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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

 #1487850  by mtuandrew
 
I’d read somewhere that Inland Route trains were largely for mail service with passenger service a smaller reason, and its reason for being kind of disappeared along with the USPS shipments. Can anyone confirm?
 #1487865  by TomNelligan
 
mtuandrew wrote:I’d read somewhere that Inland Route trains were largely for mail service with passenger service a smaller reason, and its reason for being kind of disappeared along with the USPS shipments. Can anyone confirm?
You're thinking of the middle-of-the-night mail and express train that Amtrak ran for a number of years in the 1980s and 1990s between Boston and Washington, originally via Providence in both directions and later via Springfield on the southbound run. For much of its life it carried the classic name Fast Mail. Amtrak's daytime passenger train between Boston and NEC points south via Worcester and Springfield, usually carrying the name Bay State, was initially a state-supported run consisting of a GP9 with a couple coaches and then a pair of RDCs (in both cases making a connection witha Shore Line train at New Haven), and later a through train with the usual F40 and Amfleet. The day trains between Boston, New Haven, and points south via Springfield never carried mail.
 #1487867  by njtmnrrbuff
 
Yes, for the Inland Route to be successful, the trains would have to run throughout the day. It's not just arriving into Boston in the evening and NYP in the evening. People travel at most times of the day. You might have somebody who lives in Boston and Framingham, attends a higher education institution in Hartford enabling them to sleep late in the morning before heading back to school. You might have a business executive who lives in Harford and needs to attend a meeting in Boston starting mid morning. I would go with three or four pairs of shuttles extended to Boston from SPG. If the shuttles are extended, then the number of coaches in each consist would need to increase. People are not going to want to stand at all, especially those who are heading east of SPG.

For those people heading from Boston to Vermont, it would probably be good to have a direct run and I believe that has been proposed many times.
 #1487871  by Backshophoss
 
Figure on some of the regional service trains getting diverted to the Inland route to allow expanded Acela service on the Shore line side,
using the vacated slots. CSX finally sells Springfield-Worcester to MassDOT.
Now that cannot happen untill the "Hartford Trench"(I-84 rebuild) is built and in service to make the line 2 tracks end to end.
Amtrak's shuttles will end due to the diverted regional trains,ConnDOT handles all local commuter service at that point.
MassDOT creates "T" West to handle Springfield-Greenfield commuter service.
 #1487884  by BandA
 
My understanding was the state sponsored Bay Stater was not an Inland Regional. According to wikipedia, inland regionals ran until 1999, with one weekend train running until 2004.

I think basically the shore line received upgrades while the inland line did not. Plus, for the inlands they had to deal with Conrail or CSX, shore line / NEC they just had to deal with the MBTA and they were already dispatching that line.
 #1487904  by lordsigma12345
 
daybeers wrote:
lordsigma12345 wrote:A facebook user posted a nice photo of the platform construction. Anyone know what that large yellow piece of equipment is:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... WEi2WufPZe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Seems like some sort of driller to me
It looks like you are right It is a driller and it’s purpose is to help place the new support columns for the rebuilt canopy. They need to build the lower part of the new canopy columns first before placing the new platform.
 #1487933  by daybeers
 
lordsigma12345 wrote:Did a full Shuttle round trip today. Can confirm that all the double track is in use except for the northern most piece south of Hartford - trains cross over still a couple miles before rather than going to the end of the double track. Hopefully they’ll add that little piece eventually.
Great! For the piece south of Hartford, do you mean at Oakwood Avenue in West Hartford, or north of that?
 #1487946  by lordsigma12345
 
Oakwood. They are using the cross over just before Oakwood. Curiously the northbound train used track 2 north of Enfield. I wonder if this will be the new norm - generally this track 2 segment I've seen used as a long siding - normally if there is not to be a train encounter you get routed on track 1. There is a pretty big slow down in Enfield for the switch if the train uses track 2.
 #1487955  by Backshophoss
 
Both Amtrak and ConnDOT don't want to waste any $$$ on track that will be torn out when the I-84 rebuild and the Trench build starts,
seems like stretch of track involved might be larger then needed ,stay single track to allow for shifting around various sites within the
I-84 rebuild zone. There will be some sidings lost to the rebuild and some freight customers moving to other rail served buildings.
There will stubbed sections of the second Main that will be unused untill the Trench is built,along with the "new" Hartford Station
 #1487960  by lordsigma12345
 
Another important far term development. MassDOT released their study last week on what to do long term about the I-91 viaduct in Springfield and the railroad tracks and general problems with the flow of traffic through the city. A long time goal in the city has been to somehow remove the elevated stretch of I 91 and relocate the railroad right of way so that downtown Springfield could be visually and recreationally reconnected with the riverfront without the ugly highway in the way. MassDOT was considering several long term options (the state just rehabbed the current viaduct which will supposedly be good for 20-25 years) including a higher less visually obstructive viaduct, a trench road (similar to what is being talked about for 84), a tunnel, or relocating I 91 across the river. Some of the options left the railroad right of way as is and some relocated it across the river using two new railroad bridges. Ultimately the study concluded that "no-build" is the best option and instead recommended some smaller scale highway projects to correct the traffic snarls in the Longmeadow Curve/South End Bridge landing area of I 91.

As a result I don't think we have to worry about anything in the Springfield area for the foreseeable future.
 #1487965  by daybeers
 
Backshophoss: but the point is that there is already track from the Oakwood Avenue interlocking to somewhere just south of the Hartford station (I can't exactly remember where), and it's been there for quite a while now. My question is why aren't they using it?
 #1487968  by Backshophoss
 
It might be to allow PAR/PAS to access "Waterbury switch" to Waterbury and MN's Devon Jct "interchange" point with MN+HRRC.
Might be waiting for a switch panel or "switch kit" from Amtrak's track shop to install or more likely
waiting for bunch of underground pipes, cables, fiber lines, and electric power lines to be moved..
That also might be the limit point of the construction zone for the I-84 rebuild project.

IT is Single track on that viaduct that is in front of the current Hartford Station,Viaduct was double track in the past,but is
ONLY good for single track due to age and condition(RUST and Corrosion of the metalwork) It was due to be replaced anyway.
There was an extensive amount of industry tracks in that area,along with an Express track and a local NHRR freighthouse in the past.
any track that remains may have been abandoned "in place" and will be removed for the I-84 rebuild
 #1487987  by asull85
 
There are currently no plans to extend Track to from WOOD to the north end of the Parkville Industrial Track. It was part of the original plan but has since been scrapped. Maybe once the state figures out what they want to do with I-84, they'll do something but as of now Amtrak and CDOT are focused on completing HAYDEN to FIELD.
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