The restoration of train service to the Knowledge Corridor has been a goal of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration, who have been leading the effort to improve the Pan Am Southern trackage.
The new, shorter route has not brought improved running times just yet. “The schedule shown is the Vermonter’s initial schedule,” Amtrak spokeswoman Christina Leeds tells Trains News Wire. “Schedule adjustments will be implemented in the coming months upon completion of additional infrastructure improvements.”
Amtrak has worked with local authorities to raise rail safety awareness by meeting with community groups and schools.
Funding for the project was provided through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Although the line between Springfield and Northfield has been rehabilitated to permit much higher running speeds, it comes as something of a surprise that the "Vermonter" maintains its leisurely pace between Brattleboro and Springfield. I wonder what "infrastructure improvements" still need to be performed before speeds can be increased to reduce travel time?
It has often been said that regional and long distance trains must be anchored by reasonably large population centers at the route's two end points. St. Albans, VT with a population of 7650 certainly fails to meet this criteria. Additionally, there are no major population centers on the entire route north of the Hartford/Springfield area. Given the size of this market it's no wonder that Amtrak seems to believe that shaving a half hour or so from the present time table is not a high priority. The only way to make the route viable seems to be an extension to Montreal, a need that is obvious but apparently without political support.
Folks, the Amtrak spokeswoman spoke of "additional infrastructure improvements" which evidently are currently in progress. Patience is a virtue, or so it is said …
As far as the backup move in Springfield to & from the old B&M Connecticut River Line: Old ETT's indicate that 8 minutes was alotted from when a train would leave the station on its backup move, to cross the B&A diamond northbound onto the B&M, and 10" southbound from crossing the diamond to coming to a stop in the station.
As far as the alleged 3 mile discrepancy between ETT's and the Amtrak timetable: The Connecticut River Line has not in any way been extended, only upgraded; so evidently someone at Amtrak doesn't do good math.
they need to do whatever's possible to increase the top and average speeds along the new route plus do whatever can possibly be done to fast track an extension to Montreal. better yet revive the old Montrealer.
There are some good photos of the CT River line rebuild. With the exception of sidings and spurs…its all new track…nice welded rail and new modern signals (still with a position light design).
The line to WRJ has always been CTC. B&M owned to Windsor…then picked up again at WRJ and on north up the CT River. It was all CTC at one time.
As part of the rebuilding of the New. England Central a couple of years ago CTC was extended north of Claremont Jct to the north end of the yard at White River Jct. So, theoretically, 80 mph would be permissible on the tangents south of White River. The track structure appears excellent though the traffic is quite minimal. Only the Vermonterand a local and one through freight per day use the route. A total of but six movements.
This fall, international service was instituted by Northern Sparrow Shuttle between Grand Forks and Winnipeg. Unfortunately, the bus only operates on weekends, but the company has US and Canadian regulatory approval to close the gap.
If the reference to Bing Crosby is the on-train scene from the movie "White Christmas" or the on-stage dramatization man years later, the character played by Crosby talks to the conductor and finds that we are approaching Providence. As a former New Haven crew caller, I told the actor in the St. Cloud stage production, "No way. Trains to Maine went through Providence, but not any of the Vermont varnish."
The immediate lack of improved running time is disappointing. Though additional stops adds running time. The last "Montrealer" (1987) was scheduled for the 61 miles between Springfield and Brattleboro (with one stop at Northampton) for 2 hours, 24 minutes southbound (padding into Springfield and likely the backup move to enter the station) and for 1 hour, 50 minutes northbound. Hardly a breakneck speed, even then.
The new schedule effective December 29 indicates it's 64 miles (3 miles more) between Springfield and Brattleboro and takes 2 hours, 1 minute soutbound and 1 hour, 55 minutes northtbound. (The listing in the Official Guide for Boston and Maine also indicates 61 miles from Springfield to Brattleboro.) Starting 12/29, the train makes two intermediate stops, Northampton and Greenfield. Holyoke will be added later. When Holyoke is a stop, there will be 4 stops in the 36 miles between Springfield and Greenfield inclusive. Maybe that's why Amtrak bumped up the mileage a bit, so it doesn't appear that there are stops less than 10 miles apart? But overall, the new routing on 12/29 is at least not any slower than the previous running times of the Montrealer, though they were really slow.
Regardless, this running time will have to improve. For a mostly unsignaled route in Vermont, the southbound Vermonter is pretty fast now with the new rail in place. It averages over 50 MPH from St. Albans to Brattleboro with 7 intermediate stops! Clearly the Brattleboro-Springfield segment is still "the weakest link."
Is any of the CTC still in place between White River Jct and Brattleboro? I would think that one of the goals in this corridor would be ABS to get the train's maximum speed up to 79 MPH, then multiple frequencies (north of Springfield) to eliminate some of the stops to make it all the more time-competitive with driving.
The reverse move at Spring is within the interlocking limits of the junction. It is only a couple of hundred yards. It does't take but a couple of minutes. A crew member merely stands in the rear vestibule and talks the headend back into to the depot. No second locomotiveis necessary. Even now the train runs with one loco. A former Metroliner cab car leads between New Haven and Palmer in each direction.
I agree with Bill on the bus connections. While I would prefer a train, at least do something to connect the Vermonter with Montreal, the Wolverines with VIA's corridor, and the Empire Builder with the Canadian.
According to Amtrak's website, there is no improvement in the running time between Brattleboro and Springdfield on this restored route. This is despite its close to 20 mile improvement in the distance and the elimination of the 15 to 20 minutes to hand throw the crossovers at Palmer and change ends. Also eliminated is the painful last mile of restricted 15 mph running in the southbound (railroad west) direction approaching the Springfield station due to the restricted signal entering the station tracks at that location. A good cyclist could pedal the 50+ miles between these points as fast. I myself might come close. So, there is either going to be painfully slow "running", perhaps I should say crawling, or a long delay waiting for time at Springfield. Neither of these will do much for ridership.
I would think the reasonable thing to do would be to at least temporarily set the departure times from stations in the north back one hour and arrive Springfield at the present time. Does it make any sense to deliberately delay travelers one hour? I'm at a loss to understand it.
This will eliminate the backup move at Palmer (but create one at Springfield). Will the train then be running with only one locomotive instead of two (one on each end) and wye at St. Albans?
I hope they've laid welded rail between Springfield and Northfield, a la the upgrades made in Vermont after Irene devastated the state in 2011. The current route sports jointed rail from Palmer to the Vermont line, and the ride is pretty rough.
I think Bing Crosby would approve.
This is the original route of New Haven, B&M and Central Vermont. Now some smart fellow should at least get a connecting bus going St. Albans-Montreal, and by the way, Detroit-Windsor, Port Huron-Sarnia, and Grand Forks-Winnipeg.