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Amtrak adds Holyoke to its national network
Nice that Holyoke has rail service again, but sad that the magnificent H. H. Richardson 1885 depot could not be included into the new station design. At least, I understand, the depot building is being restored.
Here’s a 2014 report of the Restoration and Reuse Study of Holyoke’s Historic Richardson Station:
http://www.holyokeredevelopment.com/wp-content/uploads/Part-1-from-RICHARDSON_Report_FINAL.pdf
A $4.3 million platform? Let’s not give the opposition legitimate ammunition!
@LANDON ROWELL - Bargain, typically we hear about Amtrak stations costing around $10M here…
Use freight cars, bridges, right-of-way, and yards for outdoor advertising.
It’s nice that Holyoke, pop. 40.249, is now served by the Vermonter. I hope it won’t be too long before Montreal, pop. 1,649,519, is also served. It’s only two hours north of St. Albans, and I know many people who would use it to travel to Vermont, New York and New Jersey if it left from here. An overnight train would be even better, but I guess that’s being unrealistic. On the other hand, the station already exists!
4.3 million for the platform does sound excessive. How long will it take to pay that off through passenger fares using that station? No wonder passenger trains don’t make any money, and all too often little sense. And yet, I ride passenger trains whenever I can even though the nearest Amtrak is almost 3 hours drive away. At least the Vermonter has shortened its overall trip time considerably in the last year or two. Does anyone know if it still has to make a backup move to get into the Springfield station?
I think I just discovered where the $4.3 million went to… hopefully. Google Maps on satellite view shows what looks like a new stretch of track to access the station.
I’m happy to see Amtrak add a new station to its’ system. I hope that someday soon that service to Montreal reappears. I was a NYCTA subway conductor back in the eighties. I worked the line that went to Astoria underneath the line that went to Boston and Montreal. Whenever an Amtrak train came by, I would sound my horn. I’d get a horn back. And on Fridays, we saw the disco car. It’ll be interesting to see what they’ll do when they restore the Montrealer.
Disco car? I know the old Montrealer had a BISTRO car, which I had some fun in on a ride back in 1986. Right now, I’m assuming this route is the original Monrealer route I got to ride and the train had to be moved off of.
if I remember right, the original “Montrealer” left D.C. about 7:30 p.m. for an overnight run to Montreal. it stayed on the Northeast Corridor tracks until New London, Ct., where it turned for a run straight north. I think it crossed the old B & A tracks at Palmer, Mass.
@ David & Jim. Back in the 80’s disco was big in Montreal and NY City. Not sure if it was a dedicated “Disco Car”, but in 1984 there was a derailment in Williston VT, and if I remember corectly, there was mention of many people on the train headed to the Montreal Disco’s.
Robert Wallace, if I’m correct the Montrealer is using the same route as it always has. I don’t think it ever went to New London. As far as I know it’s always gone north at New Haven and came to Springfield and crossed the B & A there and onto the B & M for the trip north. In the 80’s they detoured onto the B & A to Palmer changed ends and went north on.the old CV. This rebuild gets rid of the detour and end change and backup move to go north at Palmer. Amtrak put a loco at each have end for this move. Now it’s just 1 loco and the coaches. I hope this helps. I also would like to see it return to Montreal.
Chris Tirone
The current service is the Vermonter and not the Montrealer. However bad track led to the real Montrealer being bustituted north of Springfield from about 1984-89. When reinstated it went via the NEC to New London, then north over the full length of the Central Vermont mainline via Willamantic to St. Albums and then onto the CN to Montreal.
This ended in 1995, when Graham Claytor cut the thru overnight service, primarily due to outrageous CN crew/track charges north of St. Albans. The state of Vermont came forward with funding for the less expensive daylight Vermonter, which ran to Palmer, MA on the CV, reversed direction there due to the track pattern and then followed the then Conrail, now CSX Boston and Albany route to Springfield and then the traditional NEC to Washington.
I was the author of the proposal that led then VT governor Howard Dean, his DOT and the VT Congressional delegation to push for this routing. It was “possible”, but not ideal. We had to avoid sleeper and full diner costs and the CN charges for SAB/MTR, which ran over $1500000 for 57 miles in the last year of the overnight train. Where the Montrealer lost over $4000000 in its last year the initial subsidy for the Vermonter was just over $700000.
The 2016 reroute via Greenfield, Northampton and Holyoke finally restores the direct route and will soon (when track work ends), save another 25 minutes. Already Massachusetts ridership north of Springfield is up over 60%.
We had an Ambus from St Albans to Montreal for some years and are aggressively working to restore rail all the way.
Carl Fowler
Member, Vermont Rail Advisory Council
President
Rail Travel Adventures
Everybody seems to be ignoring the Adirondack service straight(er) line from NYC to Montreal. In any event, the whole homeland security ordeal of crossing the border on a train has become so excruciatingly slow that its just not worth it anymore. You could walk to Montreal faster.
@ Chris Tirone, thank you for clarifying the earlier misconceptions about the "Montrealer: routings; I was working at the Amtrak station in New London when # 60 & 61 were reinstated in October 1988, running the Shoreline route to NLC and on the CV/NECR north of there; also when the train was discontinued in April 1995 in favor of the daytime “Vermonter” service.
@ William Ensinger, yes, a backup move is still required at Springfield, upon leaving northbound, and arriving southbound. But a half-mile or so backup move there is a whole lot better than the nearly 200 miles of riding backwards that was necessary between Palmer, MA and St. Albans, VT.
The plan for TSA/Canadian Border Security now being finalized is to use an area at the east end of Montreal Central Station for the secured area for the border/customs checks for both countries. Already this is the csae for air passengers at most Canadian airports (including Montreal) enroute to the USA and for Amtrak passengers to/from Vancouver on the CASCADES TALGO trains. This should dramatically speed up running times for both the ADIRONDACK and a Montreal restored Vermonter.
Both countries have agreed to a treaty to this effect. It awaits full funding and (hopefully pro-forma) Parliamentary approval–likely to happen sometime after the Canadian national elections set for October.
Re platform construction costs: This is a valid point for concern, but one out of Amtrak’s hands, at least in Massachusetts on this project. Federal rules dictated the design. Americans with Disabilities Act advocates sued Mass DOT some years ago over new stations built between Framingham and Worcester, which had handicapped accessibility via high-level platforms only for the length of a single car. The ultimate resolution was an agreement/promise that the contested stations could open, but future new stations would be built with every car accessible at the floor level from high-level platforms–no more steps or lifts. Existing stations were grandfthered, but if heavily rebuilt will require the much more expensive full-length high level platform as in Holyoke.
This still is an “it depends” situation. The FRA has effectively adopted this standard nationally, but it would not apply, for an obvious example, to routes served by low floor boarding equipment like Superliners and Talgos. These are incapable of serving high-level platforms. The freight carriers also have valid clearance concerns about high-level platorms adjacent to mainline tracks related to potential car swaying (and thus impacts on the platform causing derailments). This can require added gauntlet or passing tracks in certain cases.
To further complicate matters Vermont was able to upgrade the platforms on the same Vermonter route at St. Albans and Waterbury last year to the previously accepted 8 inches above the rail-head low-level platform standard with no high-level sections, only a lift–because were able to use highway as opposed to rail money for the costs. Weird.
But this Vermont platform work was not a part of the Vermonter’s original upgrade funding, as was the work at Holyoke. That was funded by the 2008 “Stimulus” money, directed through the FRA, which insisted on the full-length high level platform design for the new Massachuetts station platforms at Greenfield, Northampton and H
The Montrealer did indeed have a “Disco Car”, northbound on Fridays and returned on Sundays train.
It was a lounge car modified for dancing(some tables removed) and drinks were available at the bar.
Montreal was big in the era of discos, right behind the NYC scene.