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  • Berkshire Flyer: Pittsfield - New York City Service via Albany

  • 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

 #1601979  by Greg Moore
 
Local Coverage from The Berkshire Eagle.

Note the "sold out" is a bit of a misnomer. It was NOT sold out to Pittsfield, simply sold out leaving NYP.
As Train 1235 pulled away from Gate 6 at the Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station, an announcer welcomed passengers to the new Berkshire Flyer line with a phrase not heard in New York City in more than 50 years — “This train is en route to Pittsfield.”
Also After a smooth first day, officials say this is only the beginning for the Berkshire Flyer, expanded passenger rail in the Berkshires
”It’s my view that this should be daily, year-round service,” Hinds said. “This is the beginning of the expansion of rail in Western Massachusetts.”
 #1602001  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Greg Moore wrote: Sat Jul 09, 2022 8:54 pm As Train 1235 pulled away from Gate 6 at the Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station, an announcer welcomed passengers to the new Berkshire Flyer line with a phrase not heard in New York City in more than 50 years — “This train is en route to Pittsfield.”
Well Mr. Moore, it certainly appears that Mr. Matt Johnson, a graduate of VPI, will get to go back to his school on the rails before I ever will to SKS.

Next year is South Kent's Centenary - and already the Alumni Affairs coordinator is "putting on the heat to come on back". Of course, bring your checkbook, but then I'm certain there will be "Whales" for her to "harpoon" rather than this little minnow to scoop up in her hand.

But alas, if I go back (I was just there this past May for my 60th), it "ain't a gonna be" riding The Berkshire, i.e NYNH&H #144.
 #1602019  by shadyjay
 
Honestly, if a train to the Berkshires is to succeed, then the route it should take is the ex-NH Berkshire line, passing through Mr Norman's Kent. That hits the major tourist draws in the region: Stockbridge, Lenox, Lee, and it gets you to Pittsfield. Of course it would require a large capital investment by the state of CT in order to get the track up to snuff and to get the Housatonic RR to play ball, at least on the track they own between Danbury and, what, New Milford? If ConnDOT had its long-discussed Danbury branch up to New Milford, then the pill would be less bitter to swallow, but you're still looking at significant funds to rebuild the entire line in the NW corner.

Going the roundabout way to Pittsfield, perhaps you could get down to Stockbridge and do a reverse move in Pittsfield after the station stop, again, if MassDOT got their track up to speed. What's the status of that project? Berkshire Scenic could theoretically get on board as well, perhaps running a shuttle down to Stockbridge, for those "last mile" connections.
 #1602051  by Greg Moore
 
The original plan on the part of the Massachusetts was to try to get a route up along the Housatonic. I believe it would have been non Amtrak and originated at GCT. But yeah, there were too many factors playing against that happening.

In one of the plans for the Amtrak solution, a long range plan is to add a connection north of Hudson directly to the CSX line, so that the backing move out of Albany could be avoided. But that's probably decades away.

As for Ethan Allen, it's more than just a railtrail, you'd never get to Bennington. The Corkscrew trail was just too slow. North Bennington MIGHT have worked, and I think that's still in Vermont's long range plans.
 #1602133  by cle
 
Chatham is mentioned in the Connects plan, and with the increase in Albany-Boston to 2-3tpd I think (also mentioned in the MassDOT studies) - Chatham might see a renaissance.

Living not so far, I would keep driving to Hudson though. Hudson to Chatham via Albany is kinda nuts. And it's all of 15-20 mins drive. But on the other hand, the service might need Albany for viability - at least for the next 10 years.

Still, a great development. I wish it could be a little quicker from Albany to Pittsfield - would benefit many. And working towards a Sat service (round trip) would be good next. And potentially onwards to Springfield? if useful.
 #1602371  by Red Wing
 
Greg Moore wrote: Sun Jul 10, 2022 9:26 pm As for Ethan Allen, it's more than just a railtrail, you'd never get to Bennington. The Corkscrew trail was just too slow. North Bennington MIGHT have worked, and I think that's still in Vermont's long range plans.
I've seen this someplace too if I remember somehow hoping on the B&M and up to North Bennington. Too bad the passenger main from Troy is no more either.
 #1602441  by BandA
 
Eight passengers? Who's in charge of marketing this white elephant? Maybe they should market it as a tourist train that happens to pick up commuters too. You can't advertise in newspapers because they don't exist and even if they do nobody reads them. And if I look for the online edition of the newspaper it is behind a firewall or I'm blocking the ads from the third-party brokers...
 #1602443  by checkmatechamp13
 
Eight passengers had missed the train due to malfunctioning departure boards and were placed on the Lake Shore Limited to catch up. I believe there were 63 passengers in total coming into Pittsfield.

I wish the Amtrak website let passengers know that there was capacity available after a certain point (for example, after Poughkeepsie or after Albany).

That being said, hopefully at some point, the Massachusetts east-west rail project gets rolling (and considers an extension west of Pittsfield) so that people can come and go at a moment's notice, rather than using a once-a-week train that may be sold out. (Which is another issue with Amtrak in general...they should really reconsider their no-standees policy on the Empire Corridor. Doesn't the Keystone allow standees?)
 #1602484  by bostontrainguy
 
Why aren't the Powers That Be advocating for the return of the Cape Codder? I would think that would be more popular. What was that ridership number? I do hope this service is successful however. The more train service the better .

Also concerning the question above, Vermont's plan is for a second Burlington train via North Bennington and also for one of them to continue to Essex Junction to meet the Vermonter (Montrealer?).
 #1602500  by STrRedWolf
 
Gilbert B Norman wrote: Sun Jul 17, 2022 8:41 am
bostontrainguy wrote: Sun Jul 17, 2022 8:22 am Why aren't the Powers That Be advocating for the return of the Cape Codder?
Off topic, but isn't there a weekend "Cape Cod Flyer"?

Or did that get the "COVID Scrub"?
You're talking about the CapeFLYER which is operating. https://capeflyer.com/
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