Hartford Line CtDOT New Haven-Springfield - NHHS (Before Launch of Service)

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) has issued a request for qualifications seeking a service provider to operate the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield passenger-rail line beginning in late 2016, the department announced late last week.

CTDOT is searching for an operator for the 62-mile long train line, now branded as the CTrail Hartford Line. The operator will provide train crews and station maintenance services, according to a CTDOT press release.

The deadline for the RFQ is Feb. 27, 2015, when a request for proposals will be issued. Responses to the RFP will be due in September 2015, with selection of a service provider anticipated for December 2015, department officials said.

The line is owned by Amtrak, which currently operates service on the line, including the Vermonter. Amtrak will continue to operate its trains and maintain the railroad right of way.

"This $365 million High Speed Rail Project will improve the quality of intercity service along the corridor and enhance regional rail connections," said CTDOT Commissioner James Redeker. "Connecticut will add 22 CTrail trains per day to the 12 trains that Amtrak currently operates. This project will make rail travel far more attractive and competitive in the corridor."

The department expects that by 2016's end, the entire corridor between Hartford and New Haven will be double-tracked. Key to the program is installation of a state-of-the-art signal system that includes positive train control to ensure safety along the entire corridor. Station improvements will include the addition of high-level boarding platforms, pedestrian bridges, increased parking, ticket vending machines, passenger information displays and many other enhancements at the Meriden, Wallingford, Berlin and Hartford Stations, CTDOT officials said.

MN(MTA) has said they are not interested , they have enough problems, also including this service would open up MN employee rosters to Amtrak employees some of which have pretty high seniority.
My bet its a token request which will go to Amtrak as owner of line, unless CDOT wants to start their own railroad including SLE and Springfield into Connecticut Commuter Rail, currently a sticker only, not actual railroad.

Metro North Could operate the SPG and SLE service, however there is too much politics involved to make it work.
Fact is if Amtrak could and or would do so. They should operate all of what is currently MNCR, SLE and the Springfield service. Yes we know that's not happening either.

Recently after the wreck C-Dot expressed interest in another operator to operate their commuter service currently operates by MNCR.

If Connecticut Commuter Rail becomes more then a name I could see the state having that operator be it Amtrak, Keiols or MTA (MNCR) operate all Connecticut commuter rail. As passenger on a C-dot train I would not want to buy a NY MTAS ticket the. A different ticket for my Springfield train or SLE train.
Truthfully the whol thing needs to be scrapped and started from scratch! With a North East commuter rail authority

Cross-ticketing between SLE and MNCR is already in place; I see no reason why that won't be offered with Hartford Line service regardless of the operator. The state is the driving force and they will presumably want it just as with SLE.

I do find it surprising that Amtrak doesn't cross-ticket for commuter services they run (i.e, buying a Westbrook - New Haven - Philly ticket). That'd be a very simple addition to their ticketing site, plus a couple lines in accounting to send the commuter ticket price to the state.

The EGE wrote:I do find it surprising that Amtrak doesn't cross-ticket for commuter services they run (i.e, buying a Westbrook - New Haven - Philly ticket). That'd be a very simple addition to their ticketing site, plus a couple lines in accounting to send the commuter ticket price to the state.

Agreed. I also find it surprising that Amtrak doesn't publicize the cross-ticketing that it does. In Philadelphia, apparently an Amtrak ticket to/from 30th Street Station is valid on Septa trains in center city Philadelphia. That's certainly not well-advertised; none of my co-workers or I who took Amtrak to Philadelphia (and then walked to the core of downtown rather than taking Septa) knew about it.

Admin note:

Since Simon and Jeff are out doing whatever they do on Saturdays, I merged a topic into this one, per a request from runningwithscalpels.

SouthernRailway wrote:

The EGE wrote:I do find it surprising that Amtrak doesn't cross-ticket for commuter services they run (i.e, buying a Westbrook - New Haven - Philly ticket). That'd be a very simple addition to their ticketing site, plus a couple lines in accounting to send the commuter ticket price to the state.

Agreed. I also find it surprising that Amtrak doesn't publicize the cross-ticketing that it does. In Philadelphia, apparently an Amtrak ticket to/from 30th Street Station is valid on Septa trains in center city Philadelphia. That's certainly not well-advertised; none of my co-workers or I who took Amtrak to Philadelphia (and then walked to the core of downtown rather than taking Septa) knew about it.

I think it's buried somewhere in the fine print in the national timetable, but I don't have one handy that I can check right now.

I used to travel to Philadelphia quite a bit from New York City. The option to use Septa between 30th Street and Suburban Station/Market East is in there somewhere. I've seen it. It's also in certain Septa schedules.

The first couple of times I used Amtrak, and was headed to Center City with an overnight bag, I boarded a Septa train at 30th Street, rode to Market East but no tickets were collected. I became aware of the option when I boarded a train that was terminating at Market East and the trainmen did collect tickets. When I said I was going to Market East the trainman asked me had I come from an Amtrak train. When I said yes he told me there was no charge, that in the future I should just show my Amtrak ticket.

Aside: As long as there is an agreement between SEPTA and AMTRAK to use Amtrak Tickets in 3 CCP Stations, SEPTA will honor them (per the SEPTA Tariff). Historically, Amtrak ran into Suburban Station for select services. Hopefully an agreement will continue as Septa starts their implementation New Payment Technology aka "SEPTA KEY" on the Railroad side in the next year or so & gates the main stations so there will be a 'fare controlled' area at the platforms & mezzanine, liken unto the subway.
- Check the SEPTA forum for more info.

Mod Note: Now Back to CT

As operator of SLE (and let's face it, likely NHHS) I never understood why Amtrak won't sell SLE tickets on their website/via their app. You can buy tickets from their agents at NHV, OSB, and NLC...the website and app (or QuikTrak machines) should handle this as well. It would allow for thru-ticketing on Amtrak services (or logically would, anyway) for those so inclined to continue their travels, and for local customers it would make fare payment more convenient. (I hate carrying cash, and I can't freakin WAIT until the Metro-North newfangled credit card accepting TIM pilot officially expands to the Waterbury branch - you can find conductors with them who were previously on Danbury trains but it's super hit or miss...but that's another topic entirely.)

I can see people abusing the hell out of it for 100pt minimum per trip Amtrak Guest Rewards, but leave the CDOT stuff ineligible and that would eliminate that problem.

At a bare minimum I would assume they would work out a UniTicket thing as exists for SLE/MN travel currently. I can't imagine separating CDOT's cut of things bought via the Amtrak app and giving them that money would be incredibly difficult if Amtrak did want to enable ticketing commuter services they run via their site/app.

They're only operator, that's why. They have no access to their commuter rail clients' ticketing backends. All they do is collect any on-train fares and deliver them to HQ in New Haven at the end of the shift. Any trackside fare infrastructure like tix machines (much less ordering by website or smartphone) is lock/stock/barrel owned and administered by the client transit agency. On any commuter rail system where Amtrak has a contract.

Yes, it would be nice if they could sell some tix on their own site. But that requires a separate cross-promo deal to be cut between CDOT and Amtrak, and also assumes that Amtrak's national-oriented ticketing system can have some sort of translation layer grafted on it to talk to a state/MTA-administered commuter rail tix system that probably is very different in scope and may be back-end integrated or have future hooks for back-end integration with entirely different modes of transit (subway, bus, paratransit, parking) alien to the back-end hooks in Amtrak's system. And that's not necessarily a bug, either. Amtrak has very different fare sources it has to collect, and regardless of operator SLE (and NHHS to-be) are back-end integrated with the MTA's system which provides much much more useful future flex for fare portability than any value-addeds Amtrak could offer. So you sort of have to weigh the relative upside on those grounds as well as compare/contrast the potential technical differences and differences of purpose in a fare collection back-end that's nationally-oriented vs. locally-oriented.

It'd be nice if we saw a gradual evolution of train ticketing systems in the Northeast towards a common portability standard a la EZ-Pass for road tolls. It's certainly made a world of difference in Massachusetts with all the regional transit authorities statewide migrating to the MBTA Charlie Card. You can take a local bus in some other transit district on the same card you use for an MBTA bus or subway, and that's HUGELY improved the transit mobility statewide (although, aggravatingly, commuter rail is not on the card and the T has backtracked from rolling that out). There's ripe potential for something like that to work across state lines. Rhode Island gloms onto T commuter rail fares for its multi-step rollout of intrastate commuter rail service, and they have a good opportunity if the T finally does put commuter rail on a Charlie card to unite their entire statewide bus + rail fares on the same card. There's ripe potential for NHHS in Springfield to do the same, since the buses at Springfield Union Station are going T Charlie Card for that statewide conversion. And also ripe potential at Westerly when RIDOT commuter rail reaches there and SLE likewise sets its sights on it.

So there is some movement--haltingly--towards an EZ-Pass like solution for transit fares in multiple New England states. It sure would pick up a hell of a lot of steam if the MBTA stopped backpedaling from its earlier promise to put commuter rail on the card and stepped up its efforts to do the same with parking. Whether CDOT and the MTA have enough back-end compatibility to potentially join in at some point in the future or not, I'm sure they're monitoring developments in MA and RI closely. The potential for multi-modal transfer portability is just too juicy to not carefully study, and NYS + MTA Bridges + the Port Authority were fabulously successful at partnering with the whole eastern seaboard on EZ-Pass so it's not a new idea or one they'd be philosophically hesitant to embrace when you think about train fares as just another mode in that same context.

WWKD?

What Would Keolis Do?

They'll put a lowball bid in, win the contract and then screw over the state and its taxpayers. They are already doing that in Boston...

asull85 wrote:WWKD?

What Would Keolis Do?

They'll put a lowball bid in, win the contract and then screw over the state and its taxpayers. They are already doing that in Boston...

1) Are they really screwing over the T though? In fairness to Keolis it doesn't help that there are construction projects, new locomotives working through their teething troubles, etc. going on at the same time. You could say Keolis perhaps expected to take some heat for things that were beyond their control. I for one think the commuter rail should be operated in-house, but that's another story.

2) The Hartford Line is just that, the Hartford Line, not a whole commuter rail system so even with any extended service north of SPG it'll be a single operation.

3) Whoever wins the contract will have to deal with Amtrak in every way shape and form one way or another so it would be in the operator's best interest to not pull a fast one.

We're getting a little ahead of ourselves here. It's just a request for bids, not the actual bids. We won't know for months who's even sniffing around. Then those players get culled into a shortlist of those serious about making a bid (as opposed to just bidding a de facto placeholder for keeping-up-appearances business/marketing sake). And then they have to meet strenuous documentation standards of how they'll run the line before the 'serious' bid gets final consideration. Conceivably, no one will supply the necessary detail and CDOT has to re-bid out with invites to the shortlist of those who didn't make the cut (if they're still interested) and start that second-to-last round all over again.

Patience. There isn't going to be any news on this for months because this request for info takes time. About the only thing we know so far is:
-- Metro North is not interested in bidding. But they are a factor for any run-thru in their territory. If a crew change at NHV is required to run a service pattern overlap to Bridgeport or something, their support statement in favor of a would-be operator carries considerable weight.
-- Amtrak ownership, dispatching, schedule, and SLE incumbency are a factor. So are their rights on the Conn River Line for future considerations. So are pre-existing run-thru relationship with MNRR. Which tilts it heavily in their favor if they submit a serious bid (emphasis on if...we don't know if they're going to be aggressive or hold back a bit more than usual for the duration of this transit-hostile Congressional session that begins tomorrow).
-- The usual private conglomerates will sniff around for keeping-up-appearances sake. But that says nothing about their seriousness in making a final play.


Other than that, we know nothing today and won't know anything until submissions are collected.

Gov. Malloy announced funding approved for design, etc. of several new Hartford Line stations:

-North Haven, Hamden (location study), Newington, West Hartford, and Enfield.

-Enhancements to the Windsor and Windsor Locks stations.

http://www.governor.ct.gov/malloy/cwp/v ... 278&A=4010" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;