Berkshire Flyer: Pittsfield - New York City Service via Albany

It pains me that Chatham, once upon a time the terminus of the Harlem Division main line, has not had a stop in so many years. It seems rather short-sighted.

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Mon Apr 17, 2023 10:50 am It pains me that Chatham, once upon a time the terminus of the Harlem Division main line, has not had a stop in so many years. It seems rather short-sighted.

But not nearly as short-sighted as it was to allow the Harlem itself to be torn up.

scoostraw wrote: ↑ But not nearly as short-sighted as it was to allow the Harlem itself to be torn up.

I must wonder if the decision made by Penn Central to chop up the Harlem North of State School (Wassaic) was made in that some party was intent upon having PC operate passenger trains for their own account to Chatham.

Penn Central had nothing to do with it AFAIK.

The line was sold by PC intact, and the private buyer is the one who scrapped it and sold off the ROW piecemeal.

It was NY State who lacked the vision to purchase the line themselves and rail bank it as was done with the Berk south of Canaan. If that had been done, it would be back in service now no doubt.

Hard to say. I mean they did end up putting some track in, but I do doubt they'd ever return it all the way to Chatham.

And honestly, if they did, that would probably have been a better routing for the current Berkshire Flyer.

However, I do hope this incarnation makes it, and that someday, New York (and Amtrak) considers the proposal to put in a link between the Hudson line and the CSX line from the Hudson side, so that the trains can effectively go to Hudson and then right on to Pittsfield. As much as I like the current route (and road the very first train with my kids) it's not the most practical possible.

Yes Metro North put a bit of track back in at Wassaic, but they owned the ROW there so there was no issue beyond holding the standard public hearings to get it done.

At the time the president of MNRR went on record as saying that they wanted to go as far as possible, but by the time this was being done the rail trail was already in place and it would have proven to be a herculean political task to go any further than Wassaic. Otherwise they certainly would have gone at least as far as Millerton for sure, and they had a proposal at the time to build a terminus with parking at Mount Riga.

Again, it was NY State who could have changed everything by simply purchasing the line from PC and rail banking it. Allowing it to be sold off and ripped up was beyond stupid IMO.

For sure the Harlem would easily have been the preferred route to Pittsfield.

scoostraw wrote: ↑Mon Apr 17, 2023 12:02 pm It was NY State who lacked the vision to purchase the line themselves and rail bank it as was done with the Berk south of Canaan. If that had been done, it would be back in service now no doubt.

Mr. Scoostraw, I think that the sale of the Harlem State School-Chatham to an outside party had everything to do with the PC operating passenger trains for their own account.

The NYMTA had decided that State School was far enough to meet their needs (aren't Amenia and Millerton fast growing nowadays?), and since PC had to fight off the interests that wanted passenger service as well as Amtrak declaring they did not wish to offer service on the strength such was not "intercity", the sale to an outside party accomplished PC's goal.

But if the track were to be relaid with the intent of restoring passenger service, shouldn't the train be named "Harlem Valley Flyer" vice "Berkshire".

Maybe there is a world it could get back to Millerton, but I can't see further - imagine the horror at taking back the rail trail.

Chatham - well, the old ROW kinda goes down the main st now. To the curve from Hudson, not sure on the viability of missing Albany - but it would definitely be good for Pittsfield.

Biden's Connects plan (which was a wishlist, I think) - did include Chatham as a station on a higher frequency Albany-Boston route. Which still seems to be alive. I'd assume the Lake Shore would be considered within that for a stop. And hopefully they could get the old station building back, even if it needed some platform works.

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Mon Apr 17, 2023 12:39 pm
But if the track were to be relaid with the intent of restoring passenger service, shouldn't the train be named "Harlem Valley Flyer" vice "Berkshire".

Well as long as the state of Massachusetts is paying for, it I suspect the name Berkshire Flyer will stay, regardless of routing.

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Mon Apr 17, 2023 12:39 pm

scoostraw wrote: ↑Mon Apr 17, 2023 12:02 pm It was NY State who lacked the vision to purchase the line themselves and rail bank it as was done with the Berk south of Canaan. If that had been done, it would be back in service now no doubt.

Mr. Scoostraw, I think that the sale of the Harlem State School-Chatham to an outside party had everything to do with the PC operating passenger trains for their own account.

The NYMTA had decided that State School was far enough to meet their needs (aren't Amenia and Millerton fast growing nowadays?), and since PC had to fight off the interests that wanted passenger service as well as Amtrak declaring they did not wish to offer service on the strength such was not "intercity", the sale to an outside party accomplished PC's goal.

But if the track were to be relaid with the intent of restoring passenger service, shouldn't the train be named "Harlem Valley Flyer" vice "Berkshire".

Passenger service ended in 1972. And freight service continued until 1976 when Conrail decided they did not want it. Passenger service by then was a non-issue. Anyone could have bought the line and done anything they wanted with it. The biggest blunder was made by NY state in their decision to not purchase the line and rail bank it.

The track will never be relaid. The line is so broken up into pieces now that it would be virtually impossible. Plus the Black Grocery bridge would need to rebuilt etc. Not to mention the rail trail folks. It simply is not going to happen, as much as I would love to see it.

And then there's this bit of legislative wishlisting/grandstanding. Service to New Milford, here we come! NOT And Hartford-Middletown service too!

https://www.nhregister.com/politics/art ... hrhpdesecp
Fair use:

One of the principal backers of the plan to expand the Danbury Line, state Rep. Billy Buckbee, R-New Milford, countered that the goal of the project would not necessarily be to serve commuters into New York City but rather those making shorter trips along the Route 7 corridor to cities in Fairfield County, as well as those making weekend trips to the Northwest corner.

What targets must the Flyer hit to continue to exist?: https://www.berkshireeagle.com/news/loc ... 78e5f.html

The Berkshire Flyer is back for another season, but future of the passenger line between New York and Pittsfield remains up in the air

PITTSFIELD — When local planners, transportation consultants and politicians excitedly presented the plan for the Berkshire Flyer in 2018, measuring the success of the proposed passenger rail line between Pittsfield and New York was simple.

For the line to be a success it would — over the course of a two-year pilot — need to achieve about 2,600 one-way trips, develop a “last mile” local transportation plan to get visitors to Berkshire County around to their final destination and attract regional partners to help with marketing and coordinating.
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Now some five years on and with the Flyer starting its first full 20-week pilot season, stakeholders say they’re excited to see what the line can really do.
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Making this season year one of the pilot will allow interested parties to see if the Flyer can produce the kind of rider numbers the original feasibility study ball parked for the success of a 20-week season of the line.

Last season, Amtrak reported that over the course of nine weeks 401 people disembarked at the Pittsfield train station on Friday nights and 418 people got on the train at the station on Sunday night. That brings the total ridership for the Berkshire Flyer portion of the line to 819.
...

Here are some recent numbers from the past Fridays trains ALB/PIT. 29 and 27. I will see what today brings...

Todays Flyer a total of 17 to PIT looks like the same type numbers as last year.

Yikes. Who would've predicted a train that isn't cheap and takes longer than driving while only having one run each direction once per weekend wouldn't do too well.

Maybe they should subsidize running more buses.