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Vermont to gather input on Rail Plan this week
How about the Northern end=–a bus link to Montreal? Or is St. Albans going to remain a failed link like Port Huron-Sarnia, or Grand Forks-Winnipeg (you can’t get there from here).
Double stacks and tall auto racks have indeed moved via the Bellows Falls tunnel. There remains the potential for greater volumes.
Having ridden the Vermonter both pre- and post- Hurricane Irene, I can say that the money invested in welded rail and higher track speeds have significantly improved the ride north of Springfield, Ma., with the exception of the segment between Palmer, Ma. and Brattleboro, Vt. When improvements to the more direct ex-B&M line are complete, the side trip to Palmer will be eliminated. Shortened trip times and improved ride quality = increased ridership. Kudos to those responsible.
how about returning the vermonter to the montrealer schedule -
overnight between washington d.c. and montreal?? ridership
hovered at between 23,000 and 26,000 per month on the old
schedule – now it never exceeds 13,000 - 15,000 per month
north of springfield. the overnight schedule works far better
on this route – and the ethan allen can handle daytime travel.
I thought that they had worked to lower the Bellows Falls tunnel several years ago for double-stacks. What ever happened to that? The NECR was negotiating with another RR in So. New England to take the double-stacks from them and bring them to Montreal, mabe not.
Would anyone be able to please remind me what month/year Trains Magazine recently ran a feature on five-year state rail plans? Robinson.Foster, Director, RAIL Solution
This reminds me of an old Frank & Ernest comic I have in my collection. Frank and Ernie are watching TV and listening to the news anchor stating “A five-year government study released today reveals you can make darn good money from a five-year government study”
The Adirondack currently provides service between New York and Montreal, using a route that stays within New York State until the Canadian border. The Canadians come down, jump on the ferry ( which is a train stop) and over to Burlington, VT. Busy route every day. This doesn’t get them to st Albans though ( Amtrak)
IF you want to see trains to Montreal through Vermont, please contact your congressional delegation and ask them to tell customs & border patrol to finish language for the Canadian treaty that is necessary for border clearance at Montreal Central Station.
IIRC, given the existing grade entering/exiting the tunnel to a grade crossing and the existence of downtown buildings over the tunnel, only limited enlarging of the tunnel permitting international-sized double-stacks and standard height multi-level cars to transit the “enlarged” tunnel was performed. To my knowledge, New England Central / Pan Am rarely, if ever, haul such cars through Bellows Falls. CSX has the only route into S. New England that can facilitate full domestic double stack service.
IIRC, given the existing grade entering/exiting the tunnel to a grade crossing and the existence of downtown buildings over the tunnel, only limited enlarging of the tunnel permitting international-sized double-stacks and standard height multi-level cars to transit the “enlarged” tunnel. To my knowledge, New England Central / Pan Am rarely, if ever, haul such cars through Bellows Falls. CSX has the only route into S. New England that can facilitate full domestic double stack service.
Hi Roger Cole and all,
Returning to the effectiveness and efficiency of state rail plans, I found “Blueprints for Prosperity” page 40 in the December 2013 edition of Trains Magazine very helpful. In Vermont state rail planning has helped leverage significant rail infrastructure investment.
RAIL Solution supports efforts to include our Steel Interstate initiative (www.steelinterstate.org) in state rail plans, with a storied effort to do so in Virginia.
Through Steel Interstate we call for upgrading 40,000 miles of United States mainline to high-performance standards, with track engineered and built to FRA Class 5 and 6 to allow freight and passenger service between 79 and110 miles-per-hour on shared infrastructure, with a minimum of two grade separated through tracks.
Our Steel Interstate origin/destination pairs are the most heavily traveled commercial truck routes. Our goal is to rise high above the approximate 15% average market share controlled by conventional intermodal services. Steel Interstate will serve short- and long-haul international containers, domestic containers and trailers, and roll-on roll-off drivers/tractors/trailers. The same 40,000-mile network will allow access to Amtrak, or any qualified private or public passenger rail operator.
The Steel Interstate System needs to be electrified for both freight trains and passenger trains, and to provide capacity for national electric transmission. The higher speed rail Steel Interstate System will compete with and serve as an economic complement to other modes of rail, road, water and air transportation to create a fluid transportation system, and to leverage effective, efficient land and energy use.
At www.railsolution.org we address alternative public-private partnership funding mechanisms and criteria to measure the problem at hand and to define our measures of success.
RAIL Solution seeks members and stakeholder supporters to achieve our Steel Interstate goal.
They ought to put some serious money into track upgrades between Rutland and Whitehall, NY. Last time I rode this line, there were stretches where I could have outpaced the train on a bicycle.
What happened to the proposal for an additional frequency of service north of Springfield to White River Junction? Why can’t there be a bus connection to Montreal in the interim until things can be worked out with customs for bring the train across the border? A fun way to enjoy both the Vermonter and Adirondack routes without going to Canada is to make use of the ferry service across Lake Champlain between Port Kent and Burlington. There is also a city bus connection with the station at Essex Junction from Burlington.