Upgrades on MNR's New Haven Line?

I was wondering if there are any updates on upgrades and improvements that are planned for Metro North's New Haven Line. I know they need to replace the catenary, as some of it is original to the New Haven Railroad, dating back to 1907. Replacing outdated bridges and straightening sections are also needed.

I drove from Hartford to New Haven on 3/17 (since Amtrak to NYP is expensive last-minute and not very convenient with the bustitutions from New Haven to Springfield, plus there's no comparison with GCT), took the Metro North into the city arriving in Grand Central 10 minutes late, totaling 2 hours and 10 minutes. It was a pretty painful ride: we were running below 30mph for quite a bit. I stayed in NYC for the day and took an express back which arrived in New Haven about 3 minutes early. It is only 75 miles from GCT to New Haven, yet it takes Metro North between 1' 49" and 2 hours. Amtrak does the 72 miles from NYP between 1' 36" and 1' 42", but most of that comes from the Hell Gate Line and only stopping at New Rochelle, Bridgeport, and Stamford.

I did some very rough calculations for average speeds on the NEC, and this is what I came up with:

WAS-NYP: 226 miles

NER: 69.5 mph

Acela: 82 mph

WAS-NHV: 301 miles

NER: 58 mph

Acela: 66 mph

WAS-HFD: 337 miles

NER: 56 mph

WAS-BOS: 457 miles

NER: 58 mph

Acela: 68.5 mph

NYP-NHV: 75 miles

NER: 51 mph

Acela: 52 mph

NYP-HFD: 111 miles

NER: 42 mph

NYP-BOS: 231 miles

NER: 55 mph

Acela: 60 mph

NHV-HFD: 36 miles

NER: 47 mph

NHV-BOS: 156 miles

NER: 62 mph

Acela: 74 mph

so what did you prove or assert?

Someone has way to much time on their hands.

Acela150 said:

Someone has way to much time on their hands.

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Haha this actually didn't take me very long. I did it on my 5.5 hour ride on 161 today.

Dutchrailnut said:

so what did you prove or assert?

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In hindsight, nothing really, I kinda just left it there. That was silly of me. I should've also included the fact that Metro North's average speed between GCT and NHV is about 40 mph. I just wanted to know if anyone had any information about the upgrades planned for the New Haven Line.

Mainly replacement of old bridges, completing the conversion to Constant Tension Catenary, a couple of new stations and some new equipment. The restoration of the fourth track at the east end is also in the plans I believe.

daybeers said:

Acela150 said:

Someone has way too much time on their hands.

Click to expand...

Haha this actually didn't take me very long. I did it on my 5.5 hour ride on 161 today.

Click to expand...

I actually found it quite interesting. Thanks for the effort.

No big surprises. We already knew that Metro North has other priorities. And we already knew that WAS-NYP goes much faster than NYP-BOS. But seeing the Acela doing 60 mph on that northern half of its route made me wince. So I liked seeing the particulars.

iiuc, the NHV-HFD (-Springfield) section should be much faster about a year from now, with a lot of double-tracking, curve straightening, etc. going on. And then further upgrades for faster times after the next Stimulus releases further funds.

I'm still looking for the promised 3 minutes to be saved from rebuilding the Harold Interlocking just east of the East River tunnels. That would help Acelas and NER trains alike. Trying not to be impatient, I'm just wondering if that work will be finished before the last cars of the CAF order are delivered. LOL.

WoodyinNYC said:

daybeers said:

Acela150 said:

Someone has way too much time on their hands.

Click to expand...

Haha this actually didn't take me very long. I did it on my 5.5 hour ride on 161 today.

Click to expand...

I actually found it quite interesting. Thanks for the effort.

No big surprises. We already knew that Metro North has other priorities. And we already knew that WAS-NYP goes much faster than NYP-BOS. But seeing the Acela doing 60 mph on that northern half of its route made me wince. So I liked seeing the particulars.

iiuc, the NHV-HFD (-Springfield) section should be much faster about a year from now, with a lot of double-tracking, curve straightening, etc. going on. And then further upgrades for faster times after the next Stimulus releases further funds.

I'm still looking for the promised 3 minutes to be saved from rebuilding the Harold Interlocking just east of the East River tunnels. That would help Acelas and NER trains alike. Trying not to be impatient, I'm just wondering if that work will be finished before the last cars of the CAF order are delivered. LOL.

Click to expand...

Thanks! Yeah the 60 mph is pretty bad. What are Metro North's other priorities? Its other branches and ordering the additional M8 cars? I would think they would also want to improve the track between GCT and NHV.

The New Haven to New Rochelle route is pretty squirrely. It's also really really really old. I don't see a good way to speed it up. You could reclaim the NYW&B trackbed to widen the right-of-way and ease the curves, but that only works for a very short portion of Westchester County proper and not enough to be worth it.

Anything that you'd like to do in Connecticut will be met with resounding opposition, especially east of New Haven. West of New

Haven, perhaps built another ROW on top of the current one. [Just kidding.]