22 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

masslive.com    6/13/18:

 

 

Northampton mayor sees busy train station getting busier with planned north-south Knowledge Corridor service expansion

 

 

Northampton Mayor David J. Narkewicz knows that an old technology -- the passenger train -- is a big part of his city's future.

 

"You can see it when you drive past the station," Narkewicz said Tuesday of his city's open-air Amtrak station on Pleasant Street at the edge of downtown. "There are people lined up in the parking lot."

 

This one is here.   And in this article it says that the Knowledge Corridor service will be provided by extended Amtrak Shuttle trains, not commuter rail equipment.

[KevinKorell]

masslive.com  2/1/19:

 

 

 

Springfield-Holyoke-Northampton-Greenfield passenger trains a go for summer

 

 

 

 

Expanded passenger rail service north of Springfield to Holyoke, Northampton and Greenfield is still on track for this summer.

 

 

Update

 

So the takeaways from this article are that there will be 2 round trips to start, with one in the morning and one in the evening.  While these will be Amtrak Shuttle trains extended northward, I found that the first Shuttle of the day, 490, gets to Springfield at 10:24 AM.  That is way too late for it to function as a commuter train.  I think they will need to run a train northward much earlier in the morning from Springfield, which will then operate all the way from Greenfield to New Haven.   And then for the evening run, extend one New Haven-Springfield Shuttle to Greenfield, and then it returns just to Springfield for the night.  Such a schedule does mesh well with the Vermonter, which operates middays in this area.

 

Not only would this service be oriented towards commuters who work in Springfield, in the other direction it would serve students headed to the several colleges and universities along the line.  I suspect therefore to be popular, they will need to add more round trips besides the initial two per day.

[KevinKorell]

WWLP-TV, Channel 22 in Springfield, MA, 8/15/19:

 

 

Valley Flyer Train Service offering commuters four trains daily

 

 

A new train service will connect Franklin County and Connecticut.

 

The Valley Flyer will offer four trains every day that will travel from Greenfield to New Haven, Connecticut, and back.

 

Read this.

[KevinKorell]

masslive.com  8/15/19:

 

Expanded rail service for Springfield, Holyoke, Northampton and Greenfield may begin Aug. 30; test trains running overnight this week

 

 

Daily passenger train service between the city’s Union Station, Holyoke, Northampton and Greenfield could begin as soon as Aug. 30.

 

More

[KevinKorell]

So by the above articles it appears that there will be one morning round trip and one evening round trip on weekdays, plus one round trip on weekends.   It may not be very railfan-friendly, as the revenue runs to get the trains between Springfield and Greenfield will be very early in the morning and very late at night. That also means the train may be useless for the so-called "Knowledge Corridor" as it won't conveniently serve students headed to the various colleges along the route.  Seems like they will have a VERY long day at school well beyond the hours of their classes.

 

August 30th is only 2 weeks away, but once this becomes official we'll learn more about schedules.  Nothing new on Amtrak's site yet.

[KevinKorell]

Daily Hampshire Gazette, 8/17/19:

 

 

                        Amtrak promotes rail safety on eve of expanded train service

 

 

 

As Amtrak prepares to expand passenger rail service with its new Valley Flyer pilot train service between Greenfield and Springfield later this month, the rail company’s police department wants to be unequivocally clear: It is extremely dangerous to illegally cross train tracks.

 

 

Read

[KevinKorell]

WWLP-TV, Channel 22 in Springfield, MA, 8/22/19:

 

 

Amtrak advising drivers to prepare for increased train activity

 

 

Northampton’s Damon Road railroad crossing is among the most heavily traveled crossings in western Massachusetts.

 

Read

[CNJRoss]

Daily Hampshire Gazette, Northampton, MA 8/22/19
 

Northampton, railroad officials raise safety awareness ahead of stepped-up train service

 

 

NORTHAMPTON — As a passenger train neared Damon Road on Thursday afternoon, red lights began to flash, a warning alarm sounded, and two gates descended to block off the train tracks as an air whistle blared in the distance. Moments later, an Amtrak train barreled across the road.

 

As intended, cars had safely stopped before or after the tracks by the time the warning system went off. But if a car or pedestrian stops on the train tracks, the consequences can be deadly; in the past week, two pedestrians were struck and killed by an MBTA commuter rail train in the eastern part of the state. And in March, a woman was struck and killed while crossing railroad tracks in Springfield.

 

From 1:30 to 4 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, Northampton police and firefighters, working with Amtrak police and the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration, held a safety awareness operation at the Damon Road crossing in hopes of preventing these tragedies in the future.

 

Continue here w/photos.

[bratkinson]

Depend on the news media to get it wrong.  One article stated there's a morning round trip and afternoon round trip.  Not so.  Another stated that they are adding four trains without stating it's actually 2 in each direction.  Another stated they're adding 3 trains, implying the Vermonter is being added.  Again, no so.

 

Here's the semi-official schedule.  All they've done is to extend the first two and last two 2-car shuttle trains to Greenfield.  Or is one of those shuttles the 'expanded' version to handle CTRail customers who don't have to reserve a seat.  You'll have to scroll down a ways to see the schedule.

 

https://trainsinthev...g/valley-flyer/

 

At least on weekends, I'll be able to make a round trip from Springfield to Greenfield to 'check it out'. 

[KevinKorell]

First of all, this thread with thanks to the various news media has gone from commuter to Amtrak so I've moved it for now to Miscellaneous. 

 

We know now that this will in fact be usage of Shuttles equipment.  How they are using them is different on weekdays and weekends.   On weekdays, 2 Shuttle trips 495 & 471 will originate in Greenfield in the morning, and 2 Shuttle trips 494 & 478 will terminate in Greenfield late at night.   What I don't know yet is whether they are being stored overnight in Greenfield or deadheading to and from Springfield.  Given that the trip by the new timetable takes 1 hour 8 minutes, it seems silly to deadhead equipment and crews back to Springfield only to go back to Greenfield in a few hours.  To ride these trips one could stay somewhere in Greenfield overnight.

 

On weekends, they are definitely storing the trains in Springfield, because there are short trips just from Springfield to Greenfield 400 (which then turns as 461 which now originates in Greenfield) and Greenfield to Springfield 499 (which is the return of Shuttle 488 equipment after it terminates in Greenfield).  The weekend trips allow an up and back journey with a very short layover in Greenfield, but one must either leave Springfield at 7:50 AM, or arrive back in Springfield at 9:18 PM. If you don't live in the area it will require staying in a hotel in Springfield.

 

This is being touted as a pilot program, however they are forgetting an important market.   All those colleges and universities in the Northampton and Holyoke areas could use a northbound train in the morning and a southbound train in the afternoon or early evening. So there may not be enough service being offered to gauge success.

 

What's outlined above can now be reserved on Amtrak's site. For now the only actual timetable is the one linked to.  It will be interesting to see how Amtrak handles this, since they have never put out a timetable solely for the Shuttles; it's always been buried in the New England-Washington version of the Northeast timetables.  Perhaps the Hartford Line schedules will show this too.