Last modified August 30, 2001
News and photographs of railroads in the northeast U.S. and eastern Canada,
with a focus on Northeast Corridor passenger operations.
Please Note: Submissions of JPG photos and news items for this page are welcome! If you have news or photos of railroading in the Northeast and eastern Canada, e-mail me so I may post them here! All submissions will receive appropriate credit, so please be sure to include your name! Thanks!
The introduction of more Acela Express trainsets and increased service frequencies have rapidly progressed during 2001. Schedule changes on March 5, April 29, July 9 and August 13 each added several Acela Express round trips to the schedule, with some trips replacing Metroliners and others representing all new service. As of the August 13 schedule, nine weekday round trips are offered (5 BOS-WAS, 3 NYP-WAS, and 1 BOS-NYP). Four weekend round trips are also scheduled (2 BOS-WAS, 1 NYP-WAS, and 1 BOS-NYP).
Equipment deliveries have kept pace, with fourteen high-speed trainsets on the property by mid-August, 11 of which were in revenue service. The remaining six trainsets, including the four "test bed" sets, should be delivered and placed in service by early 2002.
Future Acela Express schedules are tentatively slated to be added on September 30 and December 10, 2000, and March 12, 2002.
Twelve of the fifteen HHP-8 locomotives on order have been placed in service. HHP-8s are now regularly being assigned on through trains to Boston, ending their restriction to New York - Washington trains. With the April 29 timetable change, the operation of F40PH diesels on the Shore Line was practically eliminated, with only the Twilight Shoreliner (trains 66/67) still being operated with F40s on a regular basis. By July 9, every other train had been rescheduled to reflect all-electric operation, and even 66 and 67 began running behind electrics despite their schedules still being timed for diesels. As July progressed, HHP-8s became occasional sights on the overnight train.
Several F40s have been retained at New Haven for protect power and have substituted for electrics sporadically, but the F40 era on the Northeast Corridor is clearly and inevitably coming to an end. F40 operation on the non-electrified Inland Route branch of the Northeast Corridor is also coming to an end, as most of the 800-series P40s have been assigned to Boston, New Haven, and other locations in the Northeast Corridor Business Unit. These are intended to replace not only the F40s but also the newer 100-series P42s that had originally been assigned to the NEC and based in Philadelphia. Those P42s will be reassigned elsewhere. Ten of the P40s coming to the NEC will be equipped with ACSES cab signal equipment removed from F40s to allow them to operate in electrified territory when necessary.
The Keystone Corridor branch of the NEC between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, PA was electrified during the same time period as the New York-Washington segment of the Northeast Corridor main line. Catenary is still in place but the line has rarely seen electric trains (aside from SEPTA locals to Paoli and Thorndale) in recent years due to Amtrak's shortage of electric locomotives. A joint Amtrak/Pennsylvania DOT track and catenary rehabilitation project is now planned to allow the return of electric trains - traveling at up to 120mph - to the route. Of course, the plan is contingent upon finding funds for the estimated $140 million project and is at least a year away.
With an increasing number of NEC-assigned F40s out of a job, several of them have been leased to or purchased by other Northeast commuter agencies for continued service there. At this writing, leased units include five to AMT in Montreal, and two to MBTA in Boston. Virginia Railway Express has two, which they have renumbered and fully repainted in VRE livery. Metro-North purchased two F40s outright, which have also been renumbered and repainted, and are assigned to the joint MNRR/NJT "West of Hudson" service.
Metro-North is embarking on a project to add 3.2 miles of new track on its Harlem Line, between Mount Vernon and Crestwood stations. This will create a three-track right of way through this stretch, allowing increased express service that will significantly speed the trip time from upper Harlem Line destinations and allow more operational flexibility to avoid delays. The $31.4 million project should be completed in 3 1/2 years.
Boston's MBTA recently received the first of an order of fifteen new bilevel commuter coaches. The cars, built by Kawasaki, represent the agency's third order of bilevel coaches from that carbuilder, and will increase the MBTA's bilevel coach fleet to 92 cars. Like all MBTA cars, the Kawasakis are able to board from both high and ground level platforms, so the cars technically have three levels (upper and lower passenger decks with standard height vestibules at each end). Variants of the MBTA design have also been delivered to MARC and Virginia Railway Express in recent years. Long Island Rail Road also uses Kawasaki bilevels, but unlike their MBTA, MARC, and VRE cousins, they cannot be boarded from ground level.
- Amtrak, Prodigy Trains Community, National Corridors Initiative, Associated Press, Lancaster New EraMontreal rail commuters are steamed by recent schedule changes that eliminated two late evening runs on the route from Windsor Station to Dorion and Rigaud. Departures at 8:00pm and 10:45pm have been cut, leaving only a 9:15pm train as the last daily departure on the line. Minor rush hour schedule changes were made as well. One of the evening annullments was at the request of Canadian Pacific Railway, which owns the line. CP stated that the 8:00pm train conflicted with freight operations. Regular commuters and transit advocate groups are sending in furious complaints to commuter operator Agence Metropolitaine de Transport (AMT), pointing out that the rush hour and late night changes severely inconvenience shift workers and those working overtime, and also virtually eliminate the train as a travel option for getting home from late night sporting events and entertainment. AMT responded that they are considering running buses in lieu of trains after hockey games, and also stressed that the schedule changes are not necessarily permanent and are open to public comment. - Montreal Gazette
The Champlain Flyer commuter rail line between Burlington and Charlotte, Vermont, has experienced an upswing in ridership over the summer. Vermont Transportation Authority figures show that the nation's smallest commuter rail line's ridership nearly doubled between June and July 2001, from 9,637 to 14,472 riders. The line opened in December 2000 and carried 1,889 riders that month, 1,854 in January 2001, 1,738 in February, 5,289 in March, 8,295 in April, and 7,890 in May. Champlain Flyer service is operated for VTA by Vermont Railway, using former B&M/MBTA/VRE depowered Budd RDC coaches and a VTR GP38-2 recently modified with a small HEP generator. - Champlain Flyer
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