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Massachusetts has ‘agreement in principle’ to acquire ‘Knowledge Corridor’
If these improvements save only 25 mins. of running time it will bring us back 60 years to the I hr 35 mins. running time of the B&M when the max speed on the Conn. River line was 60 mph. I would think that with an entirely rebuilt line the 60 miles between Springfield, Mass. and Brattleboro, Vt could be done a bit better than 95 mins. That is an average speed of less than 40 mph. What is this, the 19th century or the 21st? Where is the performance? This would be a travesty or so something pretty close to it. It has to be better than this.
The route will be some 15 miles shorter and there will be no 15 to 20 mins lost lining hand thrown turnouts at Palmer. The speeds will be increased from 50 to 80 mph over much of the route. Also, there will be no need to crawl at 15 mph into both Palmer and Springfield on the southbound run. I would think that at the very minimum the time saving should be something on the order of 45 mins. Why should it take more than 75 mins to run 60 miles with but two quick stops. Why can it not be done in an hour with 80 mph running over much of the route? Should we not insist on some performance?
Agreed Doctor! 110 mph running speeds should be the goal and why not?
I agree with Dr. McDonald. I took a charter on the Conn River line in 1967 from Deerfield to Springfield, and it was 60 MPH then. interesting that this is like Humpty Dumpty with the Vermonter route slowly reverting to the PRR-NYNH&H-B&M-CV configuration of The Ambassador, the B&M’s last long distance (i.e., non Buddliner) train. Next thing we’ll hear is the push from St. Albans to Montreal, recreating the full Ambassador route.
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