Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum: Replying To What's the longest trip possible using commuter rail? - Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

tp49, on Thu, Oct 29, 2009, 01:47 AM, said:

Well, of course. The idea is that if the rule is to take only commuter rail, then one will be able to take LIRR west across the river into Queens and back east into NYP. But I am not familiar enough with LIRR and the project to know what the practical routes would be. OTOH, one could argue that taking NYC subway from Grand Central to NYP is acceptable as one would still be on trains.

When the LIRR begins service to Grand Central it will not directly connect NYP and GCT. To get between the two without leaving Manhattan will still require either a subway, bus or taxi ride or a walk.

This includes two short and unavoidable bus-bridges (using three different services), plus one ferry (which isn't strictly necessary, but makes things more interesting by involving the Long Island RR without requiring backtracking).

You can't do this same-day ... I suspect it would take a week, given connection times, but you could do:

Boston to Providence, MBTA
Providence to New London, Greyhound
New London to New Haven, Shore Line East
New Haven to Bridgeport, Metro-North
Bridgeport to Port Jefferson, Port Jefferson Ferry
Port Jefferson to New York Penn Station, Long Island RR
Jamaica to New York Penn Station, MTA
New York Penn Station to Newark Penn Station, PATH
New York Penn Station to Trenton, New Jersey Transit
Trenton to Camden, New Jersey Trainsit RiverLine
Camden to Philadelphia 8th St, PATCO
Philadelphia 8th St to Suburban Station, SEPTA Market-Frankford Line
Suburban Station to Newark, Delaware, SEPTA R2
Newark, DE to Elkton, DART bus 65
Elkton to Perryville, "The Bus -- Perryville Connection" (this is the service's actual name)
Perryville to Washington, MARC
Washington to Manassas, VRE

Seventeen legs, on not-quite seventeen transit agencies. (Two NJT, but one heavy and one lighter rail; two SEPTA, but one commuter rail and one subway; and then MTA, Metro-North, and LIRR are all connected on some level.)

You could start beyond Boston, and if you started way out at the end of a green line the two MBTA trips would be very different. There may be bus systems you could pick up to further points south of Manassas, but I don't know.

When LIRR starts service to Grand Central, then one can take LIRR from there to NYP and not need to take the subway or wait for a gameday.

Green Maned Lion, on Wed, Oct 28, 2009, 12:07 AM, said:

Exactly how many miles is it from 30th street station to Newark, DE? I get 37 miles from a station list. Checking SEPTA routes on Wikipedia, Thorndale on the Main line is at 35.2 miles, presumably from Suburban station and Doylestown is 34.4 miles. If SEPTA were still running out to Parkesburg, PA on the Main line, I think that would be further than the distance to Newark, DE.

I checked the Wiki entry on the Newark DE station and it covers this same topic, noting it as the end of the longest continuous trip using commuter rail. If MTA follows through on extending MARC service to Newark, DE then one can get all the way to Fredericksburg, VA by commuter train. The gap from New London to MBTA service is likely to remain for a long time.

When LIRR starts service to Grand Central, then one can take LIRR from there to NYP and not need to take the subway or wait for a gameday. But what would be the acceptable route by the rules: shortest possible distance via LIRR or longest route that does not involve doubling back on a route?