Commuter Rail to Rhode Island Discussion

Article in today's ProJo re: low MBTA ridership out of Wickford Jct (< 200 daily riders) and how RI is way in the hole financially on the operation south of Providence.

http://www.providencejournal.com/news/2 ... n-in-hole/

Excerpt:

Oddly, the only ridership estimates made for commuter rail south of Providence before the service opened were done in 2000, a decade before trains started running to T.F. Green, and were never updated, according to Rhode Island DOT.
Those estimates suggested that by 2020, an average of 237 passengers would be using T.F. Green Station per day and a whopping 1,500 passengers per day would use Wickford Junction. The state built the 1,100-car Wickford Junction parking garage that now sits mostly empty based on those estimates, St. Martin said.

Broken link. Try without the last clause:http://www.providencejournal.com/news/2 ... on-in-hole

I've seen it mentioned before that the T wasn't generating the bills for several years, so RI wasn't paying.

BandA wrote:Broken link. Try without the last clause:http://www.providencejournal.com/news/2 ... on-in-hole

Thanks for catching this and fixing!

Well, an improved schedule would help. I've looked at the CR as an option a few times when I needed to be somewhere in RI, but the schedule just never worked out for me.

The scheduling is horrific for these trains traveling to RI....no one wants to take an 1 hr 30 min + train ride, local that makes every single stop. Trains traveling that far should only make BBY, 128 and then Sharon on

I am sure that if you drive from the immediate area where Wickford Jct is to Providence Station, you could probably get there before an MBTA train in little or no traffic. I believe that south of PVD, there are several sharp curves along the NEC. Yes, having that type of express train would help.

You could beat the train EASILY.

21 minutes without traffic per the Goog.
The MBTA has the run scheduled as 35 minutes.

The difference is still pretty bad going all the way to Boston.

67 minutes without traffic per Google.
The one express train from Wickford (808) is scheduled at 99 minutes.

However, it can easily take longer than that if traffic is bad on 93 going into Boston. Google says leaving at the same time 808 leaves Wickford, travel times to Boston can be as high as 140 minutes.
Even in the relatively light traffic right now (10 am), driving would still take 83 minutes, only 16 minutes faster.

A couple of vids from YouTube poster "US - UK Trains and Boats" @ Kingston. The NB side high level is about 50-60% done and is now in use. The SB high level is not open yet though it is also coming along nicely. So far the new platforms are a big improvement appearance-wise over the old platforms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jv4TeMh0TA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOUoYAWnh-M" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There should be, IMO, weekend service on the line, at least to TF Green. Especially now with TF hosting international flights.

Speaking of TF Green Airport, here's inspired imagery for the airport's splash page: http://www.pvdairport.com/

The EGE wrote:Currently on a Regional at Kingston. Looks like the island platform (southbound) is fully in place, and the southern half of the northbound side platform is as well with the remaining platform segments stacked next to the tracks. Pedestrian bridge is still open; it looks like it's being modified to interface with the new platforms. No sign of the third track yet.

To eliminate confusion, the railroad between Boston and Philadelphia runs east-west, not north-south.
So, when reading the above, when "south" is mentioned, understand it to be "west".

Lee

http://www.providencejournal.com/news/2 ... eral-grant" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Rhode Island scores $13.1M in TIGER funds as down payment for the new Pawtucket station.

The new station would be guilt between Dexter and Conant Streets at an estimated cost of $40 million. Of that, $14.7 million would be for work related to the rails. Station construction — including two new platforms, stairs, ramps, a pedestrian bridge and a parking lot —would cost $13.8 million. Another $4.5 million would be for design work, $1.6 million to acquire land and $2 million to hire workers to de-energize electrical lines so work can continue.

The new station would be built between Dexter and Conant Streets

When I was riding my bicycle around there about 55 years ago the area seemed to be an underused rail yard that also saw some trash transshipment. The original Pawtucket/Central Falls station, perched directly above the NEC tracks, was already in bad shape then. The stairways from the street down to the platforms had been removed, and the fence openings covered over.