From: tls@panix.com   
      
   XPost: nyc.transit   
      
   In article ,   
   hounslow3@yahoo.co.uk  wrote:   
   >On 13.10.16 2:43, Thor Lancelot Simon wrote:   
   >> In article ,   
   >> danny burstein   wrote:   
   >>> [Hartford Courant]   
   >>>   
   >>>  17-Car Construction Train Works Its Way North,   
   >>> Laying Track On Hartford Line   
   >>>   
   >>> With just 15 months before the Hartford Line's commuter service is due to   
   >>> begin, a 17-car construction train is slowly laboring north through   
   >>> Wallingford, putting down as much as a mile of track a day.   
   >>   
   >> It's less impressive than you might think.  That whole thing was 2 tracks,   
   >> with considerable sections through industrial areas between New Haven and   
   >> Meriden that actually had a continuous side track for switching, for a very   
   >> long time.  It is on a deep bed of gravel over cinder over gravel that was   
   >> heavily refurbished (maintaining its original width) when they reduced most   
   >> of the line to single track in the mid-late 1990s.  But all the   
   >> clearances are adequate for double track and then some, and they were   
   >> _mostly_ careful that the new single track alignments weren't   
   >> straight-down-the-middle.  This is really more like a track/tie   
   >> replacement job than laying a whole new track -- think what Metro- North   
   >> uses the same automation to do every few summers, beefed up.   
   >>   
   >> Double-track but not electrified... like the old Shore Line East service,   
   >> and about the same travel time from "Fairfield County jobs".  Even with 17   
   >> trains a day -- roughly one in each direction every other hour -- it's hard   
   >> to believe this will be tremendously successful.   
   >>   
   >Do any M8s run in revenue service beyond New Haven State Street?   
      
   Evidently not.  I'm a little shocked that Amtrak is still allowing them to   
   run diesel service on the corridor north (east) of New Haven -- with the poor   
   accelleration and 79MPH gearing of the old diesels and the frequent stops of   
   the SLE service, it has to pose a nontrivial scheduling problem for Acela.   
   You'd think they could have bought some beat to heck AEM7s or E60s to replace   
   their beat to heck old F units, when the line was electrified.  They still   
   wouldn't have matched the acceleration of the electric MUs but it'd be better.   
      
   According to   
   http://passengertrainjournal.com/shore-line-east-to-go-electric-in-2018/ when   
   the Springfield Line is operational in 2018, the current diesel equipment   
   serving Shore Line East will be moved over and Conn DOT-owned M8 equipment   
   will take over Shore Line East service.  That is expected to increase   
   ridership from the current 660,000 per year.  Ponder that for a moment.  They   
   are predicting 1,000,000 trips per year on the Springfield Line when the   
   longstanding Shore Line East service is only at 660,000 today.  Just a little   
   optimistic, don't you think?   
      
   Does MBTA still run F40-hauled trains on the NEC north of Providence?  With   
   freight traffic from P&W and slow diesel hauled commuter service some   
   dispatcher at Amtrak must be tearing his hair out any time anything goes the   
   least bit wrong.   
      
   --   
     Thor Lancelot Simon	                                     tls@panix.com   
      
       "The dirtiest word in art is the C-word.  I can't even say 'craft'   
        without feeling dirty."	-Chuck Close   
      
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