vermonter trainset will layover in Vermont all weekend so Wednesday 9/12 morning's southbound train will run as scheduled - the other Vermonter trainset will operate between New Haven and Washington through the weekend on both the northbound and southbound leg. This is due to two projects:

- Work on NHHS Hartford Line double tracking in Windsor, CT.

- Bridge Work on CT River Main Line north of Springfield
CTDOT and MassDOT coordinated the two projects to minimize disruptions.

The Vermonter Am-buses will not make the following normal Vermonter station stops: Claremont, NH ; Windsor - Mt. Ascutney, VT ; Randolph, VT

Beginning Monday 9/10 there will be some minor schedule changes on the Hartford Line to accommodate the ongoing Windsor track work until September 30th which is the anticipated completion. Some CTrail and Amtrak Shuttles will depart earlier or later to avoid delays on the single track section north of Hartford as the Windsor siding will be out of service to be tied into the new second track.

Additionally beginning 9/10 all Amtrak Hartford Line trains (excluding Vermonter) will begin stopping at New Haven - State Street Station to provide more convenient and frequent service to downtown New Haven on the CTrail Hartford Line.
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