Cape Flyer

MBTA F40PH-2C 1050 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 30, 2024 4:16 pm As for the 30 mph on the Cape side, on the Cape Main, it's because of the stick rail and its age

It probably is more complicated. What is the weight of the stick rail?, does the track need surfacing? Amount of ballast, Cross tie width, 4 hole or 6 hole joint bars or a mixture? How many defects pe 100 feet found on last detector run?

There are numerous factors that come into play when determining a speed rating for sure. And unless you have a detailed evaluation report with what needs to be done its just different opinions based on available knowledge on the topic. Increased rehabilitation / maintenance work has been performed continuously on the Cape Main ever since the Cape flyer began. New ballast stone & regulating work / tamping / tie & crossing replacements with control upgrades / brushing out vegetation & weed management / alignment & defect checks all are being done every year for starters. In Hyannis the North and South rail yards & Rte. 28 crossing have all been completely rebuilt / expanded, so with all the capital investment just recently done so far MassDOT certainly has plans in mind for the future increased service.

Red Wing wrote: ↑Sat Aug 31, 2024 11:43 am My personal opinion is that commuter rail to the Cape should be to Falmouth

Commuter rail to North Falmouth could be put in place with little effort as the Falmouth secondary line also has had extensive rehabilitation work done identical to what has happened on the Cape Main. Track speed is 30 mph, and it is only 6.80 miles (approx. 12 minutes travel time to the Canal) to North Falmouth and rails wouldn't need to be changed as no significant time would be gained by upgrading. All that is needed is a platform which could be built easily like the Bourne stop platform to get it all started. But of course, there are other issues such as gaining approval for more scheduled Canal Bridge drops seeing that maritime traffic has priority due to Coast Guard regulations & Corps control of Bridge drop authorization. If there is a ship / heavy boat traffic in the canal they have priority, and the train has to wait as I have seen Mass Coastal sitting idle at Canal Junction for long periods of time every now and then to cross. As far as the Rip up the track bike trailers all they are going to get is Rail with trail with phase 1 construction starting in late spring of 2025.

Red Wing wrote: ↑Sat Aug 31, 2024 11:43 am My personal opinion is that commuter rail to the Cape should be to Falmouth even better back to the original end at the ferry docks but we all know none of this will happen with the railtrail. Way younger crowd around there. The current Flyer should be extended in my opinion to a daily operation with multiple departures on weekends.

The extension from Falmouth down to Woods Hole/the ferry would never happen in this day and age, even if there wasn't a bike trail there. The trail is literally steps from the water. I can't imagine how many times it gets flooded out by storms (Noreasters, superstorms, and such). Any sort of hurricane would take it out, no doubt. The amount of fill that would have to be brought in to protect such a line today would probably raise a fuss in the community. I'm sure the last major hurriane to come through the area (Hurricane Bob in 1991) took out large portions of the track.

The extension from Falmouth down to Woods Hole/the ferry would never happen in this day and age, even if there wasn't a bike trail there. The trail is literally steps from the water.

Woods Hole will never see a train again unfortunately as the Town of Falmouth owns the 3.3-mile former ROW starting at Locust Street and ending in Woods Hole. The first section of the bike trail was completed in 1975 and is 3.3 miles long but usually gets washed out whenever a major storm blows through. The Steamship Authority has shifted all of its passenger transportation to buses from the parking lot next to Falmouth Station. The SSA operation has also taken over all the land where the trains were for three ferry slips / parking and a new terminal building which will be under construction in the near future. The only possible option would be to bring trains back to Falmouth Station where passengers could get off at the SSA main parking lot then board a SSA bus to Woods Hole. Even that is unlikely unless a Rail with Trail were to be constructed to North Falmouth as it was once proposed, but due to Rep Eric Turkington slipping in an amendment long ago only the bike path was funded ending all Rail service to Falmouth probably forever. The Rail line remains active to North Falmouth / Joint Base Cape Cod and bike path advocates have been pushing for rail removal, but all they are going to get is Rail with trail and construction of Phase 1 is MassDOT funded to begin in the spring of 2025.

I know I've said this before, but since we're talking about speeds and trip times on the Cape, I don't get the Cape Flyer not stopping in Sandwich, when there's an existing station with a mini-high platform that's a ten-minute walk on quaint streets with sidewalks past all kinds of restaurants to the Dan'l Webster Inn, the Glass Museum, some B and B's -- a perfect train destination. The station isn't a bad bike ride to at least one nearby area of beach houses and such, too. Adding what, five minutes, to the total trip time seems worth it to add a whole new group of potential passengers without needed to build anything.

CC&H used to run connecting trains to Falmouth; they'd meet their own trains and the Amtrak Cape Codder at Buzzards Bay. I don't know how many years they did that. It seems like it wouldn't cost much or disrupt the landscape around the bridge much to build a basic set of short high platforms and sidewalks for "cross-platform" transfers between trains stopped on the Hyannis and Falmouth lines. Wouldn't even have to cut down most of the existing trees or pave the whole area between the tracks: just connect the platforms to each other. Or maybe the transfers could happen in Buzzards Bay and both trains could cross the bridge one after the other on the same closing. How close can trains follow each other at slow speed? Once the Hyannis train had cleared with switch and the switch was set for Falmouth, could the Falmouth train follow immediately, without needing signals? One bridge closing, two trains, in other words.

Both Sandwich and West Barnstable have existing stations with high platforms and have asked for stops, but Tom Cahir doesn't want to add any more stops (even though the Bourne stop was added not too long ago) as the travel time would be increased to Hyannis. These additional stops could be done if track speeds were somewhat higher keeping the travel time to Hyannis the same. But as previous discussions have said numerous factors determine track speed and unless an updated evaluation is done it will stay the same.

Back in the New Haven passenger rail days trains were split in the Buzzards Bay yard that had 4 tracks / platforms and then each went to Hyannis / Falmouth. All that remains is a single track at Buzzards Bay station with a double track siding on the Cohasset narrows bridge before the station. There are also 2 sidings with 1 to the Canal maintenance lot and the other for the Cape Cod Central Polar Express trains to park on during the winter Holiday season. If passenger service were to be brought back all they would have to do is reinstall more tracks and update platforms.

I don't see how added stops wouldn't add more than 5 min

2025 Flyer - Buzzards Bay, Bourne, Hyannis , 1:10 eastbound, 1:00 westbound 24.4 Miles. Assume 1 hour, >25MPH average track speed.

By auto, no traffic, Buzzards Bay, Bourne, Sandwich, W. Barnstable, Hyannis 0:47 23.8 Miles. 30MPH average implied. With presumably zero traffic but local roads, highway exits etc. (Not locating the Bourne station correctly)

MBTAVideoClips wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2024 6:42 pm I don't see how added stops wouldn't add more than 5 min

You can ask Tom Cahir of the CCRTA that question as being a politician you may get at least a few of his opinions as to why. Surely, he will say CWR is needed to increase track speed as well as other MOW work, even though the Cape Main line has been under continuous rehabilitation / upgrading since the Flyer started. Of course, you have to take into account that this is the same politician who fully supports removing the rehabilitated Falmouth Secondary / Otis line for a bike path in his own hometown. He's a politician who caters to popular special interest groups for his own benefit. So, to get an answer you can e-mail him at: [email protected] unless that has changed.

There is a lot of Cape Cod that isn't Hyannis. By car, W Barnstable is 16-20 minutes away from Hyannis. I would imagine that more frequent summer service and adding a station that is closer to the mid-cape highway and has available parking would be a real winner. I would speculate that Mr. Cahir worries that these stations would take away passengers currently forced to use his Hyannis Transportation Center.

Here's a stupid idea that satisfies everyone: Keep the schedule as-is, but double back to make the stops in Sandwich and West Barnstable AFTER Hyannis. That way people can still make it to Hyannis in a timely manner for their connections, and people who want to go to Sandwich or West Barnstable can get there a little later. They can either leave ahead of or follow the CCCR tourist train. The Cape Flyer set currently isn't doing anything but sit in the yard anyway after the train empties out at Hyannis.

On a weekend day, you still need to give the Keolis crew the 4 hours off duty in order to stay within Hours of Service for the day.

There's currently just shy of 8 hours between arrival into Hyannis and the return. How long after arrival and before the return are the crew on duty for?