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

I didn't take a picture because the people were still working on them, and they were covered with a protective sheet. Sounds like they've pretty much installed them at all the stations now. For anyone that knows Springfield, they are located in the new inter modal center in the historic Union Station along the wall in the tunnel underneath the tracks just around the corner from where Amtrak is going to be in the new waiting area when they finally move. It is unclear where the waiting room is going to be when the new service launches, if it will be up in Amtrak's old waiting room or if they are going to be closing that and moving the rail waiting area into the new intermodal center prior to launch. Hopefully there will be appropriate signage to void confusion. People will be no doubt annoyed if they enter from Lyman street, proceed upstairs to the Amtrak station, and then are told by Amtrak they have to walk back downstairs over to the new station to buy tickets and then come back up.

Looks like some work is scheduled for Saturday April 7 - all Amtrak service along the line has been canceled for that day (bus-stitution.) They are busing the entire Vermonter north of New Haven that day and it will not make all station stops. Because the Saturday cancellation includes the Northeast Regional through trains, the northbound through trains are canceled on Friday as well as the southbound on Sunday.

From the Hartford Courant: Commuter Rail Between Hartford And New Haven Begins In May — Are You Ready?

With the launching of a commuter train between Hartford and New Haven just weeks away, David Donohue was both excited at the prospect of bypassing I-91 on his daily commute, and slightly incredulous it had taken this long for the state to link its capitals of government and higher education by rail. [...] He’s used to slogging up and down I-91. But come May, Donohue plans to catch one of the 17 round-trip trains running each day between Springfield and New Haven, when the state unveils its much-requested and, many say, long-overdue, Hartford Line.

Sri Muthu, who heads the Elm City Innovation Collaboration, said the work he’s trying to do — foster a humming startup culture among one of the most university-heavy and highly educated regions in the country — is made much more difficult by central Connecticut’s lack of nimble and easy-to-use public transportation. Recently, he said a group of UConn students with designs for a health care startup wanted to work with his group in New Haven but had difficulty arranging rides. “We’re excited that they want to come here,” Muthu said, “but we need to make people feel they can get here, so that way they’ll want to come here.” Muthu was excited by the new rail line, and asked the transportation officials to consider a single-payer card, similar to Britain’s Oyster Card, which can be used for all of London’s Underground, buses and shuttles.

Big news today - Amtrak will accept Hartford Line tickets on the Shuttles and the Northeast Regional through trains. Only the Vermonter will be excluded from the commuter service. This brings total round trip trains for the Hartford Line to sixteen for Hartford and eleven for Springfield. Official announcement should be coming soon. Tickets will be available only from the new vending machines at the Hartford Line stations (with the exception of Windsor and Windsor Locks) and from the CTrail ticket office which will be located at New Haven Union Station.

And another from the Courant: Rail Car Repairs, Leasing Issues Put Hartford Line Start Date in Doubt.

Kilo Echo wrote:And another from the Courant: Rail Car Repairs, Leasing Issues Put Hartford Line Start Date in Doubt.

Good article. From what I've heard the ticket issues with Amtrak are indeed resolved now, but these rolling stock issues could definitely delay the service start. Perhaps they will still launch in May but with the Amtrak trains only - Amtrak could implement their schedule changes and you could fire up the vending machines to sell the commuter tickets.

Kilo Echo wrote:And another from the Courant: Rail Car Repairs, Leasing Issues Put Hartford Line Start Date in Doubt.

So much for a Summer start up... Had a feeling back in January this service would not get off the ground in time!!!
Politicians, all talk and false promises..They never understand railroad time.

ConnDOT is now paying the REAL price of leasing the MBTA MBB cars,They should have walked away from what was stored at Seaview,
they were put away wet and in POOR Shape to begin with!

That just proves that the folks at ConnDOT don't read these forums. We've known for years what they apparently just found out


And honestly considering all the controversy surrounding this project WHY ON EARTH would you use equipment so terribly worn out beyond use? Makes for bad PR and bad marketing. The MAFERSAs may not be the most comfortable coaches (and I would know having ridden them, the SPVs, and the Comet IIs; the latter two groups more comfy to say the least), but at least they aren't rotting out. And why would you not call up NJT a few years ahead of time and say "Can you set aside 20 Comets for us? We'll offer you whatever the scrapper was offering!"

lordsigma12345 wrote:Big news today - Amtrak will accept Hartford Line tickets on the Shuttles and the Northeast Regional through trains. Only the Vermonter will be excluded from the commuter service. This brings total round trip trains for the Hartford Line to sixteen for Hartford and eleven for Springfield. Official announcement should be coming soon. Tickets will be available only from the new vending machines at the Hartford Line stations (with the exception of Windsor and Windsor Locks) and from the CTrail ticket office which will be located at New Haven Union Station.

Source?

Kilo Echo wrote:And another from the Courant: Rail Car Repairs, Leasing Issues Put Hartford Line Start Date in Doubt.

OUCH. I was really hoping for something good to happen for Connecticut these days.

daybeers wrote:

lordsigma12345 wrote:Big news today - Amtrak will accept Hartford Line tickets on the Shuttles and the Northeast Regional through trains. Only the Vermonter will be excluded from the commuter service. This brings total round trip trains for the Hartford Line to sixteen for Hartford and eleven for Springfield. Official announcement should be coming soon. Tickets will be available only from the new vending machines at the Hartford Line stations (with the exception of Windsor and Windsor Locks) and from the CTrail ticket office which will be located at New Haven Union Station.

Source?

The NHHS Facebook social media page - beginning this week the page administrator has been responding to a few people that have commented on that that they have received confirmation that the joint ticketing will indeed be occurring, with the Vermonter as the exception. Granted not an official announcement yet, but the page is maintained by ConnDOT so I would hope the page moderator is not providing misinformation.

At this point, I am very worried about CDOT using the MBB cars. Those cars are up there in age and it probably doesn’t make sense to try to repair them, especially for a commuter rail operation. Problems might come up.

I would just bought new rolling stock period.

Did you read the link to the Courant article a few posts above? They already need more money to pour into the cars because the rehab is a bit more than they expected.

lordsigma12345 wrote:

daybeers wrote:

lordsigma12345 wrote:Big news today - Amtrak will accept Hartford Line tickets on the Shuttles and the Northeast Regional through trains. Only the Vermonter will be excluded from the commuter service. This brings total round trip trains for the Hartford Line to sixteen for Hartford and eleven for Springfield. Official announcement should be coming soon. Tickets will be available only from the new vending machines at the Hartford Line stations (with the exception of Windsor and Windsor Locks) and from the CTrail ticket office which will be located at New Haven Union Station.

Source?

The NHHS Facebook social media page - beginning this week the page administrator has been responding to a few people that have commented on that that they have received confirmation that the joint ticketing will indeed be occurring, with the Vermonter as the exception. Granted not an official announcement yet, but the page is maintained by ConnDOT so I would hope the page moderator is not providing misinformation.

Here are the text of two comment replies made by the Hartford Line facebook page.

"CTDOT has received confirmation that Amtrak will accept Hartford Line tickets onboard all Amtrak trains between New Haven and Springfield when service starts in May, with the exception of the Vermonter. However, tickets at Hartford Line fare rates will only be sold at ticket vending machines on station platforms at Hartford Line stations, except for Windsor and Windsor Locks. Tickets sold by Amtrak will be at Amtrak fare rates."

"For scheduling, please see response to your other comment. Please note that CTDOT has received confirmation that Amtrak will accept Hartford Line tickets onboard all Amtrak trains between New Haven and Springfield when service starts in May, with the exception of the Vermonter."

Anyone know which work is being completed on Saturday? Is this for the switches or the work in Windsor?