Commuter service from Worcester, MA to New London, CT

I recently subscribed to the Worcester (MA) Business Journal. There appears to be a railfan or great interest in passenger rail related issues in this magazine.

First, the state of Connecticut is contemplating establishing rail service between Worcester and New London. Read all about it here. Perhaps an Amtrak State Supported Train?

Secondly, the issue that arrived in my mailbox today discusses expansion of Worcester Union Station to accomodate more MBTA trains to Boston. Read all about it here. Right now, there is commuter service from Worcester to Boston. Inbound trains in the morning and outbound trains in the evening. MBTA would like to also run commuter service to Worcester. CSX wants money to improve the track and expand capacity. MBTA wants dispatch control. I think the T and CSX will be talking for awhile.

Rick

I didn't see any dollar figures thrown around on the P&W improvements, but I'd have to guess it'd be a pretty significant chunk of change. It is positive that the P&W seems to be interested in establishing service, and ConnDOT seems to be willing to put up some money. It seems possible that SLE equipment and crews may be used to help create this service. Obviously more equipment, manpower, and traning will be needed regardless, but hey, more service is good service.

battalion51 said:

I didn't see any dollar figures thrown around on the P&W improvements, but I'd have to guess it'd be a pretty significant chunk of change. It is positive that the P&W seems to be interested in establishing service, and ConnDOT seems to be willing to put up some money. It seems possible that SLE equipment and crews may be used to help create this service. Obviously more equipment, manpower, and traning will be needed regardless, but hey, more service is good service.

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I think ConnDOT studied commuter rail to New London a while back and decided ridership would be too low. Then they realized they forgot to include either Providence or Worcester as potential terminii for trains and decided to redo the study. Were either line to be set up, there would be commuter lines continously running from Boston (or a bit north of it) to Newark, Delaware. I'm not sure if the schedules would allow it, nor how long it would it take, but it would be an interesting trip (the only non-commuter train part would be a transfer from GCT to Penn. Station). The trouble being, of course, that one must eventually end up in Newark, Delaware.

Nngo11 said:

The trouble being, of course, that one must eventually end up in Newark, Delaware.

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Or Haverhill, Mass. Hmm.... I'll take Newark, DE.

Rick

I've done the entire commuter thing, bridging the commuter gaps between Newark, DE and Perryville and between Providence and New London by taking Amtrak. You can therefore go as far south as Fredericksburg, VA or Manassas, VA (Broad Run/Airport) on commuter trains, and as far north as the northernmost MBTA routes (Haverhill & Lowell).

Right now, there is commuter service from Worcester to Boston. Inbound trains in the morning and outbound trains in the evening. MBTA would like to also run commuter service to Worcester.

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Just to clarify, while there is more weekday service geared towards Boston commuters, the MBTA Worcester Line is already bidirectional. You already can go towards Worcester in the morning, or towards Boston in the evening. And it can be done on weekends too.

Here is an example of the current inbound (Worcester-Boston) weekday timetable, which shows 10 trips, including one leaving Worcester as late as 11:40 PM.

Superliner Diner said:

I've done the entire commuter thing, bridging the commuter gaps between Newark, DE and Perryville and between Providence and New London by taking Amtrak. You can therefore go as far south as Fredericksburg, VA or Manassas, VA (Broad Run/Airport) on commuter trains, and as far north as the northernmost MBTA routes (Haverhill & Lowell).

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How long did this take?

(edited to fix quote - AmtrakWPK)

Nngo11 said:

Superliner Diner said:

I've done the entire commuter thing, bridging the commuter gaps between Newark, DE and Perryville and between Providence and New London by taking Amtrak. You can therefore go as far south as Fredericksburg, VA or Manassas, VA (Broad Run/Airport) on commuter trains, and as far north as the northernmost MBTA routes (Haverhill & Lowell).

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How long did this take?

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You can read all about Kevin's NEC trip by commuter rail in his trip report over on OTOL.

Thanks Alan. This seems like a very grueling trip. I wonder if you could make it from Haverhill to Newark in one day, using only Amtrak as a bridge from Providence to Old Saybrook. I'll figure this out:

I think the key here would be Shore Line East, with the last morning departure at 9.15 am from Old Saybrook, meaning one would have to get to Providence by 6.55 am (to catch the Amtrak departure at that time, arriving in Old Saybrook at 8.11), which it looks like you can't do (the first MBTA train to arrive at Providence is the 7:25). The only way this would be possible is to count the 1:05am arrival at Providence as the same day as the 6.55am Amtrak departure from there. (True, this train leaves Boston as 11.59pm so you still couldn't quite make Boston-Newark in one day).

The magic time in Phildalephia is a 5.42pm if you want to make it to Newark, Del.. If you're happy with Wilmington, Del., then it's a little more generous 9.37. I suppose Newark residents never work late.

Well you have to look at volume of passengers. The volume of passengers traveling to Newark vs. Wilmington is probably pretty significant. Also, in the world of the Northeast it seems like everything ends at 5:00.

battalion51 said:

Well you have to look at volume of passengers. The volume of passengers traveling to Newark vs. Wilmington is probably pretty significant. Also, in the world of the Northeast it seems like everything ends at 5:00.

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I don't doubt that Newark probably doesn't need a later train. In fact, I know nothing about Newark nor about Delaware. Not sure what you mean about everyone ending at 5:00 in the Northeast - you mean leaving work then? Alas, if only it were so! I left at a fairly typical 7:30pm today (granted this is New York, not in a small-town like Philadelphia).

The jab at Philadelphia was purely in jest.

Based on what I've seen, it seems like most Commuters seem to hit the pavement and the rails almost right at 5:00, obviously there are a few that trickle out later on in the evening, but in my experience the Subways are significantly calmer at 6:30-7:00 than they are at 5:00-5:30.

battalion51 said:

Based on what I've seen, it seems like most Commuters seem to hit the pavement and the rails almost right at 5:00, obviously there are a few that trickle out later on in the evening, but in my experience the Subways are significantly calmer at 6:30-7:00 than they are at 5:00-5:30.

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This would be interesting to look into: I bet the subways are calmer at around 6.30 because most non-exempt employees do get off exactly at 5.00 and they make up for the majority of office workers (secretaries, support, maintenance, etc. etc.). I would not be surprised to find that the commuters are always calmer at 6.30 but not by as great a factor as the subways. My reason for suspecting this is that a lot of the people who live in the suburbs are exempt (i.e. salaried) and often work later. Pure conjecture.

While I won't deny that the subways are a bit calmer at 6:30 by comparison to 5:30, they certainly aren't empty either. Just try running the 10:00 PM schedule at 6:30 PM and you'd have quite a mess on the platforms.

No arguments there. I was saying more on a relative scale.

Nngo11 said:

I think ConnDOT studied commuter rail to New London a while back and decided ridership would be too low. Then they realized they forgot to include either Providence or Worcester as potential terminii for trains and decided to redo the study. Were either line to be set up, there would be commuter lines continously running from Boston (or a bit north of it) to Newark, Delaware. I'm not sure if the schedules would allow it, nor how long it would it take, but it would be an interesting trip (the only non-commuter train part would be a transfer from GCT to Penn. Station). The trouble being, of course, that one must eventually end up in Newark, Delaware.

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Don't they have to build the New Haven to Springfield line first? This seems to have dropped out of the news recently. I hope it's not been scuttled.

There is already a service from NHV-SPG... Amtrak does fairly well up there.

Oh yes it's doing terrificly. h34r: With the most recent schedule change they cut off one Shuttle. Now granted that was partly due to Keystones raiding the Shuttles for a Cab Car (and thus a trainset reduction), but the line's numbers aren't what they'd like to see. They're hoping ConnDOT will put up the money to re-double track the line and run commuter service SLE/MNRR style.

Does anyone have a link to the study? I've tried finding it with no luck. I also tried the link to the Worcester Bus Journal and had no luck.

Nngo11 said:

I think ConnDOT studied commuter rail to New London a while back and decided ridership would be too low.

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This service is called Shoreline East. see www.shorelineeast.com for information and schedules. Most trains operate between Old Saybrook and New Haven instead of all the way to new London, and there are NO trains east of Old Saybrook on weekends. Why? The "weekend admirals" demanded more open time on the Connecticut River and Niantic drawbridges so they can get their yachts in and out, and they got the Coast Guard to require it. (The Coast Guard regualates marine traffic and can demand that it be given priority.)

George Harris said:

Nngo11 said:

I think ConnDOT studied commuter rail to New London a while back and decided ridership would be too low.

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This service is called Shoreline East. see www.shorelineeast.com for information and schedules. Most trains operate between Old Saybrook and New Haven instead of all the way to new London, and there are NO trains east of Old Saybrook on weekends. Why? The "weekend admirals" demanded more open time on the Connecticut River and Niantic drawbridges so they can get their yachts in and out, and they got the Coast Guard to require it. (The Coast Guard regualates marine traffic and can demand that it be given priority.)

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It has very little to do with weekend admirals, Connecticut still has lots of commercial traffic, Navigable waterways were there first and do have priority, the Bridges can only be closed for the train, they are normally in open position, When Shoreline was electrified Amtrak and State of Connecticut signed a deal for not more than XX amount of train pairs per 24 hours.

That amount has been reached, so no SLE can't add trains.

http://onemorestop.net/images/expanding-rail-service-on-shore-line-east.pdf

what is the best and fastest way to get from worcester to new london. Is connection the only way from wor to bos and bos to nlc? The bus seems ridiculous. Thanks in advnace

Dutchrailnut said:

It has very little to do with weekend admirals, Connecticut still has lots of commercial traffic, Navigable waterways were there first and do have priority, the Bridges can only be closed for the train, they are normally in open position, When Shoreline was electrified Amtrak and State of Connecticut signed a deal for not more than XX amount of train pairs per 24 hours.

That amount has been reached, so no SLE can't add trains.

http://onemorestop.net/images/expanding-rail-service-on-shore-line-east.pdf

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So since Shore Line East is a State of Connecticut funded service, it would seem that State of Connecticut can have a vigorous argument with the State of Connecticut and figure out if the State of Connecticut might want to allow more trains?

jis said:

So since Shore Line East is a State of Connecticut funded service, it would seem that State of Connecticut can have a vigorous argument with the State of Connecticut and figure out if the State of Connecticut might want to allow more trains?

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But state can not only give SLE more slots on bridges, they would also have to treat Amtrak equal as owner of the line.

So how many trains would be added, it sure would not just be 1 or 2 SLE runs.