Amtrak Downeaster Discussion Thread

[Dick H]

I share your concern about the Dover Station roof. The City awarded the contract for the roof replacement to an out of town company with a completion date of December 1st, 2019. However, there was some kind of "bond" (performance?) issue with the contract. In addition, there is an issue with PAR requiring a flagger during the work. That would be required probably only during the work on the roof over the high level platform, as that work would likely see ladders used on the part of the platform that extends above PAR property. AFAIK, the roof repair is an entirely separate project from conversion of the waiting room into a deli.

[MEC407]

From the Portland Press Herald:

The Downeaster had 574,404 passengers last year, an increase of almost 8 percent from the year before. It beat the previous record in 2017 by about 28,000 passengers.
. . .
A recent increase to five daily round trips to Brunswick and Freeport helped boost the train’s ridership, as well as better reliability and more repeat passengers, said NNEPRA marketing director Natalie Bogart. Almost 61,000 people took the train in August alone, its biggest ridership month ever.

The Downeaster also hit a new peak for ticket revenue in 2019, earning about $11 million, an increase of more than 9 percent from the previous year. Ticket revenue beat records in 10 out of the 12 months of the year, Bogart said.

Read more at: https://www.pressherald.com/2020/01/31/ ... d-in-2019/

[swist]

The new long "siding" in Yarmouth is finally in use. A train I was on passed another DE on it a few days ago, and yesterday 683 took the siding at normal speed, with no traffic on the main track.

[gokeefe]

The annual ridership numbers are indeed fantastic. It's very important to note that all this growth in both ridership and revenue has been achieved with only minimal additional service (5th roundtrip to Freeport and Brunswick).

In essence the service has produced these results largely "as is".

Should be interesting to see if we see improving OTP now that Royal Siding is in service

[gokeefe]

Ran back through the RPA fact sheets for Maine. Their calendar year figures for 2018 show BRK+FRE+POR is now 10K+ over POR 2012. I'm guessing 2019 is going to show even better results.

[codasd]

Are there plans to add another run between Boston and Portland? I've seen some comments about Wells being an issue. Would added service be for potential commuters?

[markhb]

I have seen two relevant items discussed. One is adding a second track at Wells to handle meets there (with an accompanying station expansion with second platform), the other would be an early trip from Brunswick that would make a short turn at Wells, to bring commuters into Portland.

[gokeefe]

In order to start a sixth roundtrip NNEPRA has to make certain improvements to add capacity. The Wells siding is one of several possible projects. They likely need one more.

[njtmnrrbuff]

The 6th roundtrip should run from Boston to Brunswick and then back. This would help with people who have business meetings in Portland who are boarding the train in the Boston area as well as the Merrimack Valley.

[electricron]

The 6th roundtrip should run from Boston to Brunswick and then back. This would help with people who have business meetings in Portland who are boarding the train in the Boston area as well as the Merrimack Valley.

Where overnight is Amtrak going to park and also service the Downeaster train near North Station in Boston? There is no direct rail route between South Station, near which Amtrak has servicing facilities, and North Station. Do you really believe the State of Maine is going to pay for brand new facilities located in Boston?

It seems every six months or so somebody suggest this early northbound train, and every time somebody else points out this exact same problem, a problem that no one ever recommends a solution to. Without a solution, there can be no early morning northbound train out of Boston because there is no train.

[east point]

It would seem that an early BON train set departure to Brunswick would return to BON and be last departure of night to Brunswick. As well when cars and locos need to go to Albany or Beech the night train could go to the BOS yard to be carried forward to those locations ?

[electricron]

It would seem that an early BON train set departure to Brunswick would return to BON and be last departure of night to Brunswick. As well when cars and locos need to go to Albany or Beech the night train could go to the BOS yard to be carried forward to those locations ?

For a train to leave BON early in the morning heading north to Brunswick, there must first be a train in BON.
Since all the trains stay overnight in Maine for servicing and refueling, where is the train in BON?

[Rockingham Racer]

They sometimes run extras down from Maine and over to Southampton. Is there a cogent reason they couldn't do that with the euipment for an early morning departure?

[Arborwayfan]

Cost.

Also, a daily positioning move like that would honestly have to be considered when telling people how good the Downeaster is for the environment. In any case, If the early morning NB makes sense, wouldn't a late evening SB also make sense? It would make the train more attractive for business or pleasure day trips into Maine, and Maine taxpayers would probably like it if their subsidy brought more people into Maine to spend money.

[TomNelligan]

As I'm sure most of you know, the MBTA has a large coach yard and service facility just outside North Station. I suspect that for a price they'd be willing to accommodate a Downeaster set overnight.