Is the MBTA going to extend the LOwell Line to Nashua or will it be run be Pan Am Railways between Lowell and Nashua.
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Nashua to Lowell question.
- Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.
Unless I'm horribly mistaken, Pan Am Railways runs freight operations only. If I remember correctly, there are currently no solid plans to extend the Lowell line, though it has been discussed. More pressing issues/expansions are being given priority right now (ex. Green Line to Medford).
There are no active plans for such an extension that I'm aware of, though I wouldn't be surprised if the idea has been bandied about from time to time. If it did happen, passenger service would be operated by the MBTA and its contractor (MBCR currently); Pan Am would continue to operate freight trains as it currently does. Dispatching would be done by whoever owned the tracks. Pan Am currently owns them, but Massachusetts and New Hampshire might acquire the tracks as part of such an extension, thus giving dispatching duties to the T.
"The destination of this train is [BEEP BEEP]" -announcement on an Ashmont train.
MBTA3247 wrote:There are no active plans for such an extension that I'm aware of, though I wouldn't be surprised if the idea has been bandied about from time to time. If it did happen, passenger service would be operated by the MBTA and its contractor (MBCR currently); Pan Am would continue to operate freight trains as it currently does. Dispatching would be done by whoever owned the tracks. Pan Am currently owns them, but Massachusetts and New Hampshire might acquire the tracks as part of such an extension, thus giving dispatching duties to the T.Not necessarily. for example MBTA owns the Fitchburg line tracks, but Pan Am dispatches it between Willows (Ayer) and Fitchburg.
Jon
Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the determination that some things are more important than fear.
Massachusetts has no plan to extend past Lowell, the T has not plans. If anything happens it going to be at the cost of New Hampshire. Although New Hampshire is slowly hopping aboard with the idea most of the pressure has been coming from Nashua alone. With Manchester now starting to mumble about a commuter train things might start to move a little bit faster. City officials in Nashua about a year ago said they would be willing to get the ball rolling even without the state. Pan Am is open arms about it because they'll get a free upgrade.
It takes real skill to choke on air, fall up the stairs and trip over nothing. I have those skills.
In the most recent issue of Railpace, the writer states that New Hampshire wants commuter rail service to nashua and is prepared to pay for some of the costs of extending the line and operating costs and damge liabilities, etc. This isn't really a big project as the main issue is to construct stations along the way. A double tracked ROW is already there. (or at as I can see on google maps)
There are more details on this over on this thread on the New England Railfan forum.
As far as I know, it is single track from Lowell up through South Nashua. Not quite sure beyond that.
As far as I know, it is single track from Lowell up through South Nashua. Not quite sure beyond that.
First Law of Public Transportation: You can never be early, but you can always be late.
The RoW and bridges are double-track width to Concord, except for the reconstructed part past the mills in Manchester. I don't think any of the CTC sidings installed in the 1950s and 1960s remain, as the only trains other than locals are the "a couple times a week" Bow coal turns. As noted elsewhere, NH got the liability limit law passed a month ago but still has a lot more negotiating to do before any contracts are let. The cheap way seems to be to buy (hypothetical AFAIK) diesel railbuses and run to Lowell (all change for North Station). I hope they do a through service ( a' la' Providence) instead...
jbvb wrote:The cheap way seems to be to buy (hypothetical AFAIK) diesel railbuses and run to Lowell (all change for North Station).Colorado Railcar makes DMUs.
"The destination of this train is [BEEP BEEP]" -announcement on an Ashmont train.
MBTA3247 wrote:Well, they say they do...jbvb wrote:The cheap way seems to be to buy (hypothetical AFAIK) diesel railbuses and run to Lowell (all change for North Station).Colorado Railcar makes DMUs.
I think they've only sold two trainsets (two DMUs and one unpowered coach each) to Florida Tri-Rail, where they've had mixed reviews.
The web site has serious issues right now...
First Law of Public Transportation: You can never be early, but you can always be late.
caduceus wrote:New DMU equipment arrived in Portland, OR recently to be used on their new Westrail commuter service. BTW there's a change of trains involved; it's not a one-seat ride into the Rose City.MBTA3247 wrote:Well, they say they do...jbvb wrote:The cheap way seems to be to buy (hypothetical AFAIK) diesel railbuses and run to Lowell (all change for North Station).Colorado Railcar makes DMUs.
I think they've only sold two trainsets (two DMUs and one unpowered coach each) to Florida Tri-Rail, where they've had mixed reviews.
The web site has serious issues right now...
Rockingham Racer wrote:New DMU equipment arrived in Portland, OR recently to be used on their new Westrail commuter service. BTW there's a change of trains involved; it's not a one-seat ride into the Rose City.Ah ha...I found a reference on Wikipedia to Westside Express Service, which received a DMU car (3 DMUs and 2 coaches ordered) from CR. Too bad the company doesn't seem to want to advertise it that badly - as far as I can tell their press releases haven't been updated since 2006, and the entire front page is pretty broken.
First Law of Public Transportation: You can never be early, but you can always be late.
This thread has gone way off topic... The T isn't getting DMUs for any new service. If you want to discuss DMUs then I suggest you go here: http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=151
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