by Ridgefielder
Slightly off-topic but the latest Trains has a map illustrating long-distance passenger service today, and immediately prior to and after A-day 1971. What struck me from looking at the map is how much more service there is in the New England states today than there was in 1971. Worcester-New London is gone, true, and the remaining summer-weekend-only GCT-Danbury, CT-Pittsfield, MA trips. But, net-net, much has been gained, both in terms of frequency (on the Shore Line) and in terms of entire routes. In 1971, there was no Amtrak service at all north of the Boston & Albany, where today we have the Vermonter, the Ethan Allen, and 5-a-day Boston North - Portland, ME.
And that's just Amtrak: there's also the entire resurrected Old Colony commuter network in southeastern Mass., the Shore Line East local service east of New Haven, and the huge increase in reliability and frequencies on Metro-North in southwestern Connecticut-- including my own hometown Danbury Branch, which probably has more service today than at any time since before the First World War. Outside of southern California, I can't think of any other part of the United States that has seen so much improvement in passenger service since the coming of Amtrak.
Something to bear in mind when we hear people arguing that rail service in New England hasn't been what it should be since they discontinued the Allouette or the Kennebec Limited.
And that's just Amtrak: there's also the entire resurrected Old Colony commuter network in southeastern Mass., the Shore Line East local service east of New Haven, and the huge increase in reliability and frequencies on Metro-North in southwestern Connecticut-- including my own hometown Danbury Branch, which probably has more service today than at any time since before the First World War. Outside of southern California, I can't think of any other part of the United States that has seen so much improvement in passenger service since the coming of Amtrak.
Something to bear in mind when we hear people arguing that rail service in New England hasn't been what it should be since they discontinued the Allouette or the Kennebec Limited.