Ashland: an accident waiting to happen.
Rockingham Racer wrote: ↑Mon Nov 04, 2019 8:12 pm Ashland: an accident waiting to happen.No kidding, though at least the trains are maxed at 35 mph
Railroad Forums
Issues with New London CT station
- Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman
"We are running with normal train service on the Red Line. We apologize for the inconvenience."
Having traveled to Ashland several times this horrible safety violation is exactly the way AMTRAK and CSX management handles boardings there. Heaven help you if you're trying to board outside of volunteer hours. Unfortunately this station will remain unmanned until somebody dies.
Ashland would be a great town to have a pedestrian underpass beneath the station.
Back to New London Station-elevators are definately needed. When any station has any pedestrian overpass or even an underpass, it's in the best interest to have an elevator not only for elderly people, but for people of all ages who are carrying suitcases. There are two colleges in New London-Connecticut and Mitchell. When students head home for breaks, the ones that live close enough to the Northeast Corridor will use the train. My brother attended Connecticut College from 1997 to 2001 and more often than not, he took Amtrak back to Newark, NJ. I think he had one suitcase with him whenever he came home to visit us. Whenever I would visit my brother on my of my trips, I would watch trains there. I wish I could have taken the train more to visit him. From what I remember, many of the trains would stop on the track closest to the station building. I think when the NEC was fully electrified, many northbound Amtraks would stop on the middle track while the southbounds stopped on the track closest to the station. When two trains are scheduled to meet at New London, it's probably chaos with many people trying to get to both platforms at once.
Back to New London Station-elevators are definately needed. When any station has any pedestrian overpass or even an underpass, it's in the best interest to have an elevator not only for elderly people, but for people of all ages who are carrying suitcases. There are two colleges in New London-Connecticut and Mitchell. When students head home for breaks, the ones that live close enough to the Northeast Corridor will use the train. My brother attended Connecticut College from 1997 to 2001 and more often than not, he took Amtrak back to Newark, NJ. I think he had one suitcase with him whenever he came home to visit us. Whenever I would visit my brother on my of my trips, I would watch trains there. I wish I could have taken the train more to visit him. From what I remember, many of the trains would stop on the track closest to the station building. I think when the NEC was fully electrified, many northbound Amtraks would stop on the middle track while the southbounds stopped on the track closest to the station. When two trains are scheduled to meet at New London, it's probably chaos with many people trying to get to both platforms at once.
Mr. NJT/MNR---
Interesting; Connecticut College For Women is now Co-Ed
Interesting; Connecticut College For Women is now Co-Ed
Even with an underpass or overpass, they really need some means (preferably a visual display) to let people know in advance which platform they need to be on--a headlight approaching in the distance doesn't leave time for a lot of people with suitcases to make the trek, especially if elevators are involved.
An overpass, underpass, or not has nothing to do with not letting people know which track their train will be arriving on. I agree that there needs to be visual displays all over the station. It's three tracks at New London Station. I think Ctrail SLE trains layover on the track closest to the Thames River. That helps clear the other two tracks for Amtrak trains. Depending on where you are standing at New London Station, you don't get to see the trains much from a distance, especially for southbounds. For northbounds, you can see them crossing Shaws Cove bridge.
Lamont just released CT2030 plan today, this issue will be addressed in 10 years, hopefully:
https://www.ct2030.com/vision/mass-transit/
In this plan, CTrail Hartford Line/Shore Line East section - Real Time Passenger Information System Upgrades
Estimated Cost: $16 Million
Commuter Benefits: New digital displays across stations and lines provide the most up to date information regarding train times, and each train’s origin and destination.
Stations up and down all of the state’s rail lines need new display systems to tell passengers which trains are arriving and leaving and when that happens. Riders should not be checking their phone or looking at their watch trying to figure out when a train is coming or if it is going to be late.
https://www.ct2030.com/vision/mass-transit/
In this plan, CTrail Hartford Line/Shore Line East section - Real Time Passenger Information System Upgrades
Estimated Cost: $16 Million
Commuter Benefits: New digital displays across stations and lines provide the most up to date information regarding train times, and each train’s origin and destination.
Stations up and down all of the state’s rail lines need new display systems to tell passengers which trains are arriving and leaving and when that happens. Riders should not be checking their phone or looking at their watch trying to figure out when a train is coming or if it is going to be late.
njt/mnrrbuff wrote: ↑Tue Nov 05, 2019 4:52 pm Ashland would be a great town to have a pedestrian underpass beneath the station.There are actually three colleges in New London-- Conn, Mitchell and the Coast Guard Academy (which is across the street from Conn, and with which Conn shares some facilities.) Then there's also US Naval Submarine Base New London and its associated Naval Submarine School. The base is homeport to no fewer than 14 Los Angeles and Virginia-class boats, and pretty much every officer and enlisted man who serves on a US submarine cycles through there for training. All in all, there are a lot of people traveling through that station, particularly on holidays.
Back to New London Station-elevators are definately needed. When any station has any pedestrian overpass or even an underpass, it's in the best interest to have an elevator not only for elderly people, but for people of all ages who are carrying suitcases. There are two colleges in New London-Connecticut and Mitchell. When students head home for breaks, the ones that live close enough to the Northeast Corridor will use the train. My brother attended Connecticut College from 1997 to 2001 and more often than not, he took Amtrak back to Newark, NJ. I think he had one suitcase with him whenever he came home to visit us. Whenever I would visit my brother on my of my trips, I would watch trains there. I wish I could have taken the train more to visit him. From what I remember, many of the trains would stop on the track closest to the station building. I think when the NEC was fully electrified, many northbound Amtraks would stop on the middle track while the southbounds stopped on the track closest to the station. When two trains are scheduled to meet at New London, it's probably chaos with many people trying to get to both platforms at once.
With regard to the track layout-- the two tracks closest to the station are the Northeast Corridor (ex-New Haven) main proper. The track furthest from the station, and closest to the water, is the connection to the New England Central (ex-Central Vermont) line to White River Jct, St. Albans and Montreal. I'm not 100% sure where the division post is between AMTK and NECR ownership-- possibly at the Ferry Street grade crossing. That track is not wired and used these days solely (in a passenger sense) for Shore Line East; the last through service to use it was the mid-late '90s incarnation of the Montrealer which ran on an all-CV routing through eastern Conn to avoid bad track conditions on the B&M Conn River Line in MA.
And as for elevators-- any such structure built since 1990 would need them in order to be compliant with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act.) Pretty much every station in CT with an over- or under-pass has them these days.
Gilbert B Norman wrote: Mr. NJT/MNR---Has been that way since 1969!
Interesting; Connecticut College For Women is now Co-Ed
/CC Class of '97 alum
Gilbert B Norman wrote: Mr. NJT/MNR---Has been that way since 1969!
Interesting; Connecticut College For Women is now Co-Ed
/CC Class of '97 alum
[/quote]
Oh well, so are Smith and Vassar nowadays.
Don't think the former was when my Sister graduated during '64; maybe when my Niece did during '98.