Passenger Trains > Plan to Speed Up Amtrak’s Northeast Route Faces Opposition in S

http://www.wsj.com/articles/plan-to-speed-up-amtraks-northeast-route-faces-opposition-in-small-towns-1484568000

Don't worry about the coastal towns, the real issue is Metro North speed restriction.

Too much of a fuss is made over north of New Haven. MN is the obstacle course. They need a flying junction at New Rochelle, among other things. Amtrak also stops too many trains at Bridgeport.

The small towns, yacht and fishing boat owners, and Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) had a huge and unfavorable impact on the Boston electrification.  The little town of Stonington held up the project for a year over the issue of a bridge vs four way gates, etc.

I wouldn't underestimate their power to wreak a lot of mischief...although I'd agree getting the MetroNorth segment would help speed a lot more.

They should skip the shore line between New Haven and Providence. Build in the I-95 median or one of the other alternatives. Run Acelas on the new line and let the Regionals serve the existing route.

Pretty sure the trains and tracks were there when these people moved in. If they don't like the trains, I'm sure there are other places they can live where there aren't any!

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Pretty sure the trains and tracks were there when
> these people moved in. If they don't like the
> trains, I'm sure there are other places they can
> live where there aren't any!

Amtrak spent a decade fighting with the fisher people and yacht owners at Niantic over that bridge. And a similar period fighting with the folks in Stonington.

Rich and influential in government circles + NIMBY = Delays and cancels

Betting few are able to read the link....
To Read the Full Story, Subscribe or Sign In

...but then again, since when has "opposition" been news?

/Mitch

326 comments, so far

Not to anyone's surprise, Senator Blumenthal (D-CT) and Gove Malloy are opposed.

Going through some of the wealthiest areas in eastern CT isn't going to go well, fast, or smoothly. Didn't go smoothly last time, and won't go smoothly this time. Go inland with a straight as an arrow alignment from just east of New Haven to just south of Kingtown RI. Leave the last improvement for locals and build a 200 mph straightaway in the hinterlands.

There was one whole plan - pie in the sky - to basically run in a straight line between NYP, Hartford, and Boston. There were a few intermediate stops (eg White Plains area, between Hartford and NYP. 

I am am not sure what median is left on Imterstate 95!

I'm kind of surprised by this discussion. It is my understanding, I may be wrong, that there are all of four remaining grade-level crossings on the NEC, two of them in New London that are blocked when the train is in the station.

It is also my understanding that the New Haven RR laid out a right of way north of the shoreline that was much straighter. Never built, for economic reasons, and I was never clear on whether the necessary land had been secured by easement arrangements or outright purchase. I suppose that either way, the rights have lapsed (that was all in the 1920s I think). And it could be that it was never more than lines on a map.

(As a reminder: the NEC in Connecticut runs east-west, not north-south.)

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Pretty sure the trains and tracks were there when
> these people moved in. If they don't like the
> trains, I'm sure there are other places they can
> live where there aren't any!

You're missing the point. The controversy right now concerns building a new alignment into places where there aren't any tracks right now.
 

badgerexpat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm kind of surprised by this discussion. It is my
> understanding, I may be wrong, that there are all
> of four remaining grade-level crossings on the
> NEC, two of them in New London that are blocked
> when the train is in the station.
>
> It is also my understanding that the New Haven RR
> laid out a right of way north of the shoreline
> that was much straighter. Never built, for
> economic reasons, and I was never clear on whether
> the necessary land had been secured by easement
> arrangements or outright purchase. I suppose that
> either way, the rights have lapsed (that was all
> in the 1920s I think). And it could be that it was
> never more than lines on a map.
>
> (As a reminder: the NEC in Connecticut runs
> east-west, not north-south.)


east-west to ZOO where it changes to north-south

With the odd result that a westbound train travels due east from much of South Amboy to Red Bank, or Camden area to Atlantic City

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> With the odd result that a westbound train travels
> due east from much of South Amboy to Red Bank, or
> Camden area to Atlantic City

Does NJ Transit really use those orientations for those lines? PRR may have for NYLB trains as they related to Penn Station (I don't know), but calling a Philly-to-Atlantic City train "westbound" just because of historical considerations would be nuts, and I can't even see why PRSL would have done that.

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/17 10:03 by toledopatch.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> With the odd result that a westbound train travels
> due east from much of South Amboy to Red Bank, or
> Camden area to Atlantic City

Does NJ Transit really use those orientations for those lines? PRR may have as they related to its broader system, but calling a Philly-to-Atlantic City train "westbound" just because of historical considerations would be nuts. (And yes, I know SP had its little convention in which everything headed "toward" San Francisco was westbound, but that's not the issue here.)
 

The compass  direction of travel in Connecticut is east and west.  The railroad turns north at Providence.

There are 11 grade crossings still in service in Connecticut on the Shore Line

The direction of travel on the Atlantic City line is North and South with AC being south.  This leaves the section of railroad between Zoo and Penn having the distinction that two southbound trains can pass going in opposite directions.

The timetable direction from Zoo to WAS is north and south while the compass direction is more East and West.