New England High Speed/Inter-City Rail

[The Voice of Reason]

It was more like 125 mph in the early 60s. It was done without exotic technology and in a very pragmatic manner. One of the problems here are when you mention high speed rail, there is this jump to things such as mag lev with the goal of building a 300mph train, which wastes a lot of money until the project is killed.

I don't think there is much routine service above 300mph except for maybe a few experimental systems. Most bullet trains as a practical matter top out around 200mph. There are trade offs due to noise and energy consumption.

[The Voice of Reason]

The president spoke about this and other regional high speed rails yesterday.

Today the Courant was kind enough to put a graphic up to show the New England netowrk mentioned. Clearly as the president said, everything will take a long time, but the potential for such a plan is pretty amazing.

I am guessing there would be a few additional stops like Hartford, Worcester, Burlington, Manchester, NH, Portsmouth, Rochester, Buffalo

[runawayjim]

The president spoke about this and other regional high speed rails yesterday.

Today the Courant was kind enough to put a graphic up to show the New England netowrk mentioned. Clearly as the president said, everything will take a long time, but the potential for such a plan is pretty amazing.

I am guessing there would be a few additional stops like Hartford, Worcester, Burlington, Manchester, NH, Portsmouth, Rochester, Buffalo

[HartfordTycoon]

I find it interesting that there's no shoreline route from NYC to Boston with stops in New Haven and Providence. That would likely be one of the highest used routes.

[HartfordTycoon]

I love the vibe I get from this article. Anytime Hartford and Economic powerhouse are used together is a wonderful thing.

Hartford Courant

courant.com/community/news/hfd/hc-hartford-transit-hub-olberst.artmay11,0,864956.story

Courant.com

HIGH-SPEED RAIL

Rail Commuter Line Would be Perfect Fit

By DON STACOM

The Hartford Courant

May 11, 2009

Hartford is poised to become an economic powerhouse for New England by substantially expanding Bradley International Airport's business, but it will need trains as much as planes, according to the veteran U.S. representative who is shaping federal transportation policy this year.

"Bradley could pull in a lot of those short-haul flights going to New York and Boston's airports, but only if you have high-speed trains to get people to New York and Boston," Minnesota Rep. James Oberstar, chairman of the House transportation committee, said Friday morning after touring Bradley and Hartford's Union Station.

Oberstar is about to draft a multiyear, $400 billion to $450 billion federal transportation bill, and he said the long-stalled New Haven-to-Springfield commuter rail project would be a natural fit for the kind of overhauled transit system that he envisions for America.

Appearing with Oberstar, U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, said New England needs to look to large-scale, visionary plans to drive economic revival.

"I want you to think big," Oberstar told state transportation officials, who briefed him on what Amtrak, Connecticut and Massachusetts will need to establish commuter service on the 62-mile route.

Oberstar sees that as just part of a more ambitious project: creating European-quality high-speed rail between Boston, Hartford and New York. The result, he said, would be to transform the region, with potentially huge number of fliers

[The Voice of Reason]

Agreed!

I was going to post this and the article from yesterday in the Commuter rail thread. every rail article is a good thing.

[HartfordTycoon]

Boston globe article about how New England is behind the 8 ball on planning of high speed rail corridors. New England needs to do a much better job approaching these issue in a comprehensive manner.

Boston Globe

"New England needs to be better organized," said Tom Irwin, a senior attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation and one of the founders of the New England Regional Rail Coalition, the group assembled last year that is lobbying for a share of the high-speed rail funding that Congress approved as part of the economic stimulus plan.

[The Voice of Reason]

I see how this is the case. I think we would be hard pressed to set up a new high speed rail network in the North East for several reasons mentioned in the article as well as issues caused by environmental concerns, population density, "keeping it fair" for every little place, and then concerns that the high speed rail is not for local users like commuter rail or subways are. it is for travelers passing through so you are more likely to get a fight out of a town.

I think what would be best for the region is to set our selves up for the next wave of high speed, but with this wave we would massively expand out traditional rail networks, and do significant work on Acela to bring it up in standards to a true high speed rail.

If out of this push for funding we manage to get the Springfield Hartford New Haven commuter rail funded as well as the connecting spur between Hartford and Waterbury CT we will have made major steps in CT. if in Mass the T is massively improved(it shouldnt be that hard because it needs some serious love!!!)

if Providence, New Bedford, Manchester and Worcester either connected, or better connected to Boston we will have massive steps.

I would love to see a way to connect the planned CT system to Boston, so somehow there would need to be a connection between Springfield and Boston that better served the region.

If we as a region accepted that the high speed goal might be immediately out of reach, and instead worked hard to build our local rail networks in preperation for integrating into a High speed rail network. If we as a region planned on getting a network started thats innitial build out were ultimately going to make the best system possible not just spend federal money. well, then New England would be better for it.

It makes more sense to me to have the most used commuter lines working optimally and oriented in ways to form easy links to a future high speen track. this way it will be easier for us to get future funding for those High speed Networks.

maybe I am not typing this out the way I am thinking it.

[Lowerdeck]

Worchester

[HartfordTycoon]

I'll have to forgive you for this one. Let it be known meanwhile this is a mortal sin.

Back on topic, the T should be massively improved. I can't see that happening for a while, especially since they have no money and bleed debt.

[The Voice of Reason]

Man I usually pay close attention to that one. I am a bad man.

I wonder if part of the problem with the T is the 10 Billion spend on the big dig. I wonder if it would have been smarter to put 10 billion into the T then try and fix the highway network.

but I guess when the big dig started highways were still in vogue

[Lowerdeck]

Let's face it, Boston is better off without the Central Artery. The question is, if they didn't do the tunnel - what would have happened?

Among my moments of brilliance and random thought:

- Remove I-93 and highway between Zakim Bridge and Turnpike

- I-93 south of the Turnpike would be I-90, and run that all the way down Route 3 to Cape Cod.

- The part of I-93 between Route 3 and I-95 would be I-690

- The part of I-93 north of the Zakim Bridge to I-495 would be renumbered I-193

And then I-93 would replace I-395 and I-290, then multiplex with I-495 between Marlboro and current I-93. Or Replace 495 with 93 south of the current I-93 and it's course into Salem N.H. and beyond.

I think I need a new hobby...

[HartfordTycoon]

Looks like Boston is starting to pay attention to the rest of the state and New England. The inland route is vital as it passes through every major metro area in New England except Providence, which is already served by the Northeast Corridor which should be in line for some improvements as well.

Boston Globe

With a dense population clustered around a few large cities and many former mill towns, New England is well suited for rail travel. But limitations on current tracks mean that high-speed rail service isn't as fast as it should be - and indeed improvements to the existing Acela route are among the projects touted by the New England Regional Rail Coalition.

Other possibilities include high-speed Boston-to-Montreal service, Downeaster service farther into Maine, and, crucially, a so-called inland route from Boston to New York through Worcester, Springfield, and Hartford. Until now, there was never much money available for these projects. And as the Globe reported last week, governors in New England until recently avoided regional rail planning, for fear that the Bush administration would try to burden them with responsibility for Amtrak service.

[HartfordTycoon]

Looks like New England is starting to get its act together about rail. Very promising developments are now occuring pretty rapidly and the states are finally cooperating to form one cohesive vision for rail transportation throughout New England in the future.

Vermont Business Magazine

The six key projects are listed, as outlined from a vision statement released by the six New England Governors.

The Downeaster service which operates on a route included in the Northern New England High Speed Rail Corridor between Boston and Portland is a national model for the successful introduction of new intercity passenger rail service. The states along the Downeaster Route are working together to improve the infrastructure with the goal of reducing the travel time between Boston and Portland to two hours and increasing capacity to support 7 daily round trips.

New Hampshire

[HartfordTycoon]

Hartford Courant Editorial: Getting New England Back on Track

Hartford Courant

New England's governors announced Monday that they will go after federal stimulus funds to upgrade and extend rail lines. Now they must build their campaign by political leaders and the hoi polloi.

Connecticut's application seeks $800 million to upgrade the New Haven-to-Springfield rail line. The plan is to create commuter service along the route and high-speed connections from western Massachusetts and central Connecticut to Amtrak's separate Boston-to- Washington Acela service.

A key element in selling the restoration of Connecticut's main north-south rail line is its place in a system that would give fast, smooth connections from Portland, Maine, to Boston, Hartford, New Haven and New York.

[MadVlad]

About a decade or two late, if you ask me...

[HartfordTycoon]

About a decade or two late, if you ask me...

[The Voice of Reason]

In one of the articles out recently the NHHS Commuter rail will be upgraded from an 80MPH track to 90 then 110 MPH. thus qualifying it as high speed. At 110 it gave the average speed including stops as 60 MPH. Not bad for the densely populated I-91 area.

I wonder however how well this system will do on the Boston Montreal route.

Montreal is not that big of a business community, so traffic might not be as naturally high as if we were talking about NYC Boston and Toronto.

Also, the Highways like 89 are like race tracks. for a train to be competitive with the car they would have to be averaging more than 80 MPH,

over 320 miles

If we are going to run a line from Albany to Buffalo, why not link into CN Rails system and take the train all the way to Toronto.

NYC to Albany to Buffalo then Toronto is 550 Miles.

If we are talking TGV style trains, that would be something like Paris to Avignon in terms of distance.

that trip takes from 7:16AM to 9:55AM

cost is $104 US

thats the cost of your cab fare from mid town to JFK round trip.

[HartfordTycoon]

Things are still moving along. Too slowly for me, but I guess you can't rush this stuff.

Hartford Courant

NEWINGTON, Conn. - Transportation leaders of the six New England states say they're teaming up to boost the region's chances for federal stimulus grants for high-speed commuter rail and freight service.

[HartfordTycoon]

Things are starting to pick up a little bit.

Boston Globe

WASHINGTON - New England states are expected to receive $160 million to upgrade a rail corridor linking New Haven, Western Massachusetts, and Vermont when railroad stimulus grants are unveiled today, lawmakers said.

[HartfordTycoon]

Moving right along.

Hartford Courant

Connecticut wants federal aid to begin building a system that can accommodate 110-mph passenger trains between New Haven to Springfield, part of a larger plan to link Boston, Montreal, New York and Washington by high-speed trains.

"We had a good run," Dodd said after the New Haven to Hartford ride. "This is a terrific project. It really is about the economic growth and development of the whole region."

Rell said if funding for the $800 million to $900 million project works out, high-speed trains could be running through central Connecticut by 2016.

Springfield Republican - Editorial

Economic development officials in Springfield have long argued – and rightly so – that there is a natural synergy between the economies of Western Massachusetts and Connecticut. MassMutual Financial Group, which is headquartered in Springfield, for example, has a satellite office in Enfield. And many Western Massachusetts residents commute daily to jobs at Pratt & Whitney and other companies south of our border.

Timothy W. Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, believes the addition of intercity and commuter rail links between Springfield and the Nutmeg State would only strengthen and broaden economic ties.