Railroad Forums 

Discussion relating to the operations of MTA MetroNorth Railroad including west of Hudson operations and discussion of CtDOT sponsored rail operations such as Shore Line East and the Springfield to New Haven Hartford Line

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, nomis, FL9AC, Jeff Smith

 #1531367  by daybeers
 
My friend took #494 MDN-HFD Friday 1/17 and it was SRO! They got a seat in Berlin. Really wish more cars could be added because this isn't acceptable as a regular thing for another 2-3 years until the Amfleet replacements are rolling.

In other news, the Hartford Line announced on their Instagram they have reached 1 million rides! Certainly some great news! I do believe that can rise quickly, especially if the packed 2-car Amtrak tains are lengthened.
 #1531370  by Arlington
 
How has ridership been vs forecast? How are the economics working out?
 #1531552  by Traingeek3629
 
Arlington wrote: Sat Jan 18, 2020 8:22 am How has ridership been vs forecast? How are the economics working out?
Ridership has been higher than forecast. They apparently hit the 1M mark in late November of last year and currently sit at around 1.1 million riders. The service averaged 2.4K riders per weekday and 1.2K per weekend last November, and since it's inception they average 1.85K riders per day.

In addition, the Hartford Line is on track to exceed 750K trips in it's second year (June 2019-June 2020), well over the 670K forecasted. It's definitely exceeded projections across the board since it's inception.
 #1531927  by nomis
 
Mod Note: Deleted copied & duplicated posts between this and the Amtrak thread which are Amtrak’s in nature.
 #1531972  by njtmnrrbuff
 
It looks like the proposed West Hartford Station is going to be on the border of W. Hartford and the City of Hartford. Central Connecticut University students and faculty would be very happy to hear that if they want to use Ctrail, they can just go to Newington if it ever opens. Even people who live east of the Connecticut River bridge in the Hartford area could look into driving to Newington or W. Hartford Station when heading toward New Haven and NYC especially when the highway construction projects begin in Downtown Hartford. Hopefully, we'll know soon when and if Newington and W. Hartford Station opens up.
 #1533474  by GirlOnTheTrain
 
CTRail now has an eTix app much like MNRR
On Tuesday, Governor Ned Lamont and the State’s Department of Transportation announced the launch of a new app that will let riders buy tickets and parking for Connecticut’s rail system, including the Hartford Line and Shoreline East.
Article: https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/g ... il-system/
 #1533961  by lordsigma12345
 
daybeers wrote: Sat Jan 18, 2020 3:29 am My friend took #494 MDN-HFD Friday 1/17 and it was SRO! They got a seat in Berlin. Really wish more cars could be added because this isn't acceptable as a regular thing for another 2-3 years until the Amfleet replacements are rolling.

In other news, the Hartford Line announced on their Instagram they have reached 1 million rides! Certainly some great news! I do believe that can rise quickly, especially if the packed 2-car Amtrak tains are lengthened.
When the new Siemens cars are delivered to the Midwest Amtrak services there are a bunch of Amfleet and Horizon coaches to go to other state corridors. Here's hoping New Haven - Springfield will receive a few. The five year Amtrak service line plan that just came out yesterday stated that the 400 series trains will receive equipment that is part of the Amfleet I replacement procurement so I would imagine that CTDOT's pending car procurement will include the CTrail trains only and that the Amtrak operated portion of the HL will continue to use Amtrak owned rolling stock.
 #1534049  by daybeers
 
lordsigma12345 wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2020 12:14 am
daybeers wrote: Sat Jan 18, 2020 3:29 am My friend took #494 MDN-HFD Friday 1/17 and it was SRO! They got a seat in Berlin. Really wish more cars could be added because this isn't acceptable as a regular thing for another 2-3 years until the Amfleet replacements are rolling.

In other news, the Hartford Line announced on their Instagram they have reached 1 million rides! Certainly some great news! I do believe that can rise quickly, especially if the packed 2-car Amtrak tains are lengthened.
When the new Siemens cars are delivered to the Midwest Amtrak services there are a bunch of Amfleet and Horizon coaches to go to other state corridors. Here's hoping New Haven - Springfield will receive a few. The five year Amtrak service line plan that just came out yesterday stated that the 400 series trains will receive equipment that is part of the Amfleet I replacement procurement so I would imagine that CTDOT's pending car procurement will include the CTrail trains only and that the Amtrak operated portion of the HL will continue to use Amtrak owned rolling stock.
Great news! I haven't gotten a chance to look through the service line plan yet. We'll see how long the Siemens cars take though :wink:
 #1534077  by njtmnrrbuff
 
Yes, once the new Siemens cars start operating on the Amtrak trains in the Midwest, the Amfleets and Horizon Cars that are still operating out there hopefully can run on the 400 series shuttle trains on the MRS Line.

As for CDOT's commuter trains on the Hartford Line, it will be great to be able to have as many outlets as possible near the seats. You will probably have many people traveling between New Haven and Springfield as well as from New Haven to Hartford, and Hartford to Springfield and people riding those levels of distance will probably want to charge their phones more often than not. It's a step that CDOT extended some of the Ctrail trains that used to terminate at Hartford up to Windsor Locks. If that's going to happen for an indefinite amount of time, it might be nice to have a bus running between Springfield and Windsor Locks station to accommodate those getting on and off those Ctrail trains that terminate and begin at Windsor Locks. That will also help close the gap in transportation connections to and from Springfield Station that involve people using trains for a good portion of their journey.
 #1534105  by Arlington
 
^ was there anything in particular that I was scrolling towards?
 #1539119  by nomis
 
Starting tomorrow, 4/10, the platform adjacent to Springfield track 8 will be out of service.
 #1541945  by Jeff Smith
 
From above link:

Connecticut Department of Transportation
CTrail- Hartford Line Rail Enhancement Project
$4,395,616
New Haven, CT, to Springfield, MA

The project provides two additional weekday trains between New Haven, Connecticut, and Springfield, Massachusetts, on the CTrail service, which began operations in June 2018. It also includes adding a customer service representative in Hartford Union Station to enhance and ease
passengers’ experiences with ticket vending machines and access to and from the platform.

These additional frequencies to a well-served existing corridor will provide an early northbound departure from New Haven (7:35 a.m.) and a mid-morning departure from Springfield (9:55 a.m.) and allow for more connections with Metro-North and Amtrak trains. Currently there is a one hour and 44-minute gap between the morning trains departing from Springfield and a one hour and 40-minute gap between morning New Haven departures. CTrail, which is operated by TransitAmerica Services, currently runs eight weekday trains between New Haven and Hartford with three trains continuing to Springfield (Amtrak operates an additional weekday train through this corridor).
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