Passenger Trains > CT: Hartford Line exceeds one million riders...

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/news/21121732/ct-hartford-line-exceeds-one-million-riders-as-commuter-rail-exceeds-forecast?

This would much better if more equipment could be had.  

The brand new equipment isn't mentioned in the article which it should. Those MBB cars are on lease and won't be lasting forever. It should have been time to order brand new equipment before the Ctrail Hartford Line service began. It's great though that the ridership keeps going up. It will be great when the new station opens up in Enfield as well as relocating the Windsor Locks station to be closer to the downtown area.

Trouble is, I can't think of anyone else buying single level, loco-hauled commuter equipment. You can't go and buy just a dozen cars.

But the LIRR has in their 5 year capital plan 17 loco-hauled cars based on the Kawasaki M-9 MU car body, which is a run-on of their M-9 MU car order.

Montreal's 700-series cars are newer, like the NJT Comet-II's, though they lack traps and are scheduled to be retired in the next few years. However they now have very transit-like seating - low back seats on one side of the car with their backs along the windows.  SEPTA will soon retire their version, and there are the MARC Sumitomo coaches, though not for sale now.   

I think CDOT wants to have the same model that can run on not only Ctrail but also the MNR NHV Branchlines as well-I think this applies to the shuttles.

Are the Amtrak consists still just two Amfleets?

What are the passenger counts for the extended service north of Springfield into Greenfield?  Thank you,

The article says it is projected to carry 750,000 this year.  According to the CTRail schedule, they and Amtrak together run 210 trains a week on the line, I assume the numbers quoted were for combined ridership, a propaganda news release from a governor's office is going to give the largest number they think they can get away with.  Ridership has been growing, but the projected 750,000 for 2020 averages out to just 69 riders per train.  Highest month so far was November, at 70,551, averaging 79 per train.

mundo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Are the Amtrak consists still just two Amfleets?

One would be a ex-Metroliner cab car, but I don't know. They were criticized at the start of service for leaving people behind at stations as they would not allow standees, which would be over ~144. Obviously not all train loads through the day are equal. Wide disparities exist on any commuter service that runs all day. It is quite obvious from the Amtrak schedules that a pair of trains that operate north of Springfield are there only to position equipment to and from their service day.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/20 04:55 by joemvcnj.

Yes it’s combined. The state considers them the same service for ridership purposes which is why the shuttles were renamed to Hartford line. (And the station displays in Connecticut also show the valley Flyer trains as Hartford line I believe.) This may also include the Vermonter ridership from HL stations but that is not known for sure. If they include Amtrak’s entire service line ridership for New Haven - Springfield as part of the HL ridership it does include the Vermonter. I suspect they do include it and just look at the total ridership for the corridor.

If they wanted to report just commuter rail passengers theyd only want to include CTrail trains and local Amtrak trips sold at the reduced fare (excluding all intercity reservations that go beyond the corridor.),
I suspect they don’t care about the particular trains people are carrying and just want to consider ridership on the line in general.
Posted from iPhone



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/20 05:07 by lordsigma.

mundo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Are the Amtrak consists still just two Amfleets?

The shuttle trains are an Am I and a former Metroliner cab car (so two Am I's essentially).
The through regional trains are also included in this stat, which are SPG-WAS trains as a full Regional consist.
It should be noted that the Vermonter isn't considered a Hartford line train, as the fare bucket is different, and it does not stop at three of the stations.
New equipment it desperately needed. The whole M8's for Shoreline East, is nothing short of a farce, thereby not allowing the Mufrasa cars to be used in place of the MBB lessors.

For more information on the Windsor Locks station:
https://www.nhhsrail.com/pdfs/windsor%20locks%20public%20meeting%20ppt%209-19-19.pdf

renf Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What are the passenger counts for the extended
> service north of Springfield into Greenfield? 
> Thank you,

That's a MassDOT stat, not a CDOT one.  The service is only a few months old, so it may take a full year to get any meaningful info.