# The next few years



## neroden (Apr 12, 2014)

I assembled this just for my own interest but I thought others might find it interesting. Predicted dates for various upcoming improvements (and a few other things) from various sources. I've also mentioned some urban rail projects which should affect Amtrak, but only some.

Of course, all schedules may slip.

I've left out the NEC projects, the Piedmont projects, and the Pacific Surfliner projects mainly because I have no good grasp on their schedules. I haven't included California HSR or All Aboard Florida, deliberately, as their projected dates seem even flakier than usual. I'm probably missing some other stuff too.

2014

(April: SunRail opens in Florida)

May: St. Paul Union Depot gets Amtrak

(May: Amtrak's agreement not to ask UP for a daily Sunset Limited expires)

(June: St. Paul Union Depot gets urban rail line)

June: Grand Rapids new station opens

August: Dearborn new station opens

August: Blaine WA Customs Siding supposed to be finished

September: current (at-grade) Tower 55 project finishes in Ft. Worth

December: Englewood Flyover finishes

"winter": Mt Vernon siding in WA supposed to be finished

as soon as eminent domain proceedings finish: Troy MI station opens

December: Rochester station supposed to start construction

End of year: last chance for Raton Pass route

Viewliner IIs start delivery

NY major trackwork starts

MI major trackwork continues

Moline trackwork starts

Niagara Falls station supposed to start construction (if bids work out)

Metrolink expects to complete PTC implementation

(Chicago Central Loop BRT expected in front of Union Station)

2015

"first quarter": Vermonter reroute

December: Springfield MA Union Station

December: Moline service

"late": Rockford service

December 31: PTC deadline -- Amtrak, Metrolink, BNSF, SEPTA expected to meet deadline

Miami Central Station supposed to open

Bilevel corridor car deliveries supposed to start

ACS-64 deliveries supposed to finish

Schenectady station supposed to start construction

Point Defiance Bypass supposed to start construction

Tacoma Trestle supposed to start construction

Seattle King St. Station track improvements supposed to start construction

(Kansas City Streetcar opens connecting to KC Union Station)

(Expo Line Phase II opens in LA connecting Santa Monica to LA Union Station)

2016:

Probable early: SW Chief relocates to Transcon

"fall": 125 mph corridor diesel deliveries supposed to start

"fall": WA Toteff siding extension supposed to open

"end of": NH-H-S commuter rail in Connecticut supposed to open

Rochester station supposed to open

Niagara Falls station supposed to open

Viewliner deliveries supposed to finish

(Denver Union Station gets three more connecting urban rail lines)

(Sunrail Phase II opens and construction on those tracks finally finishes)

2017:

"mid": 125 mph corridor diesel deliveries supposed to finish

NY Trackwork supposed to be finished

MI Trackwork supposed to be finished

Schenectady station supposed to open

Point Defiance Bypass supposed to open

Tacoma Trestle replacement supposed to open

Seattle King St. Station track improvements supposed to open

WA "Kelso Martins Bluff new siding" and "Kelso to Longview Junction third main" supposed to open

Roanoke VA service supposed to start

Deadline for ARRA-funded improvements (such as a whole lot of Piedmont improvements as well as much of what's listed above)

2018:

Bilevel corridor car deliveries supposed to finish

Funded but AFAICT indefinitely postponed:

Waterloo IN new platform

West Detroit Junction work

relocation of Texas Eagle to Trinity Railway Express line

Not fully funded but likely to open in this timeframe:

"Western Corridor" from Rutland to Burlington VT

Raleigh Union Station

Supposedly these should already be built but I've heard nothing:

Indiana Gateway projects


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## greatcats (Apr 12, 2014)

What is the Blaine, Wa customs siding for? Canadian customs are done in Vancouver station. My guess would be this would be for customs entering US? I thought they did US customs before boarding the train in Vancouver. ( I have only arrived Vancoyver. )


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## tim49424 (Apr 12, 2014)

Grand Rapids projected opening has been pushed back to at least July.

OBS on the Pere Marquette said to me back in November that a second train (372, 373) was planned to be added in conjunction to the GRR station opening, however I have heard nothing since.


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## jphjaxfl (Apr 12, 2014)

Believe me, All Aboard Florida is not a "flaky" project. A lot of money is being invested. Because its being funded privately, it is not necessary to reveal the day to day happenings so the press and others so they can speculate about something they have no in depth knowledge of.


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## Eric S (Apr 12, 2014)

Summer 2014 - Construction/rehabilitation of MKE trainshed/concourse should begin

Winter 2015-2016 - construction finished


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## afigg (Apr 12, 2014)

Good topic. There are a lot of improvement projects that should be completed over the next 3-4 years that people overlook when getting uptight about the future of Amtrak and passenger rail. The stimulus funded HSIPR projects are scheduled to be completed by June, 2017 because of the September 30, 2017 deadline for spending the money imposed by Congress. If it was not for that deadline, I think some of the projects would get dragged out even long by the bureaucratic and legal processes.

Besides the federal funding, some states have stepped up with substantial funding for intercity passenger rail improvement projects. CA, IL, VA are the higher profile ones. PA as a result of the gas tax increase is now able to fund stalled eastern Keystone station projects. With the state transportation bill, MA has funding for South Station expansion, WOR-SPG upgrades, completing the SPG station project.

*NEC by 2016 to 2017*

2016(maybe): completion of constant catenary modernization for New Haven Line in CT

NYP - West End Concourse expansion

Harold Interlocking Bypass for East Side Access project

NJ High Speed Rail project 

Kingston RI station high level platforms and 3rd track

Ragan to Yard interlocking 3rd track south of WIL station

Newark DE new station with HLP (had a 2016 completion date at one time)

NEPA/PE studies for B&P Tunnel Replacement, Susquehanna Bridge replacement

2015?: NEC Future PEIS for the entire NEC

Oct 2014: start of new capital funding arrangements for the NEC with the states kicking in.

*Eastern Keystone*

late 2014: last of the grade crossings on the 105 mile corridor closed.

2016: Exton PA high level platforms

2016?: State interlocking improvements on Harrisburg end completed.

completion dates not clear, but Middletown, Coatesville, Downingtown station projects should advance to construction now that PennDOT has the funds.

2017?: Ethan Allen to Burlington

TBD but could happen by 2017: Customs facility in Montreal for the Adirondack, then Vermonter extended to Montreal.

Virginia: Cherry Hill 3rd track (11 miles) for RF&P line: status unknown.

*Piedmont Corridor*

There is a long list of separate projects for the $528 million in stimulus funding with various 2015, 2016, early-mid 2017 completion

dates.

By mid to late 2017: should see 2 additional daily Piedmonts, new station at Raleigh with high level platform.

*Midwest* (adding to Nerodon's list)

West Detroit Connection Track - construction to start spring 2014 (found SEMCOG status page stating this)

Indiana Gateway - think construction work on this will finally start in 2014.

CHI to STL: over 1 hour cut from the trip times by 2017 for the Lincoln service trains.

*California*

With the passage of the state funding bill last year for the HSR project, there were also considerable amount of funds provided for LOSSAN corridor projects included run through tracks at LA Union Station, Caltrain electrification. Coast Daylight is on the agenda and CalTrans now has the money for it & a corridor bi-level production line from which to order additional equipment; just has to hammer out an agreement with UP on how much the state will pay for track improvements.

Also, LA has a bunch of rail transit projects under construction that by 2020 will nicely expand the reach of the LA rail transit system from LA Union Station.


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## neroden (Apr 12, 2014)

jphjaxfl said:


> Believe me, All Aboard Florida is not a "flaky" project.


I didn't say the project was flaky, I said the schedules were flaky. They predicted that they would open in 2013. Then they predicted that they would open in 2014. Now they're predicting that they'll open in 2015... yeah, right.
I've been trying to only include projects where the proposed schedule looks like something other than wild speculation. There are a number of projects (such as the West Detroit Connection Track and the Montreal preclearance project) where I'm actually pretty certain the project will get built, but the delays seem to just keep adding up (and no actual construction has started), so I'm not at all sure it'll get built by 2017. Frankly, AAF is like that too.

I have no doubt whatsoever that AAF will open and operate: it certainly will. But I think their projected dates seem to be wild speculation rather than based on a Gantt chart.

I basically wrote this to keep track of "when should I expect stuff", and I'm not expecting AAF at any particular time -- I'll be happily surprised by the announcement.


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## neroden (Apr 12, 2014)

greatcats said:


> What is the Blaine, Wa customs siding for?


Freight trains. Customs checks for freight trains are currently done on the mainline while Amtrak sits idling behind the freight train.


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## neroden (Apr 12, 2014)

afigg said:


> West Detroit Connection Track - construction to start spring 2014 (found SEMCOG status page stating this)


Thanks for spotting this. It's this page?
http://www.semcog.org/ProgramsProjects.aspx?id=91793


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## SarahZ (Apr 12, 2014)

neroden said:


> 2017:
> 
> MI Trackwork supposed to be finished


Three years? Wow. Did Kzoo to Porter take that long? I can't remember. I just remember various service alerts during 2012.


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## neroden (Apr 12, 2014)

SarahZ said:


> neroden said:
> 
> 
> > 2017:
> ...


I think they may finish earlier. I believe they don't want to "overpromise". Something similar may be going on in New York, which also is claiming trackwork completion in 2017. In both cases, when I try to figure out how long this stuff should take, it seems like it should all be able to be done in two construction seasons (2014 and 2015), so I'd hope for 2016 openings.

In fact, Kzoo to Porter took *longer* than three years from the first constructed improvement to completion, but that was because it was done using little dribs and drabs of funding.


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## SarahZ (Apr 12, 2014)

Ok, that makes sense. They pad the timeframe just like the train schedules.


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## cirdan (Apr 12, 2014)

jphjaxfl said:


> Believe me, All Aboard Florida is not a "flaky" project. A lot of money is being invested. Because its being funded privately, it is not necessary to reveal the day to day happenings so the press and others so they can speculate about something they have no in depth knowledge of.


However, major orders bing placed (such as equipment or construction work) are usually reported in the press. Similarly major urban planning and construction activities. You can't do very much of that behind closed doors, regardless of whose money it is.


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## fredevad (Apr 12, 2014)

Eric S said:


> Summer 2014 - Construction/rehabilitation of MKE trainshed/concourse should begin
> 
> Winter 2015-2016 - construction finished


Thanks Eric - I hadn't heard anything in a while and assumed this project died with the Talgos.


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## fredevad (Apr 12, 2014)

> Chicago Central Loop BRT expected in front of Union Station


Forgive my lack of TMA... what's "BRT"?


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## Ryan (Apr 12, 2014)

Bus Rapid Transit.


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## jis (Apr 12, 2014)

fredevad said:


> > Chicago Central Loop BRT expected in front of Union Station
> 
> 
> Forgive my lack of TMA... what's "BRT"?


Bus Rapid Transit? I.e. a form of fake rapid transit in most cases where separate restricted ROW is not used.

The Silver Line in Boston is an example, which is also colloquially called the Silver Lie (oops a missing n)


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## jis (Apr 12, 2014)

cirdan said:


> jphjaxfl said:
> 
> 
> > Believe me, All Aboard Florida is not a "flaky" project. A lot of money is being invested. Because its being funded privately, it is not necessary to reveal the day to day happenings so the press and others so they can speculate about something they have no in depth knowledge of.
> ...


In my experience I don't find AAF to be any more flaky or opaque than your typical Amtrak project (PIPs anyone?  ).

On the other hand, almost any project involving Las Vegas, that is an entirely different matter :lol:


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## Paulus (Apr 12, 2014)

There's quite a lot of double tracking on LOSSAN finishing up within the next few years. Anaheim's new train station is supposed to open up this October as well. San Joaquins have a few projects finishing up 2015 which will allow a seventh daily round trip (Oakland-Bakersfield) and is working on getting the funding for some additional projects for an eighth train and mid corridor starts. Two are funded (Merced-Legrand Segment 1 and Stockton-Escalon Segment) and should be completed around 2017.


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## CHamilton (Apr 12, 2014)

This is, indeed, a good topic. NARP used to do an annual list of upcoming projects they called "Wheels of Progress." (Here's the one from January 2007.)


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## Sactobob (Apr 12, 2014)

In July 2014 the Great Hall of Denver Union Station will re-open to replace the current temporary waiting area. At the same time, the Crawford Hotel will open in the upper floors of the building, as well as three restaurants, a couple of cocktail bars, and shops. This will greatly enhance the experience for those waiting to board the Zephyr.

Also, the Tukwila WA station is currently being re-built with new platforms and parking lot. I think it should be finished this year.


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## Eric S (Apr 12, 2014)

fredevad said:


> Eric S said:
> 
> 
> > Summer 2014 - Construction/rehabilitation of MKE trainshed/concourse should begin
> ...


Here's the WisDOT site about that project.


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## Andrew (Apr 13, 2014)

What about Gateway Portal Bridge Work in New Jersey?


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## jis (Apr 13, 2014)

What about it? It will most certainly not be completed in the next three years. Hopefully some shovel in the ground activity will start on it by the end of the three year period starting now. But one can never be sure.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum


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## Andrew (Apr 13, 2014)

[SIZE=11pt]What do you make of?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Gateway Program Cost Estimates [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]The current five year plan call for $1.8 billion in spending, $0.2 billion to be funded through a grant via the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the remaining through the annual General Capital and Debt grants. The $1.8 billion includes the majority of work to complete the North Portal Bridge, finish the remaining portion of the tunnel box from Penn Station to the Hudson River and complete all studies for the Gateway program. The bulk of the expected project work and spending will take place after FY2018 which includes the two Hudson River Tunnels, new tracks, station expansions, and the South Portal Bridge. Current estimate for all work is expected to exceed $15 billion. [/SIZE]


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## Green Maned Lion (Apr 13, 2014)

I make it to be smoke and mirrors. It's just a PB money siphoning scam.


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## afigg (Apr 13, 2014)

fredevad said:


> Forgive my lack of TMA... what's "BRT"?


Adding to the responses on Bus Rapid Transit. The concept is a transit route service or line, that instead of streetcars or light rail, uses buses. Ideally has a dedicated right of way through all or part of the route, level boarding at bus stops, more frequent service than typical city bus routes. The problem is that most BRT proposal and plans that have been announced with great fanfare in the US have ended up getting cut back to where they are barely an improvement over a regular street running bus service. BRT is long topic outside of the scope of this thread, though.

However, one proposed BRT line that has relevance to Amtrak stations is the Richmond Broad Street Rapid Transit line. I had not realized that the Richmond BRT had gotten as far in the planning as it has until I saw a viewgraph about it in another VA transit study presentation. The proposed schedule calls for service beginning in 2017, although that given that they are still working on federal funding and the environmental assessments, that is a very optimistic schedule.

The relevance to Amtrak is that the proposed BRT line would include stops at both Richmond Staples Mill and Main Street stations and downtown. It would allow people to take Amtrak to RVR, then get downtown, or take Amtrak to RVM and later take the bus to RVR for the wider range of Amtrak trains there. What could be pushing this project along is the service to Norfolk, which of course, does not go through Main Street Station. Link to a map of the proposed route. Put this on the might happen by 2018 list for BRT to RVR and RVM.


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## afigg (Apr 13, 2014)

Between the TIGER grants, local governments seeking to upgrade their train station or build intermodal stations, Amtrak's ADA compliance funding to fix up platforms and station access, we have likely overlooked a number of station projects in this thread.

mid-2015: Birmingham AL Intermodal station

As of FY2013. Amtrak had completed designs for HLPs at Jacksonville FL, Tampa, Savannah GA according to the ADA compliance update to Congress. Don't know what the schedule is for those stations to get HLPs, but Amtrak did get $50 million for ADA in the FY2014 appropriations.

What other stations are to get significant upgrades or likely to in the next 3-4 years that have not been listed so far?


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## Richmond (Apr 14, 2014)

afigg said:


> The relevance to Amtrak is that the proposed BRT line would include stops at both Richmond Staples Mill and Main Street stations and downtown. It would allow people to take Amtrak to RVR, then get downtown, or take Amtrak to RVM and later take the bus to RVR for the wider range of Amtrak trains there.


The bus won't stop at RVR, which is not right at Staples Mill and Broad, but on Staples Mill Road about a mile or so north of Broad.

But it would be nice to have a separate shuttle, though, connecting RVM and RVR for all departures and arrivals, considering that of the 20+ daily trains that stop at RVR, only 4 of those stop at RVM.


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## afigg (Apr 15, 2014)

Richmond said:


> afigg said:
> 
> 
> > The relevance to Amtrak is that the proposed BRT line would include stops at both Richmond Staples Mill and Main Street stations and downtown. It would allow people to take Amtrak to RVR, then get downtown, or take Amtrak to RVM and later take the bus to RVR for the wider range of Amtrak trains there.
> ...


My bad. I saw the route map with Staples Mill and figured that of course the proposed BRT line would stop at the Amtrak station. Having connecting transit stops is what well designed transit systems have. Oh well. OTOH, if there is a bus corridor with stations running not that far from RVR, it should not be that difficult to add a bus service that heads off the corridor on the northern end to RVR and back. Anyway, if the proposed Richmond BRT line is built, at least RVM will be on the BRT route.


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## afigg (Apr 15, 2014)

In NEC station upgrade news, Amtrak has posted a Request for Letters of Interest to its procurement portal site for the Kingston RI 3rd Track and high level platform project. So that project is finally moving ahead. The request says that Amtrak expects to award the construction contract in the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2014 and that the maximum construction duration is 30 months. Which would have the station project completed by the 1st or 2nd quarter of 2017. The first half of 2017 is shaping up to be a busy period for improvements and new equipment coming on-line.

Excerpts from the request:

"This Project consists of a new Third Track to be constructed between Mile Post (MP) 157 (proposed Liberty Interlocking) and Mile Post 159 (existing Kingston Interlocking). Amtrak Force Account personnel will be responsible for constructing the track, signal and overhead catenary wire systems. A third party contractor shall be responsible for the civil grading work for Track 3 within 2” of the proposed bottom of concrete tie elevation, catenary foundations, retaining walls, drainage, erosion control, catenary foundation demolition, protective bridge barriers, two new high level platforms, and modification to the existing overhead head-house vestibule at the stairs on both track platforms including elevator modifications."

"The Project requires maintenance and protection of existing adjacent Amtrak utilities as well as other utilities during construction. This Project will require close coordination with adjacent ongoing projects by Amtrak force account crews as well as other projects. The Project work has numerous physical constraints as well as limited access points along a narrow active “high speed” railroad right of way accommodating trains operating in excess of one-hundred fifty miles-per-hour (150 MPH)."


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## neroden (Jun 7, 2014)

Revised for my own entertainment.

I've left out the NEC projects and the Piedmont projects, as well as nearly everything done by the MBTA, mainly because I have no good grasp on their schedules. I haven't included California HSR or All Aboard Florida, deliberately, as their projected dates don't seem reliable. I know I'm missing some Surfliner and San Joaqin improvements. I'm probably missing some other stuff too.

2014:

(June 14: St. Paul Union Depot gets urban rail line)

July: Grand Rapids new station opens

July 12: Denver Union Station building reopens

August: Dearborn new station opens

August: Blaine WA Customs Siding supposed to be finished

September: current (at-grade) Tower 55 project finishes in Ft. Worth

December: Englewood Flyover finishes

"winter": Mt Vernon siding in WA supposed to be finished

"late": Anaheim new train station ("ARTIC") supposed to open

"late": Raleigh Union Station supposed to start construction

as soon as eminent domain proceedings finish: Troy MI station opens

December: Rochester station supposed to start construction

End of year: last chance for Raton Pass route

Supposedly spring: West Detroit Connection Track project to start (it didn't)

Indiana Gateway projects start construction

Viewliner IIs continue delivery

NY major trackwork starts

MI major trackwork continues

Moline trackwork starts

Niagara Falls station supposed to start construction (if bids work out)

Metrolink expects to complete PTC implementation

(Chicago Central Loop bus lanes for local buses expected in front of Union Station)

Milwaukee station platform construction supposed to start

Last Keystone grade crossing supposed to close

2015:

"first quarter": Vermonter reroute

December: Springfield MA Union Station

December: Moline service

"late": Rockford service

December 31: PTC deadline -- Amtrak, Metrolink, BNSF, SEPTA expected to meet deadline

Miami Central Station supposed to open

Birmingham AL station supposed to open

ACS-64 deliveries supposed to finish

Schenectady station supposed to start construction

Point Defiance Bypass supposed to start construction

Tacoma Trestle supposed to start construction

Seattle King St. Station track improvements supposed to start construction

(Kansas City Streetcar opens connecting to KC Union Station)

(Expo Line Phase II opens in LA connecting Santa Monica to LA Union Station)

2016:

Probable early: SW Chief relocates to Transcon

"June": Bilevel corridor car "pilot car" delivery supposed to start

"fall": 125 mph corridor diesel deliveries supposed to start (seems unlikely)

"fall": WA Toteff siding extension supposed to open

"end of": NH-H-S commuter rail in Connecticut supposed to open

Rochester station supposed to open

Niagara Falls station supposed to open

Viewliner deliveries supposed to finish

(Denver Union Station gets three more connecting urban rail lines)

(Sunrail Phase II opens and construction on those tracks finally finishes)

Exton PA high platforms supposed to open

2017:

"mid": 125 mph corridor diesel deliveries supposed to finish

NY Trackwork supposed to be finished

MI Trackwork supposed to be finished

Schenectady station supposed to open

Point Defiance Bypass supposed to open

Tacoma Trestle replacement supposed to open

Seattle King St. Station track improvements supposed to open

WA "Kelso Martins Bluff new siding" and "Kelso to Longview Junction third main" supposed to open

Roanoke VA service supposed to start

Raleigh Union Station supposed to open to train service

Vermont Western Corridor year for opening if no more federal funding is received, according to the state department of transportation in 2012

Deadline for ARRA-funded improvements (such as a whole lot of Piedmont improvements as well as much of what's listed above)

2018:

Bilevel corridor car deliveries supposed to finish

Funded but AFAICT indefinitely delayed:

Waterloo IN new platform

West Detroit Junction work

relocation of Texas Eagle to Trinity Railway Express line


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## leemell (Jun 7, 2014)

2015 the Van Nuys second (between tracks) platform begins construction. Includes repositioning tracks and providing tunnel access to trains for passengers. Funding is in hand.


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## afigg (Jun 8, 2014)

neroden said:


> Revised for my own entertainment.
> 
> I've left out the NEC projects and the Piedmont projects, as well as nearly everything done by the MBTA, mainly because I have no good grasp on their schedules. I haven't included California HSR or All Aboard Florida, deliberately, as their projected dates don't seem reliable. I know I'm missing some Surfliner and San Joaqin improvements. I'm probably missing some other stuff too.


If you want to figure out the schedule for the various Piedmont projects, NC DOT has a railroad projects status page. However, don't know how up to date the individual project summaries are.

If we are including the eastern Keystone in the non-NEC project list, the station replacement projects for Middletown, Downingtown, and maybe Coatesville PA appear to moving ahead now that PennDOT has more funds to draw on.


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## Eric S (Jun 8, 2014)

Thanks for taking the time and effort to put this together originally and now to update it. I was actually just thinking about this topic a day or two ago and debating whether to dig it up and see if anything had changed.


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## jis (Jun 9, 2014)

A few insertions that would be worthwhile into neorden's list:

2015

- NJT will also meet eh PTC deadline according to current projections.

2017

- Completion of Amtrak's NEC NJ HSR project between New Brunswick and Morrisville. Aclea speeds go up to 160mph on that segment and also likely in most of the current 150mph segments up north.

- NY Penn Station A interlocking ladder track realignment complete relieving some congestion. Incidentally, also by then there will be no daylight left between the Hudson/Empire tunnels and Penn Station. IT would have been fully covered up for building above. More air rights lease money for Amtrak!


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## PRR 60 (Jun 9, 2014)

jis said:


> A few insertions that would be worthwhile into neorden's list:
> 
> 2015
> 
> ...


Are you sure about the Acela speed going to 160? I've heard rumblings that they are going to keep the existing Acela sets at 150 and wait for the Acela II's for 160. Maybe they came to the conclusion that the effort needed to force the existing sets to 160 was not worth the couple of extra seconds gained? (about 30 seconds difference in NJ - about the same in RI & MA)


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## Amtrak172 (Jun 9, 2014)

Is Amtrak really planning on sticking with the Acela brand for new NEC high speed trains?

Amtrak172


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## Ryan (Jun 9, 2014)

That decision won't likely come for quite some time.


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## jis (Jun 9, 2014)

PRR 60 said:


> Are you sure about the Acela speed going to 160? I've heard rumblings that they are going to keep the existing Acela sets at 150 and wait for the Acela II's for 160. Maybe they came to the conclusion that the effort needed to force the existing sets to 160 was not worth the couple of extra seconds gained? (about 30 seconds difference in NJ - about the same in RI & MA)


Haven't heard that from any reliable source even as recently as a month back. But of course anything could change, since it ultimately depends on FRA more than anything else. In addition, in general, no I am never sure about anything that I say about Amtrak. So why should this be any different?  
Actually even for Acela IIs I have not heard that a final safety case for 160 or even 150 to operate Tier III equipment commingled with Tier I and II equipment above 125mph has been approved. That requires a special waiver or a rule change from FRA. So it is at present not a given that Tier III Acala IIs will be allowed to operate above 125mph either. But all the safety case work is in the works, in a manner of speaking. It would be kind of silly to buy shiny new equipment capable of operating at 160 mph that is not allowed to operate above 125mph IMHO. So we'll have to wait and see what happens. I would expect this issue to be resolved with a waiver, which hopefully does not involve adding a few tons of weight to the cars.


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## rickycourtney (Jun 9, 2014)

neroden said:


> (Expo Line Phase II opens in LA connecting Santa Monica to LA Union Station)


Minor change: the Expo Line will connect Santa Monica to Downtown LA, not Union Station and it's expected to open in early 2016.

Also of note, the Gold Line Foothill Extension to Azusa is expected to open in early 2016.


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## afigg (Jun 9, 2014)

Amtrak172 said:


> Is Amtrak really planning on sticking with the Acela brand for new NEC high speed trains?
> 
> Amtrak172


There is no official word, but the Acela has been a hugely successful service for Amtrak. The Acela generated 25% of Amtrak's ticket revenues in FY12 with only 10.6% of the total ridership. The Acela has become a established brand name, to the point where I read a political article a couple of months ago that used the term "Acela corridor" as a shorthand for the NYC to DC political, media, financial class that reside in and travel between DC and NYC.

I would be very surprised if Amtrak were not to keep the brand name and call the new HSR trains the Acela IIs to emphasize that they are new even better trains. But then again, there could be new leadership at Amtrak by the time the new trains are ready for revenue service who will want to use a entirely new name just because he can.


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## Anderson (Jun 9, 2014)

jis said:


> PRR 60 said:
> 
> 
> > Are you sure about the Acela speed going to 160? I've heard rumblings that they are going to keep the existing Acela sets at 150 and wait for the Acela II's for 160. Maybe they came to the conclusion that the effort needed to force the existing sets to 160 was not worth the couple of extra seconds gained? (about 30 seconds difference in NJ - about the same in RI & MA)
> ...


If for some reason they couldn't get a waiver for the Acela IIs that doesn't involve a lot of weight, I shudder to ask this...but at that point, why not just do a large "retread" order for a bunch of Acela I-compatible equipment? I ask only because the point of the new equipment is, of course, to be able to go faster and/or burn less power by being lighter alongside being cheaper to acquire by being "off the shelf". Having to add a bunch of weight would defeat all those points.


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## George Harris (Jun 9, 2014)

Green Maned Lion said:


> I make it to be smoke and mirrors. It's just a PB money siphoning scam.


I just would like to know what is it that Parsons Brinckerhoff has done or done to you that has caused you to have a vendetta against them? I ask as a multiple year employee of them and a person that regards them as one of if not the best companies both professionally and ethically in the rail transportation engineering business.


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## Green Maned Lion (Jun 9, 2014)

George, I don't want to get into a long public debate with you about it. You know I hold your professional competence in high regard, even if we disagree on a large number of things. I don't mind doing it privately. To answer your direct question, the answer can be summed up in three letters- A R C.


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## neroden (Jun 9, 2014)

Ahem. PB has developed a bit of a reputation for, shall we say, political interference in planning; or perhaps rigidity in planning is a better description. And I'm not talking about sensitivity to public opinion, for which Arup has a good reputation, which is flexibility, the opposite of rigidity. I'm talking about sandbagging options which powerful individuals don't want considered. I'm sure that's either way above your pay grade or in a different department, Mr. Harris. But if I had a choice, I certainly wouldn't want to see PB as the prime consultant on an Alternatives Analysis; I wouldn't expect a fair analysis. For later stage engineering, with supervision, PB seems fine.


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## neroden (Jun 9, 2014)

jis said:


> Actually even for Acela IIs I have not heard that a final safety case for 160 or even 150 to operate Tier III equipment commingled with Tier I and II equipment above 125mph has been approved. That requires a special waiver or a rule change from FRA.


The FRA should just change the damn rule. These "tank" rules are stupid once PTC has been implemented. The rules are actually stupid even now; they require cars which are less safe than modern standards, rather than cars with crumple zone designs, because the rules are based on totally obsolete theories of crash energy.

A bunch of these rules were reactions to the refusal of the private railroads to implement Automatic Train Stop back in the 1940s and earlier. So now that PTC is *required*, I would hope that the rules would be changed to remove the stupid rules with respect to trains which always run with PTC active.

Repeat: the FRA crash safety rules are S-T-U-P-I-D, and copying nearly any set of European or Asian rules would be an improvement.



> I would expect this issue to be resolved with a waiver, which hopefully does not involve adding a few tons of weight to the cars.


God, can't the FRA just change the rules already, a change is years or even decades overdue. It should not require a waiver to use off-the-shelf equipment rather than less-safe equipment. But we live in a third-world country, so it does.
If the FRA is STILL unwilling to change the rules after PTC is implemented, the FRA should have its rulemaking authority revoked and the existing rules should be abolished. Sometimes to make progress you have to destroy institutions.


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## CCC (Jun 9, 2014)

neroden said:


> jis said:
> 
> 
> > Actually even for Acela IIs I have not heard that a final safety case for 160 or even 150 to operate Tier III equipment commingled with Tier I and II equipment above 125mph has been approved. That requires a special waiver or a rule change from FRA.
> ...


If this is a THIRD world country, then why is it called the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. by definition, the united states can not be described by anything other than FIRST WORLD, defined as the UNITED STATES and her ALLIES. The THIRD world is only countries not allied with either the USSR or the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.


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## Paulus (Jun 9, 2014)

CCC said:


> If this is a THIRD world country, then why is it called the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. by definition, the united states can not be described by anything other than FIRST WORLD, defined as the UNITED STATES and her ALLIES. The THIRD world is only countries not allied with either the USSR or the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.


The English language has moved on in the quarter century since the Cold War ended; First and Third world now have entirely different meanings (and Second World has gone kaput).


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## neroden (Jun 9, 2014)

I tried to maintain the old usages, but I gave up. "Third world" is now a synonym for "underdeveloped".


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## Green Maned Lion (Jun 10, 2014)

Have you ever noticed how clearly we are not at all allied with ourselves?


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## jis (Jun 10, 2014)

neroden said:


> So now that PTC is *required*, I would hope that the rules would be changed to remove the stupid rules with respect to trains which always run with PTC active.


The issues that are primarily being discussed don't have much to do with PTC. NEC is going to be the first place anywhere in the world that is contemplating allowing 150 or 160 mph service on legacy track centers in NJ, which are borderline inadequate or adequate for such. The concern is about collisions resulting from derailment and side swipe or crash into derailment. The other thing that was mentioned in the talk given my the safety team which is developing the safety case was that of shifted load in a freight train on adjacent track striking a high speed train. These things tend to be less of an issue in HSRs with standard track center distances, and there is no PTC system in the world that can prevent these things from happening. The issue then boils down to risk assessment and mitigation and they talked a lot about the risk models being developed and validated, how exactly I don't know, and nor am I an expert enough to fully understand them.
Please note that I am just reporting what I carefully noted at the meeting in which these guys who are developing the safety case for presentation to FRA to get the waiver were describing the real life issues faced. If you don't like it, go and talk to them or someone else.


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## Amtrak172 (Jun 11, 2014)

afigg said:


> Amtrak172 said:
> 
> 
> > Is Amtrak really planning on sticking with the Acela brand for new NEC high speed trains?
> ...




Yea I would be very surprised if Amtrak were to not keep the name Acela.

Amtrak172


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## SarahZ (Jun 11, 2014)

CCC said:


> If this is a THIRD world country, then why is it called the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. by definition, the united states can not be described by anything other than FIRST WORLD, defined as the UNITED STATES and her ALLIES. The THIRD world is only countries not allied with either the *USSR* or the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.


The what now?

The USSR doesn't exist anymore. It dissolved in late 1991.


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## jis (Jun 11, 2014)

Paulus said:


> CCC said:
> 
> 
> > If this is a THIRD world country, then why is it called the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. by definition, the united states can not be described by anything other than FIRST WORLD, defined as the UNITED STATES and her ALLIES. The THIRD world is only countries not allied with either the USSR or the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
> ...


As mentioned by others, the terms First, Second and Third World have lost the original basis of their meaning due to the fall of the USSR. However, I think it is safe to say that no commonly used meaning of the term "First World" even today would exclude the United States from it. Categorizing the United States as Third World is usually a rhetorical flourish used to express ones personal dissatisfaction with some state of affairs of the United States (would seem to have been FRA rule making in this case, even though the immediate issue is a little broader than just FRA rule making as I have tried to explain in a separate message).


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## VentureForth (Jun 11, 2014)

jphjaxfl said:


> Believe me, All Aboard Florida is not a "flaky" project. A lot of money is being invested. Because its being funded privately, it is not necessary to reveal the day to day happenings so the press and others so they can speculate about something they have no in depth knowledge of.


Whereas I agree that AAF is not a flaky project, I would disagree with the rest. AAF has an obligation to stakeholders to deliver on its promises. Now, it's possible (I haven't looked to find out) that if AAF is NOT public - either alone or through FECRR - then they wouldn't have to keep anyone invested in the loop. Such obligations may include, but not limited to, progress payments to suppliers, continued funding funneled to AAF from FEC, etc.

Now, if it were an unannounced venture, then no one would have to know about it at all. Except that local municipalities would be involved, and we all know that government cant keep secrets.


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## neroden (Jun 11, 2014)

jis said:


> The concern is about collisions resulting from derailment and side swipe or crash into derailment.


The current rules do jack-all to protect people in case of side swipes. We saw this fairly recently.



> The issue then boils down to risk assessment and mitigation and they talked a lot about the risk models being developed and validated, how exactly I don't know, and nor am I an expert enough to fully understand them.


I'm all for some sort of rules, but the existing rules are not fit for purpose. Waiver should be granted automatically and then the FRA should come up with some actual side-swipe rules.


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## jis (Jun 11, 2014)

neroden said:


> I'm all for some sort of rules, but the existing rules are not fit for purpose. Waiver should be granted automatically and then the FRA should come up with some actual side-swipe rules.


I think you should apply for the job of the FRA Administrator and then go there and make it happen


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## neroden (Jun 11, 2014)

Thanks for the vote of confidence, but management of a bureaucracy is *not* one of my strong suits. :giggle:


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## Bob Dylan (Jun 11, 2014)

We need to bring LBJ back from the Grave, he knew how to kick ass and take names and make Washington function! A True Master of the bureaucracy as well as Congress! Too bad he was suckered in by the Military Industrial Complex on Vietnam!


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## crescent2 (Jun 12, 2014)

jis said:


> Paulus said:
> 
> 
> > CCC said:
> ...


I took neroden's comment to be a facetious one.


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## neroden (Jun 12, 2014)

Hyperbole, certainly.


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## Green Maned Lion (Jun 12, 2014)

2015: All LD Amtrak service stops amid the sky falling onto it.


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## neroden (Sep 5, 2014)

Revised for my own entertainment. Several projects were COMPLETED and have been removed from the list.

I've left out the NEC projects, as well as nearly everything done by the MBTA, mainly because I have no good grasp on their schedules. I haven't included California HSR or All Aboard Florida, deliberately, as their projected dates don't seem reliable. I know I'm missing some Surfliner and San Joaquin improvements, and I haven't listed the Piedmont projects individually since it seems like the benefits will mostly only come when they're all finished. I'm probably missing some other stuff too. I included urban rail improvements only where they connect large populations to the Amtrak station.

2014:

"fall": Troy MI station (where construction finished a year ago) opens. The city finally has title to the land now and was negotiating lease terms with Amtrak as of three days ago. So it could be any day.

late September: Grand Rapids new station opens

November: Dearborn new station opens

"late": Anaheim new train station ("ARTIC") supposed to open

"fall": Miami Central Station supposed to open

"winter": Mt Vernon siding in WA supposed to be finished

December: Englewood Flyover finishes (may be early)

Niagara Falls station supposed to start construction (contract has been awarded -- anyone seen any construction?)

December: Rochester station supposed to start construction

End of year: last chance for Raton Pass route

ACS-64s continue delivery

Viewliner IIs continue delivery

Indiana Gateway projects under construction now

NY major trackwork under construction now

MI major trackwork under construction now

VT major trackwork under construction now

Quad Cities trackwork has started (BNSF section only); agreement with Iowa Interstate has been finished and engineering is being done

Milwaukee trainshed & platform construction supposed to start

Last Keystone grade crossing supposed to close

2015:

"first quarter": Vermonter reroute

Quad Cities trackwork on Iowa Interstate section supposed to start

December: Springfield MA Union Station

December: Moline service

"late": Rockford service

December 31: PTC deadline -- Amtrak, BNSF, Metrolink, SEPTA, NJT, expect to meet deadline

Birmingham AL station supposed to open

Van Nuys second platform supposed to open

ACS-64 deliveries supposed to finish

Schenectady station supposed to start construction

Point Defiance Bypass supposed to start construction

Tacoma Trestle supposed to start construction

Raleigh Union Station supposed to start construction

Seattle King St. Station track improvements (next phase) supposed to start construction

Blaine WA Customs Siding. Delayed from 2014: final agreement with BNSF has been reached, but it hasn't been "designed" yet. Right.

(Kansas City Streetcar opens connecting to KC Union Station)

(Expo Line Phase II opens in LA connecting Santa Monica indirectly to LA Union Station)

(Chicago Central Loop bus lanes to separate buses from taxis/private cars expected in front of Union Station)

(Toronto airport train opens)

2016:

Probable early: SW Chief relocates to Transcon

"June": Bilevel corridor car "pilot car" delivery supposed to start

"fall": 125 mph corridor diesel deliveries supposed to start (seems unlikely)

"fall": WA Toteff siding extension supposed to open

"end of": NH-H-S commuter rail in Connecticut supposed to open

Rochester station supposed to open

Niagara Falls station supposed to open

Exton PA high platforms supposed to open

Viewliner deliveries supposed to finish

Indiana Gateway projects supposed to finish

Milwaukee trainshed & platform work supposed to finish

(Denver Union Station gets three more connecting urban rail lines)

(Sunrail Phase II opens and construction on those tracks finally finishes)

(Gold Line Foothills extension opens in LA)

(Seattle Link extension to University opens)

(Montreal "East" train opens)

2017:

"mid": 125 mph corridor diesel deliveries supposed to finish

NY Trackwork supposed to be finished

MI Trackwork supposed to be finished

Schenectady station supposed to open

Point Defiance Bypass supposed to open

Tacoma Trestle replacement supposed to open

Seattle King St. Station track improvements supposed to open

WA "Kelso Martins Bluff new siding" and "Kelso to Longview Junction third main" supposed to open

Roanoke VA service supposed to start

Raleigh Union Station supposed to open to train service

Vermont Western Corridor (Albany-Burlington) year for opening if no more federal funding is received, according to the state department of transportation in 2012

Completion of Amtrak's NEC NJ HSR project between New Brunswick and Morrisville (including constant tension catenary)

NY Penn Station A interlocking ladder track realignment

Deadline for ARRA-funded improvements (such as a whole lot of Piedmont improvements as well as much of what's listed above)

2018:

Bilevel corridor car deliveries supposed to finish

Funded but AFAICT indefinitely delayed:

Waterloo IN new platform

West Detroit Junction work

relocation of Texas Eagle to Trinity Railway Express line


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## afigg (Sep 5, 2014)

neroden said:


> I've left out the NEC projects, as well as nearly everything done by the MBTA, mainly because I have no good grasp on their schedules. I haven't included California HSR or All Aboard Florida, deliberately, as their projected dates don't seem reliable. I know I'm missing some Surfliner and San Joaquin improvements, and I haven't listed the Piedmont projects individually since it seems like the benefits will mostly only come when they're all finished. I'm probably missing some other stuff too. I included urban rail improvements only where they connect large populations to the Amtrak station.
> 
> ....
> 
> ...


Several items. The Vermonter re-route may occur as soon as December 29. The Amtrak reservation system is not allowing sales of tickets to Amherst MA after December 28, 2014. A re-route in the middle of the holiday week period strikes me as odd, but if there is a goal of returning to the CT River line before the end of 2014, MA may be pushing for it. Gov. Patrick may also want to take a victory lap on his watch and his term in up in early January 2015.
As for the MBTA, yea, they are not the most transparent of transit agencies when it comes to providing status updates on their smaller projects. Or even the bigger ones. MBTA got a grant for double tracking and other upgrades to the Haverhill line in support of the Downeaster. Track and bridge work has been done on the line, but the posters to a long running thread in the MBTA forum on railroad.net on the line work, report the work as sporadic, spread over years and have no idea when it might get done.

Under 2016, I would add the completion of the expanded West End Concourse at NYP.

One HSIPR project I would add under a 2017 completion is the Arkendale to Powells Creek 3rd track for the RF&P line in VA. The project has been dragged out for years, but it is still funded and in the VRE and VDRPT plans.

Amtrak ambitious plan is to have new HSR trainsets running in revenue service in 2018. Worth listing, but with a big caveat about 2018 being the goal.

There is the plan for the Customs facility at Montreal, but that falls into who knows when it might happen category.

In terms of new funding, I gather that the FY2014 TIGER grants will be announced soon. Congress is returning for a September session and DOT makes grant announcements like this when Congress is in town, so the House and Senate members can issue press releases praising the award to their state or district and taking some of the credit. Even if they voted against the TIGER funding, of course.


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## afigg (Sep 6, 2014)

Something else to add to the 2017 group. 

2017
"Spring" completion of catenary replacement project with constant tension catenary on the New Haven Line. 

MTA update: New Haven Catenary Replacement Project Update (September 2, 2014). Excerpt:



> With the start of work on September 6th on the final two segments of the catenary replacement project on the New Haven Line, we are heading down the home stretch, with the finish line in sight, on this massive effort.
> 
> Once this project phase is done in spring of 2017, the catenary upgrade project on the Connecticut-side of the line will be completed! Work on the two segments-from East Norwalk to Green's Farms and from Bridgeport to Milford-will start simultaneously and involve replacement of about 10-1/2 miles of catenary along track and in our Bridgeport Yard.
> 
> ...


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## WoodyinNYC (Sep 8, 2014)

I've been pleasantly surprised to see a few things

added to the "forthcoming" list this year. After almost

4 years of the haters elected to Congress in 2010,

who knew there was any money left to do anything

at all?

​But the initial order for 130 bi-level corridor cars for

the Midwest and Pacific Coast jumped to 175 cars.

Seat of my pants I'd felt the 130 just wasn't gonna be

enuff, and I feared it could be years before the needed

minimums got ordered. Now they are on the way.

And just over a week ago, Gov Quinn announced that

he had $100 million to put into a further upgrade of

the Lincoln route, extending double-tracking, with

a new bridge, for another 20 miles or so. On this route, 

more double-tracking could mean the difference in 

how soon more frequencies can be added. So even 

$100 million worth is a big deal.

​I hope we don't have to wait for another recession to 

see another round of substantial investment in our rail

infrastructure. Of course, a recession is way overdue,

going by the average 57 months, about 5 years, from 

pre-recession peak to peak, considering that the past 

(_doesn't seem __like quite the right word, does it?_) recession 

began in December 2007.


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## neroden (Sep 9, 2014)

We're in a Long Depression a bit like the one from 1873-1896. We'll probably see some more downturns.


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## WoodyinNYC (Sep 9, 2014)

neroden said:


> We're in a Long Depression a bit like the one from 1873-1896. We'll probably see some more downturns.


I'll avoid reference to any dead economists. But let's just do what Ronald Reagan did:

Cut taxes, spend money, pay for it all with massive borrowing. The economy will probably

recover just as it did under Reagan.

Now, a lot of Reagan's spending was on weapons, to provoke Russia into spending what

it clearly could not afford, to end the Cold War by bankrupting our rival.

But we could cut taxes and spend on domestic infrastructure -- Billions more on passenger rail,

please! -- and borrow to pay for it. We'd surely end up with good results just like Reagan did.


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## Green Maned Lion (Sep 9, 2014)

Or we could raise taxes on the rich cut taxes on the poor and spend a lot more on useful things.


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## neroden (Sep 9, 2014)

The Long Depression was partly due to "hard money, balance the budget, no taxes on the rich, no regulation of the financial markets" lobbyists having taken over the government... anyway...


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## Paulus (Sep 14, 2014)

LOSSAN thingies

2015

-Sorrento Valley double track (1.1 miles of double track, raised track bed, two wooden trestle bridges replaced).

-San Onofre double track Phase 1 (with phase 2 will be 5.8 miles of double track and wooden trestle bridge replacement).

-Construction starts on third track, additional platform, lengthened platform at Oceanside Transit Center.

2016

-Poinsettia station replaces at grade pedestrian crossing with an undercrossing and an inter-track fence, 15" platforms.

2017

-Los Peñasquitos Lagoon Bridges Replacement (four wooden trestle bridges replaced, allows increased speed)

2018

-Elvira to Morena (2.6 miles of double track and curve realignment).

-San Diego River Bridge (0.9 miles of double track, new double tracked bridge over San Diego River).


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## tim49424 (Sep 14, 2014)

neroden said:


> late September: Grand Rapids new station opens


From an Amtrak Pere-Marquette 30th anniversary bulletin dated Wednesday 9/10/14.

"The _Pere Marquette_ serves Grand Rapids, Holland, Bangor, and St. Joseph/Benton Harbor, with daily passenger service to and from Chicago. This is one of three state-sponsored routes. Michigan is among 15 states, including Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin, that sponsors Amtrak for services. Improvements to the service include free Wi-Fi service added last year and a new station location scheduled to open in Grand Rapids* next month.*"

The opening again has been pushed back.....not sure what the new issues are.


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## afigg (Oct 5, 2014)

Positive news on the West Detroit connector project (Mi DOT press release): West Detroit connector rail project begins this week. Excerpt:



> September 30, 2014 -- Work is scheduled to begin this week on a West Detroit connector rail project that will improve efficiency for both passenger and freight rail carriers on Detroit's west side. The project is located near Junction Avenue between US-12 (Michigan Avenue) and Vernor Highway, just east of the Livernois-Junction intermodal yard.
> 
> The West Detroit connector project includes replacing the outdated rail bridge over Junction Avenue, installing 1 mile of new track and switches, and improving signals and communications. Once completed, on-time performance will be improved for Amtrak passenger service by eliminating the conflict with freight trains at the West Detroit and Bay City junctions.
> 
> ...


So the Wolverine service should see some trip time improvements by next summer.


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## afigg (Oct 5, 2014)

This may not quite qualify as the next few years, but it was announced on October 2 by Gov. Malloy that CT was going to move funds so it can proceed with replacing the Walk swing bridge in Norwalk CT on the New Haven line over the next 6 years. Replacing the aging bridge probably won't reduce trip times on the northern NEC, but it will improve reliability as the bridge got stuck open twice in the early summer, stopping Amtrak and Metro-North trains for hours. So at least one of the decrepit movable bridges on the NEC is going to be replaced in the near future.

Hartford Courant: Connecticut To Cobble Together Rest Of Money For Walk Bridge. Excerpt:



> The state will come up with the extra $188 million needed to replace the decrepit Norwalk River railroad bridge, but the new span won't be in place until 2020, officials announced Thursday.
> 
> Leaving the 118-year-old bridge to continue deteriorating isn't an option, state leaders said, because it's an essential part of the busiest commuter railroad in the country and an economic lifeline between Fairfield County and New York City.
> 
> ...


 CT press release: GOV. MALLOY ANNOUNCES PLAN FOR FULL REPLACEMENT OF THE NEW HAVEN LINES WALK BRIDGE


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## neroden (Oct 6, 2014)

Revised for my own entertainment. Several projects were COMPLETED and have been removed from the list. The update was inspired by finding news on all three Michigan station projects and on West Detroit Junction.

* I've left out some NEC projects, as well as nearly everything done by the MBTA, mainly because I have no good grasp on their schedules.

* I haven't included California HSR or All Aboard Florida, deliberately, as their projected dates don't seem reliable (...they'll happen when they happen).

* I know I'm missing some San Joaquin improvements.

* I haven't listed the Piedmont projects individually since it seems like the benefits will mostly only come when they're all finished.

* I've left out specific Chicago-St. Louis track improvements because they're an endless shaggy dog story; I put in Quinn's target dates for improved service.

* I'm probably missing some other stuff too.

* I included urban rail improvements where and only where they connect large populations to the Amtrak station.

* And I've left 2019 as the cutoff for projects; nothing beyond the five-year horizon please.

2014:

any day now: Englewood Flyover finishes

"before October 31": Troy MI station opens

"late October": Grand Rapids new station opens

November: Dearborn new station opens

"end of year": Anaheim new train station ("ARTIC") supposed to open

"fall": Miami Central Station supposed to open

"winter": Mt Vernon siding in WA supposed to be finished

December: Rochester station supposed to start construction

End of year: supposed last chance for Raton Pass route

Niagara Falls station supposed to start construction (contract has been awarded -- anyone seen any construction?)

ACS-64s continue delivery

Viewliner IIs continue delivery

Indiana Gateway projects under construction now (yep!)

NY major trackwork under construction now (yep, both track & platform)

MI major trackwork under construction now (yep)

VT major trackwork under construction now (dunno)

Quad Cities trackwork has started (BNSF section only); agreement with Iowa Interstate has been finished and engineering is being done

Milwaukee trainshed & platform construction supposed to start

2015:

"first quarter": Vermonter reroute

"end of": 5 hour service CHI-STL promised by Gov. Quinn

June: West Detroit Junction work supposed to finish

December: Springfield MA Union Station

December: Moline service

"late": Rockford service

end of year: BNSF thinks it will catch up on its underinvestment (though I doubt it)

December 31: PTC deadline -- Amtrak, BNSF, Metrolink, SEPTA, NJT, expect to meet deadline

Birmingham AL station supposed to open

Van Nuys second platform supposed to open

ACS-64 deliveries supposed to finish

Quad Cities trackwork on Iowa Interstate section supposed to start

Schenectady station supposed to start construction

Point Defiance Bypass supposed to start construction

Tacoma Trestle supposed to start construction

Raleigh Union Station supposed to start construction

Seattle King St. Station track improvements (next phase) supposed to start construction

Blaine WA Customs Siding. Delayed from 2014: final agreement with BNSF has been reached, but it hasn't been "designed" yet. Right.

Surfliner: Sorrento Valley double track (1.1 miles of double track, raised track bed, two wooden trestle bridges replaced).

Surfliner: San Onofre double track Phase 1 (with phase 2 will be 5.8 miles of double track and wooden trestle bridge replacement).

Surfliner: Construction starts on third track, additional platform, lengthened platform at Oceanside Transit Center.

(Kansas City Streetcar opens connecting to KC Union Station)

(Expo Line Phase II opens in LA connecting Santa Monica indirectly to LA Union Station, also Gold Line to Azuza)

(Chicago: bus lanes to separate buses from taxis/private cars in front of Union Station expected)

(Chicago: off-street bus "transit center" with enclosed connection to Union Station expected)

(Toronto airport train opens)

2016:

Probable early: SW Chief relocates to Transcon

"June": Bilevel corridor car "pilot car" delivery supposed to start

"summer": new Joliet train station supposed to open (under construction now)

"fall": 125 mph corridor diesel deliveries supposed to start (seems unlikely)

"fall": WA Toteff siding extension supposed to open

"fall": Alton Transportation Center supposed to open (not likely)

"end of": NH-H-S commuter rail in Connecticut supposed to open

Rochester station supposed to open

Niagara Falls station supposed to open

Exton PA high platforms supposed to open

Viewliner deliveries supposed to finish

Indiana Gateway projects supposed to finish

Milwaukee trainshed & platform work supposed to finish

NY Penn West End Concourse (Moynihan Pt. 1) supposed to open

Surfliner: Poinsettia station replaces at grade pedestrian crossing with an undercrossing and an inter-track fence, 15" platforms.

(Denver Union Station gets three more connecting urban rail lines)

(Sunrail Phase II opens and construction on those tracks finally finishes)

(Gold Line Foothills extension opens in LA)

(Seattle Link extension to University opens)

(Montreal "East" train opens)

2017:

"mid": 125 mph corridor diesel deliveries supposed to finish

"Spring": completion of catenary replacement project with constant tension catenary on the New Haven Line.

"end of": 4.5 hour service CHI-STL promised by Gov. Quinn

NY Trackwork supposed to be finished

MI Trackwork supposed to be finished

Schenectady station supposed to open

Point Defiance Bypass supposed to open

Tacoma Trestle replacement supposed to open

Seattle King St. Station track improvements supposed to open

WA "Kelso Martins Bluff new siding" and "Kelso to Longview Junction third main" supposed to open

Roanoke VA service supposed to start

Raleigh Union Station supposed to open to train service

Vermont Western Corridor (Albany-Burlington) year for opening if no more federal funding is received, according to the state department of transportation in 2012

Completion of Amtrak's NEC NJ HSR project between New Brunswick and Morrisville (including constant tension catenary)

NY Penn Station A interlocking ladder track realignment

Surfliner: Los Peñasquitos Lagoon Bridges Replacement (four wooden trestle bridges replaced, allows increased speed)

Virginia: Arkendale to Powells Creek 3rd track for the RF&P line

2018

Deadline for ARRA-funded improvements (such as a whole lot of Piedmont improvements as well as much of what's listed above)

2018:

Bilevel corridor car deliveries supposed to finish

Amtrak's target date for new HSR trainsets in service (there is no way this happens on this schedule)

Surfliner: Elvira to Morena (2.6 miles of double track and curve realignment).

Surfliner: San Diego River Bridge (0.9 miles of double track, new double tracked bridge over San Diego River).

Funded but AFAICT indefinitely delayed:

Waterloo IN new platform

relocation of Texas Eagle to Trinity Railway Express line

Montreal pre-clearance customs platform


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## Paulus (Oct 6, 2014)

ARTIC/Turtle Dome opens December 13th.


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## Devil's Advocate (Oct 6, 2014)

neroden: I really enjoy the list but would you also consider keeping completed items under a completed heading? Or perhaps in another thread if you think that's better. Either way I'd enjoy having a running total of those projects that _finally_ make it across the finish line. In part because I'd like to review completed projects (both for future travels and to see what sort of advocacy was successful) and because when it comes to passenger rail in the Americas any bit of good news is probably worth repeating. ^_^


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## neroden (Oct 6, 2014)

Um, maybe *you* could accumulate the completed items in a list, Devil's Advocate? (Hint to make it easy: they're the ones which disappear from the *top* of the "upcoming" list between one list and the next. No project, so far, has been finished years early.) I do make this list for my own entertainment... feel free to make a list for your own entertainment!


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## Devil's Advocate (Oct 6, 2014)




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## leemell (Oct 6, 2014)

You missed the double tracking from Van Nuys (Raymer) to Chatsworth on the Metrolink/Surfliner UP Ventura sub. Supposed to start next year.


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## jis (Oct 6, 2014)

If you are counting all passenger rail and not just Amtrak, then NJTransit just got funding to replace the Raritan River Bridge on the North Jersey Coast Line. This will be a major project that will have a very positive impact on both passenger and freight service on that line.

If you include light rail then NJT's HBLRT and Newark Light Rail will get respective 25 and 10 cars expanded from 3 section to 5 section units thus increasing seating by 50 seats in each of those extended cars. This is a fully funded project starting right about now with the cadence of delivery of 4 upgraded vehicles per month,

Report on the NEC HSR in NJ, track 1 is out of service from County (Jersey Avenue) to Fair (Trenton) for upgrade work. It should be out of service for another 6 months or so maybe. They have built temporary platforms over the track at Hamilton, and are in the process of doing so at Princeton Jct. so that passengers can easily board trains on track 2. The overall project is on track to complete in 2017.

NJT is also contracting the final design work for multi-level power cars to form EMU sets out of the existing trailer and cab cars and new mid-train power cars. It is likely to be three or four years before such cars start arriving on the property at the earliest.


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## Metra Electric Guest (Oct 6, 2014)

Isn't the Englewood Flyover substantially complete? At least for Metra operations.


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## tim49424 (Oct 19, 2014)

Per amtrak.com re: Grand Rapids, MI station....

Effective October 27, 2014, the Grand Rapids, MI station will move to a new facility at 440 Century Avenue, Southwest, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 about a half mile east of the current stop.


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## afigg (Oct 28, 2014)

Construction work is about to begin for 3 stations on the New Haven to Springfield line. CT Governor Malloy press release. The commuter service will be branded the Hartford Line.

Excerpt: "Station construction in Wallingford, Meriden and Berlin is scheduled to begin this fall and will be completed by the launch of enhanced rail service in late 2016. Improvements at these stations include high-level platforms (both sides of the track), overhead pedestrian bridge with new elevators and stair towers on both sides of the track to connect the two platforms, ..."


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## neroden (Nov 29, 2014)

Revised for my own entertainment. The purpose of this for me is to keep track of *dates*, to see when I should expect things to open, to watch for early openings or delays. So I haven't included anything with really unclear schedules -- where I couldn't find a projected completion date, or where future groundbreaking dates seemed speculative. This includes nearly everything done by the MBTA. If you've got a project I'm missing, please link me to a recent report with a projected completion date, or at least a groundbreaking date. Year is sufficient.

Several projects were COMPLETED and have been removed from the list. (Yay, by the way.) This includes Englewood Flyover and 2 Michigan stations. Sadly I haven't had many additions to the list lately. But the M-1 streetcar started construction in Detroit, and West Detroit Junction *finally* broke ground and has a scheduled completion date.

Improvements to "commuter" rail services are welcome on the list where the rail service provides service between cities. Improvements on lines Amtrak does not run on are in parentheses.

I included urban (within-city) rail improvements selectively: only where they provide new rail connections to the intercity network (so, an extension of HBLR to a new station qualifies, new rolling stock for HBLR doesn't). This is because I am looking at it from the point of view of "where can I get to by train without renting a car at the destination".

2014:

December 10: Dearborn new station opens

December 13: Anaheim new train station ("ARTIC") opens

"winter": Mt Vernon siding in WA supposed to be finished (anyone know?)

End of year: supposed last chance for Raton Pass route

ACS-64s continue delivery

Viewliner IIs continue delivery

Indiana Gateway projects under construction now

NY major trackwork under construction now

Schenectady, Rochester, and Niagara Falls stations under construction now

MI major trackwork under construction now

VT major trackwork under construction now

Quad Cities trackwork has started (BNSF section only); agreement with Iowa Interstate has been finished and engineering is being done

Milwaukee trainshed & platform construction supposed to start (did it start?)

Last Keystone grade crossing supposed to close (did it close?)

2015:

"first quarter": Vermonter reroute

"June": West Detroit Junction project supposed to open

( http://www.masstransitmag.com/press_release/12006658/west-detroit-connector-rail-project-begins )

"late": Rockford service

December: Springfield MA Union Station

December: Moline service

December 31: PTC deadline -- Amtrak, BNSF, Metrolink, SEPTA, NJT, expect to meet deadline

"before PTC implementation: SEPTA/CSX separation project on West Trenton Line should be completed

Quad Cities trackwork on Iowa Interstate section supposed to start

Birmingham AL station supposed to open

Van Nuys-Chatworth double track supposed to start

Van Nuys second platform supposed to open

ACS-64 deliveries supposed to finish

Point Defiance Bypass supposed to start construction

Tacoma Trestle supposed to start construction

Raleigh Union Station supposed to start construction

Seattle King St. Station track improvements (next phase) supposed to start construction

Blaine WA Customs Siding. Delayed from 2014: final agreement with BNSF has been reached, but it hasn't been "designed" yet. Right.

(Kansas City Streetcar opens connecting to KC Union Station)

(Expo Line Phase II opens in LA connecting Santa Monica indirectly to LA Union Station)

(Chicago Central Loop bus lanes to separate buses from taxis/private cars expected in front of Union Station)

(Toronto airport train opens)

2016:

"early" and "before schedule": Niagara Falls station open

(last I read on this as this: http://newyork.construction.com/yb/ny/article.aspx?story_id=id:7r_eJk0eWkEu_MnHuidsTX8LYbV60RB2LqblwqXohD5wcJiYrnwsQu0usHCVlB8j )

Early if Amtrak doesn't renege on previous claims: SW Chief relocates to Transcon

"June": Bilevel corridor car "pilot car" delivery supposed to start

"fall": 125 mph corridor diesel deliveries supposed to start (seems unlikely)

"fall": WA Toteff siding extension supposed to open

"end of": "Hartford Line" commuter rail in Connecticut supposed to open with several improved stations

late: New Milwaukee platforms and trainshed scheduled to open ("15-18" months from sometime after contract was awarded in June)

Rochester station supposed to open (contractor is The Pike Company)

Exton PA high platforms supposed to open

Viewliner deliveries supposed to finish

Indiana Gateway projects supposed to finish

(October or November: Detroit's M-1 streetcar opens connecting Amtrak station to downtown)

(Denver Union Station gets three more connecting urban rail lines)

(Sunrail Phase II opens and construction on those tracks finally finishes)

(Gold Line Foothills extension opens in LA)

(Seattle Link extension to University opens)

(Montreal "East" train opens)

2017:

"mid": 125 mph corridor diesel deliveries supposed to finish

NY Trackwork supposed to be finished

MI Trackwork supposed to be finished

Schenectady station supposed to open

Rochester station expected to open

Point Defiance Bypass supposed to open

Tacoma Trestle replacement supposed to open

Seattle King St. Station track improvements supposed to open

WA "Kelso Martins Bluff new siding" and "Kelso to Longview Junction third main" supposed to open

Roanoke VA service supposed to start

Raleigh Union Station supposed to open to train service

Vermont Western Corridor (Albany-Burlington) year for opening if no more federal funding is received, according to the state department of transportation in 2012

Completion of Amtrak's NEC NJ HSR project between New Brunswick and Morrisville (including constant tension catenary)

NY Penn Station A interlocking ladder track realignment

Deadline for ARRA-funded improvements (such as a whole lot of Piedmont improvements as well as much of what's listed above)

2018:

Bilevel corridor car deliveries supposed to finish

No dates:

(NJT Raritan River bridge replacement on North Jersey Coast Line)

(MBTA upgrade to Fitchburg Line)

(MBTA upgrade to Fairmount Line)

(MBTA upgrade to Haverhill Line) (notice a trend here?)

Funded but AFAICT indefinitely delayed:

Waterloo IN new platform

relocation of Texas Eagle to Trinity Railway Express line

Constructed but indefinitely delayed:

Miami Central Station (airport station) for Amtrak


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## Ryan (Nov 30, 2014)

I think the last keystone grade crossing closed a month or two ago. I think there may have been a thread on it, not sure.


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## Paulus (Nov 30, 2014)

> December 13: Anaheim new train station ("ARTIC") opens


So this one is funky. Turns out that the opening is actually on December 6th (that's when Metrolink, Amtrak, and Megabus start stopping there), but the grand opening ceremony is on the 13th.


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## leemell (Nov 30, 2014)

2018 Los Angeles Union Station SCRIP (runthrough) complete.


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## afigg (Nov 30, 2014)

RyanS said:


> I think the last keystone grade crossing closed a month or two ago. I think there may have been a thread on it, not sure.


Yes, there was a thread I started on the last public grade crossing being closed on the eastern Keystone in late September: Last 2 public grade crossings closed on eastern Keystone. We can put that project into the operationally complete category as IIRC, some landscaping and road removal work remains to be done but that has no effect on Amtrak operations.

CT River line reroute - may indeed start as soon as December 29. According to posts at railroad.net, crews have been qualifying on the restored route. Northampton (NHT) and Greenfield (GFD) stations show up in the Amtrak iPhone app and Find a Station page on the website.

In the funded and under construction, but not clear when it will be completed category, we can list the 3rd track from Ragan to Yard interlocking project south of the Wilmington DE station on the NEC. This project is important as it will fix a bottleneck point on the NEC.

In the no dates (but funded), useful project category, we could add:

Kingston RI station 1.5 miles of 3rd track and high level platforms - it received $25 million in HSIPR stimulus funds but can't find any recent updates on its status.

RF&P line: 3rd track from Arkendale to Powells Creek. Reportedly utility relocation work is underway, but can't find any public news on when construction might finally start.


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## VentureForth (Dec 1, 2014)

tim49424 said:


> Per amtrak.com re: Grand Rapids, MI station....
> 
> Effective October 27, 2014, the Grand Rapids, MI station will move to a new facility at 440 Century Avenue, Southwest, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 about a half mile east of the current stop.[/size]


 Why? What was wrong with the current setup? Looks to have enough parking and seems to have better visibility to the public at it's old location.


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## jis (Dec 1, 2014)

BTW, now we have learned that only about two thirds of the route between County (Jersey Avenue) and Morris (Morrisville) will be upgraded to constant tension catenary. The rest will be upgraded to anchored catenary with shorter spans.


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## neroden (Dec 1, 2014)

VentureForth said:


> tim49424 said:
> 
> 
> > Per amtrak.com re: Grand Rapids, MI station....
> ...


(1) The train blocked two grade crossings -- one of which is a major street -- while boarding.(2) There was no connectivity with city buses or Greyhound. The new station is directly attached to the central city bus station and the Greyhound station.

(3) The old station was too small for the ridership.

(4) The old station did not allow for expansion; the new one allows for a second platform track at a future date.

(5) The old station required that the train be stored overnight at the nearby freight yard -- a move which both required paying rent, and again involved blocking the major grade crossing on each move. The train can now be stored at the station overnight.

The old Wealthy St. location was supposed to be temporary when it was built *30 years ago*. They knew it was a bad location all along.

The replacement Grand Rapids station has been in the works for a very long time. I have some friends who were involved in advocating for funding for it when they were freshmen in college in Grand Rapids -- it had already been on the drawing board for a decade by then -- and they're now in their late 30s (and not living in Grand Rapids any more).



jis said:


> BTW, now we have learned that only about two thirds of the route between County (Jersey Avenue) and Morris (Morrisville) will be upgraded to constant tension catenary. The rest will be upgraded to anchored catenary with shorter spans.


How curious. Is there a reason? I thought constant tension catenary was not much more expensive than traditional catenary, and I thought it was just used by default in new medium-speed and high-speed applications.


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## jis (Dec 1, 2014)

I don't know what the reason is. Just saw some details of what is actually going to be put in place for which segment. I am sure cost was a consideration. In pure materials constant tension costs a bit more simply because it requires quite a bit more of cables to provide the overlap sections I am told. It probably also had to do with the cost of fitting things within the existing trackside equipment inventory in place too. But honestly, I don;t know the full reasons. Just speculating.

I have not been able to find out yet whether they are sticking with the three cable (messenger, auxiliary, trolley) system or are going over to the traditional two cable (messenger, trolley/contact) system as found on most HV AC electrification systems, including in the the NHV - BOS section. I would hope that it is the latter, but one never knows until the proverbial fat lady sings I suppose.


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## PRR 60 (Dec 1, 2014)

jis said:


> BTW, now we have learned that only about two thirds of the route between County (Jersey Avenue) and Morris (Morrisville) will be upgraded to constant tension catenary. The rest will be upgraded to anchored catenary with shorter spans.


Uh oh!


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## jis (Dec 1, 2014)

Here is an interesting artcile of relevance to this thread from of all places the _Roads and Bridges_ magazine:

http://www.roadsbridges.com/high-speed-rail-update-slowing-down-look


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## neroden (Dec 23, 2014)

Revised for my own entertainment. The purpose of this for me is to keep track of *dates*, to see when I should expect things to open, to watch for early openings or delays. So I haven't included anything with really unclear schedules -- where I couldn't find a projected completion date, or where future groundbreaking dates seemed wildly speculative. This includes nearly everything done by the MBTA. If you've got a project I'm missing, please link me to a recent report with a projected completion date, or at least a groundbreaking date. Year is sufficient. I'm not looking past 2018, though.

Thank goodness, everything which was supposed to be done in 2014 on the last version of the list WAS actually done -- and the Vermonter reroute opened a bit early. Dearborn & Anaheim finally opened, too.

Improvements to "commuter" rail services are welcome on the list where the rail service provides service between cities. Improvements on lines Amtrak does not run on are in parentheses.

I included urban (within-city) rail improvements selectively: only where they provide new rail connections to the intercity network (so, an extension of HBLR to a new station qualifies, new rolling stock for HBLR doesn't). This is because I am looking at it from the point of view of "where can I get to by train without renting a car at the destination".

2015:

Supposedly last chance for Raton Pass route has passed, not that Amtrak seems to believe its own deadline

"first quarter": Texas Eagle reroute to TRE

"April": Holyoke MA supposed to start service

"June": West Detroit Junction project supposed to open

( http://www.masstransitmag.com/press_release/12006658/west-detroit-connector-rail-project-begins )

September: Holyoke MA station finished

"late": Rockford service

December: Springfield MA Union Station

December: Moline service

December: Durham to Morrisville NC double track

December 31: PTC deadline -- Amtrak, BNSF, Metrolink, SEPTA, NJT, expect to meet deadline

"before PTC implementation": SEPTA/CSX separation project on West Trenton Line should be completed

"end of": permanent Northampton and Greenfield MA platforms

Vermonter schedule supposed to become faster

Quad Cities trackwork on Iowa Interstate section supposed to start

Birmingham AL station supposed to open

Van Nuys-Chatworth double track supposed to start

Van Nuys second platform supposed to open

ACS-64 deliveries supposed to finish

Point Defiance Bypass supposed to start construction

Tacoma Trestle supposed to start construction

Raleigh Union Station supposed to start construction

Seattle King St. Station track improvements (next phase) supposed to start construction

Blaine WA Customs Siding. Delayed from 2014: final agreement with BNSF has been reached, but it hasn't been "designed" yet. Right.

(Kansas City Streetcar opens connecting to KC Union Station)

(Expo Line Phase II opens in LA connecting Santa Monica indirectly to LA Union Station)

(Chicago Central Loop bus lanes to separate buses from taxis/private cars expected in front of Union Station)

(Toronto airport train opens)

2016:

"early" and "before schedule": Niagara Falls station open

(last I read on this as this: http://newyork.construction.com/yb/ny/article.aspx?story_id=id:7r_eJk0eWkEu_MnHuidsTX8LYbV60RB2LqblwqXohD5wcJiYrnwsQu0usHCVlB8j )

Early if Amtrak doesn't renege on previous claims: SW Chief relocates to Transcon

"June": Bilevel corridor car "pilot car" delivery supposed to start

October: Thomasville to Lexington NC double track

"fall": 125 mph corridor diesel deliveries supposed to start (seems unlikely)

"fall": WA Toteff siding extension supposed to open

"end of": "Hartford Line" commuter rail in Connecticut supposed to open with several improved stations

late: New Milwaukee platforms and trainshed scheduled to open ("15-18" months from sometime after contract was awarded in June)

Rochester station supposed to open (contractor is The Pike Company)

Exton PA high platforms supposed to open

Viewliner deliveries supposed to finish

Indiana Gateway projects supposed to finish

(AAF proposed Miami-West Palm Beach service date; will probably be late)

(October or November: Detroit's M-1 streetcar opens connecting Amtrak station to downtown)

(Denver Union Station gets three more connecting urban rail lines)

(Sunrail Phase II opens and construction on those tracks finally finishes)

(Gold Line Foothills extension opens in LA)

(Seattle Link extension to University opens)

(Montreal "East" train opens)

2017:

"mid": 125 mph corridor diesel deliveries supposed to finish

May: Harrisburg NC to Charlotte double track

NY Trackwork supposed to be finished

MI Trackwork supposed to be finished

Schenectady station supposed to open

Rochester station expected to open

Point Defiance Bypass supposed to open

Tacoma Trestle replacement supposed to open

Seattle King St. Station track improvements supposed to open

WA "Kelso Martins Bluff new siding" and "Kelso to Longview Junction third main" supposed to open

Roanoke VA service supposed to start

Raleigh Union Station supposed to open to train service

Vermont Western Corridor (Albany-Burlington) year for opening if no more federal funding is received, according to the state department of transportation in 2012

Completion of Amtrak's NEC NJ HSR project between New Brunswick and Morrisville (including constant tension catenary)

NY Penn Station A interlocking ladder track realignment

Deadline for ARRA-funded improvements (such as a whole lot of Piedmont improvements as well as much of what's listed above)

(AAF proposed Miami-Orlando service date; will probably be late)

2018:

Bilevel corridor car deliveries supposed to finish

LA Union Station run-through tracks ("SCRIP") supposed to open

No dates, but definitely happening:

(NJT Raritan River bridge replacement on North Jersey Coast Line)

(MBTA upgrade to Fitchburg Line)

(MBTA upgrade to Fairmount Line)

(MBTA upgrade to Haverhill Line) (notice a trend here?)

(3rd track from Ragan to Yard interlocking project south of the Wilmington DE station on the NEC)

Funded but AFAICT indefinitely delayed:

Waterloo IN new platform

Kingston RI station 1.5 miles of 3rd track and high level platforms

RF&P line, 3rd track from Arkendale to Powells Creek

Constructed but indefinitely delayed:

Miami Central Station (airport station) for Amtrak


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## Paulus (Dec 23, 2014)

Metrolink's systemwide PTC revenue service demonstration (when it should all be up and running) is March 25, 2015. Metrolink's Perris Valley Line (really an extension of the 91 Line) should be open late 2015 as well.


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## neroden (Dec 24, 2014)

Thanks!


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## afigg (Jan 1, 2015)

neroden said:


> Funded but AFAICT indefinitely delayed:
> 
> Kingston RI station 1.5 miles of 3rd track and high level platforms


With the start of 2015, several updates:

From the Rhode Island FY2014 state fact sheet on the Kingston RI station: "Amtrak and its consultant have completed the design work and Amtrak is procuring a construction contractor starting in spring 2015, with work expected to be done in spring 2017." So another project to be done by 2017, thanks to the September 30, 2017 deadline for spending the HSIPR grants.

I was wondering about the status of the 2 new routes in IL and found this Illinois DOT passenger rail website. For Chicago to Quad Cities, service is now scheduled to start at the end of 2016 (project schedule link).

You should put the new Newark DE station under the "Funded but AFAICT indefinitely delayed:" list. The state and NS are haggling over the design and configuration for the NS rail yard from the most recent news report. I expect the new station will be built, but the completion date is likely to be delayed into 2018.


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## neroden (Jan 2, 2015)

I dug through all the Keystone stations from Harrisburg to Philadelphia. High platforms are funded (by PennDOT) for all of them except Parkesburg. Most of this is thanks to the new transportation funding bill signed in the waning days of the Corbett administration, which gives SEPTA a lot more to work with. The dates all look iffy, but PennDOT is aiming for 2018 or earlier for all of them except, as mentioned before, Parkesburg. Parkesburg is still planned but no dates and not actually funded.

-- Ardmore is supposed to start construction in 2015, with no specific target date for completion

-- Paoli was supposed to start construction in 2016 according to PennDOT with ADA compliance required by 2018 as per a lawsuit settlement. The representative from PennDOT said the lawsuit was the best thing that could have happened to the project!

-- Exton is supposed to start construction in 2015, no target completion date

-- Downingtown is being relocated: It's under "design and environmental assessment". There are no solid dates, but construction is guessed to begin in 2015 or 2016. Also fully funded.

-- Coatesville is being relocated, but only a little bit to the east. There's been a FONSI already, and it's fully funded with at least $20.7 million, but weirdly there are no dates; I'm not sure what the delay is (apparently "working on agreements with the city and other parties"), but PennDOT says it's definitely happening.

I also dug through the inspector general's report for ADA compliance. The following stations were supposed to have access constructed in FY 15:

Elko, NV

Glenwood Springs, CO

Marshall, TX -- I find that an elevator was installed in late 2013, so what's left should be platform & pathway work

Paoli, PA (note difference from PennDOT -- this may refer to early work)

Philadelphia-North, PA (really? Wow!)


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## wolfspirit (Jan 3, 2015)

If I remember correctly, Downingtown is being relocated because they can't put a high platform in it's current location (on top of the fact that there is barely 200 parking spaces, so it's practically useless as a commuter stop).

The last update I heard through the county grapevine was that the environmental studies were close enough to finished that they have begun working on obtaining the 100ish acres they are using. I wouldn't expect them to get that before 2016, so I would put odds on a new station in 2018-2019. Maybe then I can stop driving the extra miles to Exton because I have a chance at a parking space there, unlike Downingtown.

Stations aren't the first priority of the Act 89 funding (the RRD side of SEPTA is scarily bad), so lots of flash, little bang on their part of the keystone for a couple of years.

Also, why is Coatesville getting a new station before Parkesburg?


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## neroden (Jan 3, 2015)

You are correct about the primary reason for the Downingtown relocation; that's also why Coatesville is being moved, to get the platform off a curve.

I have no idea why Coatesville is getting a new station before Parkesburg, it just is. I think there's more local funding at Coatesville, perhaps. Asked about Parkesburg, PennDOT said (paraphrasing) "Unfortunately, we can't do 12 stations at once."

I know SEPTA has an *enormous* backlog on Regional Rail -- and furthermore, has to prioritize the Market-Frankford and Broad Street lines which carry significantly more people. It seems to me that Ardmore, Exton, and Paoli have been prioritized because of their overlap with the Amtrak route (meaning that they qualify for additional sources of funding).


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## afigg (Jan 4, 2015)

neroden said:


> I know SEPTA has an *enormous* backlog on Regional Rail -- and furthermore, has to prioritize the Market-Frankford and Broad Street lines which carry significantly more people. It seems to me that Ardmore, Exton, and Paoli have been prioritized because of their overlap with the Amtrak route (meaning that they qualify for additional sources of funding).


According to this fact sheet for the Paoli station phase 1 project, Amtrak is contributing $12 million and SEPTA $24 million. I imagine Amtrak is contributing funds to the Exton station project as well. Pretty sure that Amtrak has also committed funds for the Ardmore station high level platforms and accessibility parts of the station project, but that project appears to be stalled pending additional funding.

The funding responsibility for the eastern Keystone stations appears to be split with SEPTA taking the lead for the Ardmore, Paoli, Exton stations and PennDOT for Downingtown and west of it. The lawsuit for ADA compliance was beneficial by forcing the state and Amtrak to get serious about upgrading and modernizing the stations. If there is one category of passenger rail infrastructure projects that are prone to endless delays, it is station upgrades, modernization, or building a new replacement station. Station projects have a lot of stakeholders and interaction with local municipal planning boards, local governments, state transportation and highway agencies, and developers. The process usually goes into a circular loop of studies, public meetings, planning, and lining up the funding that go around and around with no real progress for years and years.

Amtrak has reportedly told Delaware that they want the new Newark DE station with high level platforms to be completed by 2018. If Amtrak is seeking to apply a 2018 deadline for high level platforms on the NEC at all stops, what does that mean for the Aberdeen, Mystic, Waverly stations? Maybe mini-highs at those stations to meet the level boarding and ADA requirements as an interim measure until those stations can get full length HLPs? The $50 million a year Amtrak is getting from Congress to bring stations to ADA compliance doesn't go very far when spread over the entire system.


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## neroden (Jan 4, 2015)

afigg said:


> Amtrak has reportedly told Delaware that they want the new Newark DE station with high level platforms to be completed by 2018. If Amtrak is seeking to apply a 2018 deadline for high level platforms on the NEC at all stops, what does that mean for the Aberdeen, Mystic, Waverly stations?


Hmm. Well, they all have lifts already.

I expect Mystic CT (23490/year, sharp curve, grade crossings on either end) will be put off and left with low platforms for some time.

Westerly RI (39186/year, significant curve) will be a hassle too.

Aberdeen MD (40160/year) is much more of a priority. It will probably be redone in conjunction with making room for quad-tracking. (As a local station; expresses couldn't stop.) There appear to be conceptual plans already, from 2012. Amtrak can also make MARC pay for part of it, given the way ADA rules are written.


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## Guest (Jan 4, 2015)

neroden said:


> afigg said:
> 
> 
> > Amtrak has reportedly told Delaware that they want the new Newark DE station with high level platforms to be completed by 2018. If Amtrak is seeking to apply a 2018 deadline for high level platforms on the NEC at all stops, what does that mean for the Aberdeen, Mystic, Waverly stations?
> ...


Aberdeen should be done by MARC and Maryland. MARC passengers use it the most by far.


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## neroden (Jan 5, 2015)

I did a little research into the state of the law, and basically, Amtrak's done what it's legally required to do by the ADA by installing the lifts. This is because the level boarding regulation was specifically stated only to apply to new construction (!!!) and not to the underlying mandate to make all intercity rail stations accessible (a confusing distinction).

This means that the Aberdeen station (etc.) can legally be left to rot, though if any further improvements are made, level boarding would have to be provided. I think Amtrak will wait for Maryland to pay for it.

There are some stations (17 according to the OIG's report) which specifically *require* new construction to become accessible even under the *previous* regulations. These are the stations where people in wheelchairs don't have an accessible path to the platform. (I'm not counting the ones where only the bathrooms are inaccessible, since in those cases, it's possible to only do construction on the bathrooms and ignore the rest of the station.) Of these 17, the ones under the control of a freight operator might not have level boarding installed. These are:

Ashland, VA

Buffalo Exchange Street NY

Clifton Forge VA

Elko NV (promised for 2015, see above)

Glenwood Springs CO

Harpers Ferry VA

Marshall TX (promised for 2015, see above)

Windsor-Mt Aschtney, VT

The remainder which are under the control of the passenger operator will definitely have to have level boarding installed when this mandatory construction is done. These are:

Coatesville PA (being done by PennDOT, see above)

Mount Joy PA (being done by PennDOT, see above)

Paoli PA (being done by PennDOT/SEPTA/Amtrak, see above)

Phildelphia-North PA (100% Amtrak responsibility, planned for 2015, see above)

Parkesburg PA (legal responsibility 100% Amtrak, but probably will be done by PennDOT)

Newark DE (legal responsbility shared by City of Newark, DELDOT, Amtrak, and possibly SEPTA)

Westerly RI (legal responsibility shared by State of Rhode Island & Amtrak)

Windsor CT (legal responsibility shared by Town of Windsor & Amtrak, but ConnDOT will probably get involved)

Windsor Locks CT (legal responsibility shared by ConnDOT & Amtrak)

After the Paoli lawsuit settlement, I would expect Amtrak to prioritize work on these most-inaccessible stations in an attempt to avert further lawsuits. Amtrak plans to complete designs for 13 of the 17 stations by the end of 2015. The 4 exceptions are Mt. Joy (which PennDOT is doing), Coatesville (which PennDOT is doing), Buffalo-Exchange St. and Windsor-Mt Aschtney VT. Those last two are merely supposed to be "assessed" in 2015. I don't know why Amtrak is moving so slowly on them, but I would expect Amtrak to push to get them done ASAP, probably before 2018.


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## CHamilton (Jan 5, 2015)

There is a good list of transit projects that will be coming online or under construction in 2015 at

Openings and Construction Starts Planned for 2015

Unfortunately, NARP has not done their annual "Wheels of Progress" list of rail projects for several years.


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## afigg (Jan 5, 2015)

neroden said:


> I did a little research into the state of the law, and basically, Amtrak's done what it's legally required to do by the ADA by installing the lifts. This is because the level boarding regulation was specifically stated only to apply to new construction (!!!) and not to the underlying mandate to make all intercity rail stations accessible (a confusing distinction).
> 
> This means that the Aberdeen station (etc.) can legally be left to rot, though if any further improvements are made, level boarding would have to be provided. I think Amtrak will wait for Maryland to pay for it.
> 
> ...


Digging it up, the feasibility study for the Aberdeen station that was published in 2012 calls for 4 tracks at the location (from the current 3) with the tracks shifted 5 to 10 feet to the east to reduce the spiral curve with the track spacing increased to 16 feet to allow 160 mph speeds for the center tracks (link to the MARC Aberdeen document page). The exact alignment at Aberdeen is likely coupled to the specific alignment and design selected for the replacement 4 track Susquehanna bridge. The Aberdeen station would undergo a major upgrade with 12 car long high level platforms. These are long term plans, not near term. Since any high level platforms built at the current Aberdeen station would have to be torn out in 10-20 years and would present issues with NS freight traffic, my guess is that Amtrak and MdDOT will install mini-high platforms to satisfy the ADA requirements in the interim. Aberdeen > 7,500 passengers a year, so by Amtrak's stated guidelines, it should get at least a mini-high instead of a lift. The mini-highs won't cost much and can be removed when that segment of the NEC is upgraded to 4 tracks, although that is likely to take decades.

As for the stations on the eastern Keystone, we are lucky that PA is a passenger rail supportive state and that the state legislature & Governor passed the gas tax and transportation funding increase in 2013, so PennDOT is able to step up and provide $200 million for the station upgrades. If it was not for the gas tax increase, PennDOT would not been able to contribute much funding and Amtrak would have to either drop some station stops or take capital funds from other projects.


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## wolfspirit (Jan 5, 2015)

So I went out on a hike, hopped a few fences, and wandered into the abandonded paper mill that is going to be the new Downingtown station area. They've very recently begun demolition work on some of the buildings (the ones furthest from the tracks), and all of the for sale signs have been taken down. The houses in the block around the station have been condemned, and new retail is supposed to go in that location (according to the signage). If I can get my phone to cooperate, I should have a couple of pictures.

According to the SEPTA improvements site, Exton starts construction in Spring 2015, completion in Winter 2017. Paoli & Downingtown aren't listed on the site. I'm not sure what that means beyond SEPTA probably isn't lead on those projects. (http://www.septa.org/rebuilding/index.html)


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## Anderson (Jan 5, 2015)

Buffalo-Exchange Street might well be on the back burner because of the presence of Buffalo-Depew. On the other hand, Windsor-Mt. Ascutney has such low ridership (1197 in FY14) that I could seriously see Amtrak responding to a lawsuit by just shutting the station down (which is one of those unintended consequences of things like this). Unlike Buffalo-Exchange Street, Windsor-Mt. Ascutney probably just isn't worth any serious expense on Amtrak's part unless Vermont (or WIndsor) also play a role.


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## neroden (Jan 5, 2015)

Anderson said:


> Windsor-Mt. Ascutney probably just isn't worth any serious expense on Amtrak's part unless Vermont (or WIndsor) also play a role.


Looking at it, the problem is that there's no platform at all (just an asphalt patch substantially below top-of-rail, and probably of uneven height), and presumably there's nowhere to safely store a lift.

The ridership is low enough that it could be converted into a flagstop; flagstops are completely exempt from the regulations. With an average of 1.6 passengers per train, it probably has *no* passengers some of the time and probably *should* be a flagstop.

If Vermont wanted to really do a nice job with this station, I'd suggest that they buy the temporary wooden platform at Northampton or Greenfield after said platform is decommissioned -- that would be more than sufficient!


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## Anderson (Jan 6, 2015)

Making it a flag stop is probably a good call, and even switching it to a flag stop and changing it back later would buy a lot of time. It's really a shame that there's not a blanket exemption for stations with less than a certain level of patronage...stops like this (with <10 passengers per day) are ones that it becomes a lot more plausible to just cut service to rather than to comply with ADA requirements.

This isn't to say that accessibility isn't a good long-term goal; it's just that, given scarce resources, there are a number of lightly-used stops that it just doesn't make sense for Amtrak to fix up. There are a slew of stops like this on the Adirondack, though surprisingly few in Vermont (using 10 pax/day as a threshold, you only have one other stop in VT, plus Claremont in NH that would qualify in New England; Framingham would if it weren't also on an MBTA line).


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## Bus Nut (Jan 6, 2015)

Anderson, the kind of calculations you are talking about make sense from a utilitarian point of view. Possibly such a balance could have been sought in a collaborative matter between advocates for the disabled and public transportation officials two generations ago. Instead, transportation leaders dug in and made contemptuous comments to the effect that transit patrons did not wish to look at disabled people. The result was Radical Crips waging a successful war against The Man in DC and getting Congress to pass sweeping regulations on common carriers including Amtrak during 1987-1990 period (ADA is the culmination but the transit rules actually became law in the years running up to it). The result was rights-based legislation that doesn't take into account monetary, physical, even mathematical limitations to transit resources because transportation leaders took themselves out of the conversation. Enforcement is not through a federal agency that might, over time, adjust to the subjects of its enforcement and their needs (see: USDA, also known as regulatory capture) but rather through the law courts and judges so far have pretty much upheld the scheme as originally outlined.

If Amtrak has the option to alter this stop to FS they probably should. The community there needs to take some responsibility to develop the station in such a way as to enhance ridership and ensure their community's access to rail long term.


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## Anderson (Jan 6, 2015)

And honestly, with apologies to Charlie, IMHO it has turned some disability activists into the bad guys. This is a sore spot for me because the broad utilitarian considerations in a number of cases argue for trying to serve as many people as possible and accepting that, in some limited circumstances, not everyone can be served in the same way. I agree that an effort should be made in all cases where it might bear fruit, but at the same time there are cases where for a mix of reasons you simply _can't_ make something work. Usually it involves historic buildings or, in what we're discussing, extremely rural stops that either get non-compliant service for a very long time or no service at all.

One thing I do wonder is whether, in some of these cases, "reasonable accommodation" might not include arranging a cost-defrayed (or even free) shuttle to a compliant stop assuming some advance notice. There's a good chance that in a few cases it would be cheaper to operate said service for a few decades than to fix a given station with exceedingly thin ridership (since you might be arranging the cab a few dozen times per year...for example, running a complementary $50 cab 25 times a year (probably a reasonable, if not high, guess at a stop with <2000 riders/year) would be cheaper than the _interest _on a $100,000 fix.


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## andersone (Jan 6, 2015)

I am very sensitive to disability issues, having spent almost two years of my life on crutches or in a wheel chair. In my youth (in the 60's) I had to walk up six flights of stairs to go to school on crutches for almost a year. They let me be "late" to class without consequences. In the last seven years I have been wheelchair / crutch bound for almost another year (in variant stretches) and have been amazed at the difference in accommodation. I didn't ask to be this way, I am this way. In a former life I was involved in public construction, and even things like levers instead of knobs on a door can make a big difference. I have no problem with the ADA premise new construction being the trigger. It is where we are going not where we have been,


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## Anderson (Jan 6, 2015)

andersone said:


> I am very sensitive to disability issues, having spent almost two years of my life on crutches or in a wheel chair. In my youth (in the 60's) I had to walk up six flights of stairs to go to school on crutches for almost a year. They let me be "late" to class without consequences. In the last seven years I have been wheelchair / crutch bound for almost another year (in variant stretches) and have been amazed at the difference in accommodation. I didn't ask to be this way, I am this way. In a former life I was involved in public construction, and even things like levers instead of knobs on a door can make a big difference. I have no problem with the ADA premise new construction being the trigger. It is where we are going not where we have been,


Yes, except when you end up with things like platforms not being repaved or buildings not being renovated because it might trigger the "new construction" requirements. I'm not going to put too fine a point on it, but you've got some platforms and stations that are, quite frankly, crap out there. Osceola, Iowa comes to mind...beautiful old building with all the latest amenities of the 1930s. The heater barely keeps the station warm, for example (though that might just be Iowa)...but I suspect that doing too much would trigger the "new construction" rule and you'd see a small fortune going into widening doors and the like if _anything_ is done.

The problem with that premise is that it has triggered a bunch of cases where, instead of someone biting the bullet and doing all the improvements, things basically have to degrade to being utterly unacceptable before any improvements can happen.


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## jis (Jan 6, 2015)

There may be a parallel between this and the 79mph rule. The theory was that if automatic trains stop or cab signal was required to run at above 79mph then railroads would install such. The result was that the railroads retrenched running above 79mph.


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## neroden (Jan 7, 2015)

You want to know why the ADA is as harsh as it is? New York City.

New York City is *still* refusing to provide accessibility in new construction (totally illegal) even when they are completely rebuilding subway stations from the steel frame up. They have to be sued every single time to get them to do things which they should have been doing as a matter of course. NYC announced a completely inaccessible "Taxi of Tommorow" -- utterly gratuitous inaccessibility -- and had to get sued into compliance.

As long as we have scofflaw governments like New York City which will not make reasonable accomodations, the law is going to stay harsh.

Disability advocates are usually pretty reasonable people, but getting grossly mistreated for decades can get people to dig in their heels.

Amtrak fell into the same category as New York City (flagrant discriminatory behavior) for a long time, and it only changed when Boardman became President.

The Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 was already in effect when Amtrak was *created*, and yet Amtrak altered stations without providing wheelchair access for decades afterwards. (Meanwhile, the entire Washington Metro was built wheelchair accessible.)

When the ADA was passed in 1992, commuter rail and urban rail were given relatively soft requirements: they mostly only have to provide access during new construction or major renovation, and there's a "too expensive" rule. There's also a "key stations" rule, but it's quite generous; it was based on the lawsuit settlements with New York and Philadelphia for their previous non-compliance with the law, but had lower requirements for most other cities. (Since then, Philadelphia has become cool and behaves itself quite well, as does every other urban rail system in the US except New York. Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago are now working on going beyond the legal requirements and making ALL stations fully accessible. Philadelphia in particular has a rather spectacular backlog of work, but they're incorporating accessibility into all of it.)

So in 1992, Amtrak was required to make all stations except whistlestops accessible, which was a rather harsher requirement than applied to the urban rail systems; this was probably partly because Amtrak's stations are much easier to make compliant than subway stations, and partly due to Amtrak's failure to comply with the Architectural Barriers Act for 20 years. However, decades were given to accomplish this. In this time, multiple successive Amtrak administrations made *precisely no effort at all* to achieve compliance, zero, nada.

Pretty much every Amtrak CEO prior to Boardman shares blame for this, even the sainted Claytor.

Finally, Boardman became President in 2008. Since then, starting *immediately* after Boardman became President, Amtrak has been making extremely reasonable efforts to provide disabled access. (Good for Boardman.) But the decades-long record of total disregard has led to some bad blood. Any complaints from Amtrak that it's "too much work" are met with the response "Well, if you'd just started back in 1971, you'd be done by now..."


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## neroden (Jan 7, 2015)

Anderson said:


> Osceola, Iowa comes to mind...beautiful old building with all the latest amenities of the 1930s. The heater barely keeps the station warm, for example (though that might just be Iowa)...but I suspect that doing too much would trigger the "new construction" rule and you'd see a small fortune going into widening doors and the like if _anything_ is done.


That's not really how it works. The general "new construction" rule is triggered per-area. There are also some "path of travel" rules. So if you rebuild the platform, you have to make the platform accessible, and provide an accessible path to the platform, but you're not required to touch the building. If you replace the heating system for the building, you're only required to comply with ADA in the heating system changes... but if you rip the floors out to replace the heating system, then you have to put in accessible floors. If you replace the bathrooms, you have to make the bathrooms accessible, and also provide a path of travel *to* the bathrooms. You get the idea, I hope.

There are also some prioritization rules: if you have funds for a general overhaul, you're required to make the path from the entryway or parking lot to the "primary function area" accessible first (so that people can get on the train); then the path to the "secondary function areas" (buy tickets, check luggage); then the bathrooms, then worry about everything else. This is based on what causes the most disruption for disabled people.

Amtrak is on a sharp learning curve due to having made absolutely zero effort at ADA compliance prior to 2008. But I think honestly they've been doing pretty well since then, considering that 2009 was the first year they even assigned anyone the job of trying to make the system accessible.


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## Anderson (Jan 7, 2015)

New York City is a piece of...work...in many respects, and I'd add this to the list. Actually, there seems to be a connection between big cities and very bad municipal behavior (Meigs Field, anyone?).

As jis said, I suspect there's a parallel between this and the 79 MPH rule (and indeed with some other rules out there as well).

I do get the idea (though the concept of "accessible floors" seems a bit odd to me) and thanks for pointing that out. However, the point does stand that while there are stations that are fully accessible (some if only by accident or by third-party handling) there are others that are basically non-workable. I think there's a valid example in the Deland platform: The ends of the platform are obviously aged (the far southern end of the platform hasn't had the track ballast rocks cleared in a long time as far as I can tell) and in sore need of a repaving effort...but if I'm not mistaken repaving would require putting in at least one mini-high platforms (going to an all-high-platform layout is a non-starter due to SunRail). It is quite possible that this will happen when SunRail comes in, but there are a ton of stations in the South with massive platforms (as far as I can tell, most of the platforms were set up for trains that ran up to 18 cars long) that could definitely stand to be repaved (and/or have their layouts fixed, as Amtrak noted in the Silvers' PIP...and to say nothing of the number of platforms with leaking roofs and the like).


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## neroden (Jan 7, 2015)

Anderson said:


> (though the concept of "accessible floors" seems a bit odd to me)


Well, there are some floors which are (a) not anywhere close to flat, (b) have random steps scattered in the middle of them, (c ) have large gaps/cracks between tiles or between boards creating a trip hazard for the mobility-impaired, (d) are extremely slippery when wet, etc.... these are non-accessible. Most of these ought to be fixed by OSHA regulations anyway, but the ADA regulations would apply too.


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## afigg (Jan 7, 2015)

neroden said:


> So in 1992, Amtrak was required to make all stations except whistlestops accessible, which was a rather harsher requirement than applied to the urban rail systems; this was probably partly because Amtrak's stations are much easier to make compliant than subway stations, and partly due to Amtrak's failure to comply with the Architectural Barriers Act for 20 years. However, decades were given to accomplish this. In this time, multiple successive Amtrak administrations made *precisely no effort at all* to achieve compliance, zero, nada.
> 
> Pretty much every Amtrak CEO prior to Boardman shares blame for this, even the sainted Claytor.
> 
> Finally, Boardman became President in 2008. Since then, starting *immediately* after Boardman became President, Amtrak has been making extremely reasonable efforts to provide disabled access. (Good for Boardman.) But the decades-long record of total disregard has led to some bad blood. Any complaints from Amtrak that it's "too much work" are met with the response "Well, if you'd just started back in 1971, you'd be done by now..."


Before the 2008 PRIIA act and the inclusion of dedicated annual funding allotments for ADA compliance, how much funding did Congress provide over the years to Amtrak to upgrade stations and the system for ADA? With little or no directed funding for ADA, against an always long to do list of repair and capital projects to keep the system running, and no real enforcement of ADA compliance from Congress, upgrading stations for ADA compliance is going to lose out in the budget decisions.

In 2009, Amtrak received the $1.3 billion in stimulus funds, some of which Boardman spent on ADA compliance. Then it started receiving funding directed for ADA compliance, $144 million in FY10, and typically $50 million most FYs since. So Boardman had funding he had to spend on achieving ADA compliance, rather than general capital that gets diverted to other critical projects. With directed ADA funding and a deadline for compliance, that both forced Amtrak to get serious about it and to motivate state & local agencies to start to upgrade the stations. The funding that Amtrak is getting is not nearly enough by itself, but by being able to offer to pay for part of the station upgrade, say $5 million for the platforms and compliant access to the platforms, that nudges the state or local agencies to put up matching amounts to refurb or improve the rest of the station facility. Why only replace the platform if the station building is a dump? It takes a lot of time to get going as Amtrak has to wait on the local and state players to do the studies, agree on who pays for what, and then allocate funds for it in their annual or multi-year budget cycles.

The 2015 deadline set in 2008/2009 won't be met but Congress inserts impractical underfunded deadlines that are not met all the time. The 2018 deadline that Amtrak is working to won't be completely met either. Too many stations and local & state agencies to deal with. Hopefully, Congress will keep providing $50 million a a year for ADA compliance for the next 5-6 years so progress can continue. The net benefit is not just achieving ADA accessibility for most stations, but fixing up and improving a lot of run-down platforms and stations across the system that otherwise would have continued to crumble. I think by the end of this decade that the overall state (and intermodal transit connectivity) of Amtrak stations will be much better than it was prior to the 2008 PRIIA act and the injection of stimulus, HSIPR, TIGER grant funding.


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## afigg (Jan 16, 2015)

Hey, CSX has started work to install the 3 crossovers on the A-Line that were funded in the initial round of HSIPR grant awards in 2010. NC DOT press release: Series of Railroad Construction Projects Start in January in three Eastern NC Locations. Content:



> RALEIGH-This month, CSX, in partnership with NCDOT, will begin construction on a series of projects to build universal crossovers on the CSX A-line in three eastern North Carolina locations: South Weldon, Enfield, and Rocky Mount. Construction at the three project locations will include grading, drainage improvements, track, and signal construction.
> 
> The Enfield project will be constructed just to the south of downtown Enfield in Halifax County, spanning a distance of approximately one mile from south of Burnette Street to south to Plant Street. Vehicle traffic will not likely be impacted during construction, but trains will have to travel slower through the area while work is underway.
> 
> ...


Er, three Amtrak trains operate through Enfield? I count 4 daily train services.


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## afigg (Jan 28, 2015)

neroden said:


> Funded but AFAICT indefinitely delayed:
> 
> ...
> 
> RF&P line, 3rd track from Arkendale to Powells Creek


 Virginia DRPT has revamped their website and now has updated info pages on their major rail initiatives. Link to Arkendale to Powell's Creek entry, Content:



> Arkendale to Powells Creek, located in Stafford and Prince William Counties, is the first Virginia part of the Southeast High Speed Rail (SEHSR) Corridor to begin construction. The purpose of the project is to accommodate higher speed passenger rail travel while minimizing interference with freight traffic. The project will consist of 11.4 miles of third track, which will be constructed adjacent to the existing CSX main line. Construction will encompass additional tracks, siding, turnouts, a new platform at Quantico Station, and replacement or modifications to Bauer Road Bridge at the Marine Corps Base Quantico. The work will also include relocation of applicable utilities, earthworks, drainage structures, retaining walls and all associated signal and communications work as needed.
> 
> DRPT is the recipient of a $74.8 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) Federal Railroad Administration grant. CSX (DRPTs subgrantee for the project) entered into a design-build contract in mid-2014 with KC Constructors, a consortium of Kiewitt Infrastructure and Corman Construction. Rummel Klepper and Kahl (RKK) will handle all design work. All construction work is required to be finished by the middle of 2017, per the grant requirement.


So CSX is under contract and a design-build sub-contract has been awarded. Another project that will likely be completed in 2017, mainly because that is the spend it or lose it deadline on the ARRA grant award.


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## west point (Jan 28, 2015)

Its not 4 trains a day each way but 5. Meteor, Star, Palmetto, Carolinian, Auto Train


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## jis (Jan 29, 2015)

afigg said:


> Er, three Amtrak trains operate through Enfield? I count 4 daily train services.


Funny that NCDOT forgot that they have one of their own trains running through there in addition to the Florida trains. Also they forgot to count the Palmetto which of course runs only down to Georgia, not Florida, through Fayetteville.
So yeah, total through Enfield is 5!


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## afigg (May 13, 2015)

During a bad day for Amtrak on the NEC, at least there is some good news with regards to progress on system improvements in the east. There was an official ground-breaking ceremony on May 8 for the project to build the new Amtrak station in Raleigh NC. Progressive Railroading: NCDOT kicks off Raleigh Union Station construction. Excerpt:



> Construction has begun on a new passenger-rail station in downtown Raleigh, N.C., the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) announced late last week.
> 
> NCDOT Secretary Tony Tata joined North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane at a groundbreaking event May 8 for what will be the new Raleigh Union Station.
> 
> Slated to open in 2017, the $79.8 million facility will replace the existing Cabarrus Street Amtrak Station, which is often overcrowded, NCDOT officials said. It also lacks the adequate platform size for longer trains.


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## neroden (May 14, 2015)

Good news! I was beginning to think they'd never actually start building the new Raleigh station. (Like the unfortunate situation in Charlotte where years of planning for the CSX/NS grade separation have ended up being cancelled completely.)


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## wolfspirit (May 14, 2015)

I have lunch next week with my SEPTA friend, I'll see what other grapevine I might be able to share about the shared keystone stations then. I know they have put up signage at the Exton station showing the new designs and what to expect during construction. However, nothing at Paoli (and boy does that station look horrible since they stopped bothering to paint, clean up the crumbling concrete roofs, etc.) about the construction that needs to happen soon. Downingtown is going to build a pedestrian bridge between the old Downingtown station parking lot, and the new one across the brandywine creek. They've also painted 1-call all over the area around the new downingtown station location, so hopefully that means they are doing bigger demolition work.


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## neroden (May 15, 2015)

wolfspirit said:


> They've also painted 1-call


Please explain what this means -- When I google "1-call" I don't get anything informative.


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## Aaron (May 15, 2015)

I'm guessing markings for underground utilities. Probably it's a regional term for something we call "blue stakes" out here. Basically a state sponsored phone number where a property owner or contractor calls, and then requests are sent to all of the various utilities in the area to come out and spray paint where their lines are running so no one inadvertently digs them up.


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## Ryan (May 15, 2015)

Same thing is called "Miss Utility" around here.


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## afigg (May 15, 2015)

wolfspirit said:


> I have lunch next week with my SEPTA friend, I'll see what other grapevine I might be able to share about the shared keystone stations then. I know they have put up signage at the Exton station showing the new designs and what to expect during construction. However, nothing at Paoli (and boy does that station look horrible since they stopped bothering to paint, clean up the crumbling concrete roofs, etc.) about the construction that needs to happen soon. Downingtown is going to build a pedestrian bridge between the old Downingtown station parking lot, and the new one across the brandywine creek. They've also painted 1-call all over the area around the new downingtown station location, so hopefully that means they are doing bigger demolition work.


SEPTA has posted their proposed FY2016 capital budget which shows spending plans projected out 12 years (next 6 years in more detail, the back-end 6 years as a lump FY2021 - FY2027 period). The Phase 1 construction of high level platforms and ADA upgrades for Paoli is from CY 2016 to 2018, so construction is not scheduled to start until next year. Phase 2 for the station replacement, an additional high level platform on the north side, parking garage is planned for FY2021-FY2027, so perhaps Amtrak should do some painting and repair for the station building to keep it from falling apart while waiting for Phase 2.

Phase 1 construction for the Exton station is scheduled for 2015 to 2017 as is Phase 1 for Ardmore so there should be signs of work at those stations for new platforms and ADA upgrades this year. I think Downington is entirely an PennDOT & Amtrak project as it does not show up in the SEPTA capital budget. SEPTA should be praised for its capital budget document. Does a good job of explaining the projects, the overall scope of work, and is quite readable. Other transit agencies in the Northeast could use to follow SEPTA's example in laying out to the public where out the funding is going.


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## neroden (May 15, 2015)

The Paoli schedule sounds like it's right on track with the ADA lawsuit settlement agreement. Design had to be finished by roughly March 2016, construction finished by roughly September 2018. (There's an additional allowance for permit delays.)


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## afigg (Jun 4, 2015)

NC DOT Rail Division has posted a June 2015 newsletter on the status of their Piedmont corridor projects and SEHSR studies. NCDOT news release page with a link to the 6 page PDF report: NCDOT Releases June Rail Report.

The relevant part for the "next few years" is the project schedule status as of the end of April on page 4 with project construction photos on pages 5 & 6. There are a bunch of projects, so the timeline is useful to get an overview of when they are supposed to wrap up.

As of April 30, 2015, NC has spent $244.7 million of $520 million, so they have still have a lot of construction money to spend. For 2015, the Duke Curve realignment has been completed and a grade separation project at Hopson road with a new RR bridge over the road is due to be put in service in June. The bulk of the track and grade separation improvement projects are slated to be completed in 2016 with the new Charlotte Maintenance Facility in early 2017. So during the course of 2016, the Piedmonts and Carolinian should begin to really reap the benefits from the ARRA NC grants.


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## neroden (Jun 5, 2015)

Revised for my own entertainment. The purpose of this for me is to keep track of *dates*, to see when I should expect things to open, to watch for early openings or delays. So I haven't included much with really unclear schedules (though see the end of the list) -- where I couldn't find a projected completion date, or where future groundbreaking dates seemed wildly speculative. This includes nearly everything done by the MBTA. If you've got a project I'm missing, please link me to a recent report with a projected completion date, or at least a groundbreaking date. Year is sufficient. I'm not looking past 2018, though.

Since the last list, a bunch of stuff has been delayed. Again. Very little has opened when it was supposed to, though some of the NC rail improvements have. And Tri-Rail finally made it into Miami Central (Airport) Station, but not Amtrak.

Improvements to "commuter" rail services are welcome on the list where the rail service provides service between cities. Improvements on lines Amtrak does not run on are in parentheses.

I included urban (within-city) rail improvements selectively: only where they provide new rail connections to the intercity network (so, an extension of HBLR to a new station qualifies, new rolling stock for HBLR doesn't). This is because I am looking at it from the point of view of "where can I get to by train without renting a car at the destination".

2015:

"spring": hotel power at Albany-Rensselaer

July: Blaine WA Customs Siding.

"August": Holyoke MA supposed to start service

"October": 4th platform track, platform lengthenings, & track rearrangement at Albany-Rensselaer supposed to be done

December: Durham to Morrisville NC double track

December 31: PTC deadline -- Amtrak, BNSF, Metrolink, SEPTA, NJT, expect to meet deadline

"before PTC implementation": SEPTA/CSX separation project on West Trenton Line should be completed

"end of": permanent Northampton and Greenfield MA platforms

Hopson Road, Nelson to Clegg (NC)

Vermonter schedule supposed to become faster

Birmingham AL station supposed to open

Van Nuys-Chatworth double track supposed to start

Van Nuys second platform supposed to open

ACS-64 deliveries supposed to finish

Point Defiance Bypass supposed to start construction

Tacoma Trestle supposed to start construction

Raleigh Union Station supposed to start construction

Seattle King St. Station track improvements (next phase) supposed to start construction

(Kansas City Streetcar opens connecting to KC Union Station)

(Expo Line Phase II opens in LA connecting Santa Monica indirectly to LA Union Station)

(Toronto airport train opens)

2016:

"early" and "before schedule": Niagara Falls station open

(last I read on this as this: http://newyork.construction.com/yb/ny/article.aspx?story_id=id:7r_eJk0eWkEu_MnHuidsTX8LYbV60RB2LqblwqXohD5wcJiYrnwsQu0usHCVlB8j -- does anyone have any updates? This would be a big deal.)

"early": CSX completes crossovers on A-Line (Silver Service route)

"June": Bilevel corridor car "pilot car" delivery supposed to start

midyear: Miami Central Station (airport station) opens for Amtrak... supposedly! (Extreme shaggy dog story)

"fall": 125 mph corridor diesel deliveries supposed to start (seems unlikely)

"fall": WA Toteff siding extension supposed to open

"fall": Springfield MA Union Station (delayed yet again, quite the shaggy dog story)

"end of"/"late": "Hartford Line" commuter rail in Connecticut supposed to open with several improved stations

late: New Milwaukee platforms and trainshed scheduled to open ("15-18" months from sometime after contract was awarded in June)

Thomasville to Lexington NC double track

Graham to Haw River (NC)

Morrisville Parkway (NC)

McLeansville Road (NC)

Salisbury to Kannapolis (NC)

Raleigh Union Station (NC)

Rochester station supposed to open (contractor is The Pike Company)

New Joliet (IL) Union Station expected to be complete

Exton PA high platforms supposed to open

Viewliner deliveries supposed to finish

Indiana Gateway projects supposed to finish

("spring": off-street bus center at Chicago Union Station supposed to open, with direct elevators)

("early summer": Chicago Loop Link bus lanes to separate buses from taxis/private cars expected in front of Union Station)

(fall: "Boston Landing" station opens on MBTA)

(AAF proposed Miami-West Palm Beach service date; will probably be late)

(October or November: Detroit's M-1 streetcar opens connecting Amtrak station to downtown)

(Denver Union Station gets three more connecting urban rail lines)

(Sunrail Phase II opens and construction on those tracks finally finishes)

(Gold Line Foothills extension opens in LA)

(Seattle Link extension to University opens)

(Montreal "East" train opens)

2017:

"spring": Kingston RI station 1.5 miles of 3rd track and high level platforms (ARRA deadline)

"mid": 125 mph corridor diesel deliveries supposed to finish

NY Trackwork supposed to be finished

MI Trackwork supposed to be finished

Schenectady station supposed to open

Rochester station expected to open

Point Defiance Bypass supposed to open

Tacoma Trestle replacement supposed to open

Seattle King St. Station track improvements supposed to open

Exton PA new station supposed to be done

Ardmore PA new station rumored to be supposed to be done

WA "Kelso Martins Bluff new siding" and "Kelso to Longview Junction third main" supposed to open

Roanoke VA service supposed to start

Harrisburg NC to Charlotte double track

Charlotte NC maintenance facility

Vermont Western Corridor (Albany-Burlington) year for opening if no more federal funding is received, according to the state department of transportation in 2012 (may be delayed, of course)

Completion of Amtrak's NEC NJ HSR project between New Brunswick and Morrisville (including constant tension catenary)

NY Penn Station A interlocking ladder track realignment

Deadline for ARRA-funded improvements (such as a whole lot of Piedmont improvements as well as much of what's listed above)

(AAF proposed Miami-Orlando service date; will probably be late)

2018:

Bilevel corridor car deliveries supposed to finish

LA Union Station run-through tracks ("SCRIP") supposed to open

New Paoli station (required by lawsuit settlement!)

No dates, but definitely happening:

Downingtown PA new station (fully funded)

Coatesville PA new station (fully funded)

Mt Joy PA new station (fully funded)

(NJT Raritan River bridge replacement on North Jersey Coast Line)

(MBTA upgrade to Fitchburg Line)

(MBTA upgrade to Fairmount Line)

(MBTA upgrade to Haverhill Line) (notice a trend here?)

(3rd track from Ragan to Yard interlocking project south of the Wilmington DE station on the NEC)

Funded but AFAICT indefinitely delayed:

Waterloo IN new platform

RF&P line, 3rd track from Arkendale to Powells Creek

Texas Eagle reroute to TRE

Newark DE new station

Rockford service (delayed by Governor Rauner of IL)

Moline service (delayed by Governor Rauner of IL)

Quad Cities trackwork on Iowa Interstate section supposed to start (delayed by Governor Rauner of IL)

West Detroit Junction project (haven't heard any news of this actually being constructed)

FWIW, I think 2016 is likely to look good for Amtrak financially, assuming no more sabotage by host railroads. 2015 won't look good.


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## afigg (Jun 5, 2015)

neroden said:


> No dates, but definitely happening:
> 
> .....
> 
> ...


A few comments and items for the list.
No dates, but definitely happening:

Should add Middletown, PA new station for the eastern Keystone corridor set.

(MBTA upgrade to Haverhill Line) (notice a trend here?) - There was a recent newspaper report in a on-going thread on the work being done (or mostly not being done) on the Haverhill Line in the MBTA forum on railroad.net that the double track and signal upgrades work was expected to be largely complete by the end of 2015. But the news report was somewhat confusing, in large part I think because the MBTA put little effort into keeping local officials and the public informed for that project. We shall see if the MBTA under new management becomes a more transparent agency.

RF&P line, 3rd track from Arkendale to Powell's Creek: The contract for this has been awarded and it has by mid-2017 completion date. DRPT status page.

Another RF&P 3rd track project that is a VRE project is adding 2.5 miles of 3rd track south of Frederickburg to be completed in 2015. DRPT summary. This is part of the project to add a new Spotsylvania VRE station south of Frederickburg. I expect there will be some small benefit to Amtrak as the VRE trains head south from Frederickburg to/from the VRE rail yard and the 3rd track for the VRE trains should help decongest that segment.

Under transit openings in 2017, should add MBTA Green Line extension from Lechmere to Washington Street and Union Square which is scheduled to start revenue service by the end of 2017 under Phase 2/2A. The rest of the Green Line extension to College Avenue (Tufts Univ) is scheduled for 2020, so that falls beyond your 2018 cutoff. Green Line Extension About page.

I don't know what the status is in Illinois with regards to the service expansions. A google search shows that the state legislature ignored the Governor and fully funded the $42 million for the Amtrak operating subsidy for the next fiscal year, but that Rauner and the legislature are still fighting over the budget.


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## leemell (Jun 5, 2015)

Van Nuys Platform and double tracking from Raymer to Chatsworth will have the RFP released this Fall. SCRIP RFP next year and finish in 2018.


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## jis (Jun 5, 2015)

Also:

SunRail Phase IIa to Poinciana fully funded likely late 2017

SunRail Phase IIb to Deland, certain but dates YTBD possibly 2018

SunRail to Orlando Airport, almost certain, date somewhere between 2020 and 2022.


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## R30A (Jun 5, 2015)

NYCTA 7 West Side Extension- February 24 2015 (obviously delayed, but that was the last date given. Looks like sometime late summer.)
NYCTA Second Avenue Subway Phase 1(57/7-96/2)- December 31 2016 (so far it appears this might happen on (current) schedule!)


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## WoodyinNYC (Jun 5, 2015)

R30A said:


> NYCTA 7 West Side Extension- ... (obviously delayed ...)
> 
> NYCTA Second Avenue Subway Phase 1(57/7-96/2)- December 31 2016


The blog Second Avenue Sagas today posted that the 7 line extension would open in Sept or Oct.

Today the SAS blog described the Dec 2016 opening date of the Second Avenue Subway Phase 1 as "the party line."

SAS has previously reported that the federal (part-) funders of the new line do NOT expect it to open in 2016 iirc.

Damn. I voted for bonds to build the Second Avenue subway not long after I moved to NYC in 1966. Will I live to ride even the Phase One first mile and a half? Well, not to seem too impatient. Others have been waiting since the 1920s. But meanwhile, no funding source in sight for Phase 2 up to 125th St in Harlem, much less for Phase 3 and 4 heading downtown.


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## WoodyinNYC (Jun 5, 2015)

Aaron said:


> I'm guessing markings for underground utilities. Probably it's a regional term for something we call "blue stakes" out here. Basically a state sponsored phone number where a property owner or contractor calls, and then requests are sent to all of the various utilities in the area to come out and spray paint where their lines are running so no one inadvertently digs them up.


I was guessing a 1-800-number, a general alert. If you see a problem, like something dangerous, or have a question, call this 1-800 number.

I like *1-call *and *blue stakes *and *Miss Utility*. Is this a great language or what? (Spelling could be simplified, but it's expressive as can be.)


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## neroden (Jun 6, 2015)

afigg said:


> I don't know what the status is in Illinois with regards to the service expansions. A google search shows that the state legislature ignored the Governor and fully funded the $42 million for the Amtrak operating subsidy for the next fiscal year, but that Rauner and the legislature are still fighting over the budget.


The agencies suspended work until the budget fight was settled. Once it's finished, assuming the funding is still present, they will presumably resume work... with everything delayed by 6 months or more from the previous schedule.  Which is why they all dropped into "no scheduled date" portion of my list.


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## WoodyinNYC (Jun 6, 2015)

neroden said:


> Revised for my own entertainment.
> 
> ...
> 
> ...


Nitpickings:

Looks like a double entry re Rochester Station, 2016 and 2017.

Can I put a bet on 2018? (Just kidding.)

--------------------------

Allegedly *construction has already begun *on the Raleigh station, as reported on this thread last month, and in a linked Progressive Railroading article,

"Construction has begun on a new passenger-rail station in downtown Raleigh, N.C., the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) announced late last week. 

"NCDOT Secretary Tony Tata joined North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane at a groundbreaking event May 8 for what will be the new Raleigh Union Station.

"Slated to open in 2017, the $79.8 million facility will …"

But now they say it *will not open until 2017*. Not a big surprise at the delay.


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## neroden (Jun 7, 2015)

Thanks. Rochester's under construction, in that a contract has been signed with the prime contractor and preliminary site-clearance stuff is being done, but I've heard absolutely nothing reliable about the schedule since construction started. Maybe I should just switch it into the "no scheduled date" category.


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## WoodyinNYC (Jun 8, 2015)

neroden said:


> Revised for my own entertainment. The purpose of this for me is to keep track of *dates*, to see when I should expect things to open, to watch for early openings or delays. ...
> 
> I included urban (within-city) rail improvements selectively: only where they provide new rail connections to the intercity network (so, an extension of HBLR to a new station qualifies, new rolling stock for HBLR doesn't). This is because I am looking at it from the point of view of "where can I get to by train without renting a car at the destination".
> 
> ...


Railway Gazette

Toronto airport rail link opens

08 Jun 2015






CANADA: The UP Express service between Toronto’s Union Station and Pearson International Airport was launched on June 6. ...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

They are estimating huge ridership, over 2 million by 2018. Some can get a VIA train at the Union Station end.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/passenger/single-view/view/toronto-airport-rail-link-opens.html


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## TylerP42 (Jun 8, 2015)

Dearborn station still not fully open. The Crossing to Henry Ford still closed since Henry Ford hasn't made an entrance there.


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## Eric S (Jun 8, 2015)

TylerP42 said:


> Dearborn station still not fully open. The Crossing to Henry Ford still closed since Henry Ford hasn't made an entrance there.


Is the second (south) track and platform in service yet? When I was there a couple months ago, only the station-side platform and track were in service.


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## neroden (Jun 8, 2015)

WoodyinNYC said:


> CANADA: The UP Express service between Toronto’s Union Station and Pearson International Airport was launched on June 6. ...


I have lost track of a startling number of Canadian projects. They have a *lot* in the pipeline. They're doing way better than the US at getting stuff done. (No surprise. :-( )


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## WoodyinNYC (Jun 17, 2015)

Long time hadn't heard anything about the _Wolverine_ route upgrades. But the _Detroit News_ on June 14 had a story re adding PTC there.

"Michigan Department of Transportation rail chief Tim Hoeffner said ... The state will have [PTC] on 135 miles of track between Dearborn and Kalamazoo that are undergoing *upgrades to* *be completed in late 2016 or early 2017*."

This doesn't change anything, but confirms the status.

"... the busy rail corridor between Porter, Indiana and Chicago's Union Station [is] one of the nation's most congested rail corridors ... Hoeffner said.

"The state is partnering with Indiana and Illinois and the Federal Railroad Administration on an environmental study for a preferred passenger route through the area.

"The study, whose completion is due in a few months [the website says "this summer"], is a step toward applying for federal grant money. Hoeffner said the state hopes for federal approval of its study and [those] suggested improvements by spring 2016."

So planning on South of the Lake is moving pretty much on schedule, but then it will need a Billion or Two. Of course this project falls beyond the time frame of this list, but Hoeffner reinforces the forecast for "Michigan track work 2017". Even if they finished the track work in late 2016, they probably won't get enuff new diesels or bi-level cars to start the faster service before 2017.


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## WoodyinNYC (Jun 18, 2015)

I don't see an entry for Illinois' Billion bucks upgrades of the Lincoln Service route St Louis-Chicago. Probably the same schedule as the Michigan upgrades: 2017.

Remember that Illinois opened a very short 110-mph segment a year or two back. More a photo opportunity than a real thing, but there it is. So they probably_ could _raise the speed here or there incrementally. But unless otherwise announced, I'm assuming it will go to 110 mph operation all at once (and after they receive enuff bi-levels and diesels), to maximize the publicity.

Missouri will also be getting the new equipment, which could cut some minutes from the River Runner schedule. It also got Stimulus money for a handful of small projects, but aren't they already finished? Not sure. Really no news at all lately about that route.


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## Bierboy (Jun 18, 2015)

neroden said:


> afigg said:
> 
> 
> > I don't know what the status is in Illinois with regards to the service expansions. A google search shows that the state legislature ignored the Governor and fully funded the $42 million for the Amtrak operating subsidy for the next fiscal year, but that Rauner and the legislature are still fighting over the budget.
> ...


This budget chaos in Illinois has also adversely affected bid letting on a major road widening project (desperately needed) in Moline, too. Idiots....


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## TylerP42 (Jun 18, 2015)

Eric S said:


> TylerP42 said:
> 
> 
> > Dearborn station still not fully open. The Crossing to Henry Ford still closed since Henry Ford hasn't made an entrance there.
> ...


No, only the station side platform is used. They have the bridge closed until the henry ford opens an entrance.


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## neroden (Jun 18, 2015)

I wonder if I should email The Henry Ford and ask them when their plans are to open the entrance. I've been meaning to visit there by train, but I'm simply not going to do it until they open their new entrance.


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## neroden (Jun 18, 2015)

WoodyinNYC said:


> I don't see an entry for Illinois' Billion bucks upgrades of the Lincoln Service route St Louis-Chicago. Probably the same schedule as the Michigan upgrades: 2017.


I've seen no sign that any of the money spent so far will actually upgrade service at all, and there are no target dates, so I just left it off the list. And that was before Governor Rauner threw a wrench in everything.  If Illinois ever gets a little clearer on what they're doing, I'll put it back into the list.


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## afigg (Jun 20, 2015)

This is a maintenance facility, but its completion will expand Downeaster service frequencies to Brunswick. However, the NIMBYs have not yet given up, so start of construction may still get delayed even longer.

Portland Press Herald: Downeaster layover facility in Brunswick gets final permit



> State regulators have awarded the last remaining permit needed for construction to start on a $12.7 million layover facility for Amtrak trains in Brunswick.
> 
> The Maine Department of Environmental Protection on Tuesday approved the stormwater management plan submitted by the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority. The stormwater plan had received preliminary approval about two weeks ago.
> 
> ...


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## como (Jun 21, 2015)

WoodyinNYC said:


> I don't see an entry for Illinois' Billion bucks upgrades of the Lincoln Service route St Louis-Chicago. Probably the same schedule as the Michigan upgrades: 2017.
> 
> Remember that Illinois opened a very short 110-mph segment a year or two back. More a photo opportunity than a real thing, but there it is. So they probably_ could _raise the speed here or there incrementally. But unless otherwise announced, I'm assuming it will go to 110 mph operation all at once (and after they receive enuff bi-levels and diesels), to maximize the publicity.
> 
> Missouri will also be getting the new equipment, which could cut some minutes from the River Runner schedule. It also got Stimulus money for a handful of small projects, but aren't they already finished? Not sure. Really no news at all lately about that route.


The work in MIssouri finished in 2013 with the completion of the new Osage River bridge. http://www.modot.org/othertransportation/rail/documents/OsageRiverGrandOpeningre15.pdf


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## afigg (Jun 28, 2015)

Saw this news a few days ago that the state of Massachusetts will be providing an additional $12 million to complete the upgrade of the Springfield station. Prigressive Railroading: Massachusetts Gov. Baker pledges $12 million for Springfield station. If I am reading between the lines correctly, the cost of the SPG station project has gone up, so the state is stepping in to provide enough funds to complete the station rebuild in 2016. This would almost certainly fall outside of the window of the "next few years", but with the state contributing significant funds to complete the SPG station project, the next step once the studies are complete, would be for MassDOT to reach an agreement with CSX and fund Worcester to SPG track upgrades for multiple daily BOS to SPG trains, whether they be Inland Route Regional, maybe a couple of daily New Haven to SPG to BOS trains, and/or a BOS to MTR train.


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## Palmetto (Jun 28, 2015)

The plan is to eventually double track the ROW between Worcester and Springfield, as it used to be. The NEC route is maxed out because of drawbridge restrictions; ie., the maximum number of trains is being run right now there.


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## afigg (Jul 1, 2015)

At last, the work is underway for the 3rd track and high level platforms at the Kingston RI station. The funding was awarded in May, 2011 so it took only 4 years to complete the design, get the approvals, and award the contract! 

Progressive Railroading: Amtrak, Rhode Island kick off construction of high-speed rail project at Kingston Station.



> The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) and Amtrak have begun a $41 million construction project at the station in South Kingstown to prepare for high-speed rail service.
> 
> The project involves construction of a third track at the Kingston Station, as well as of two high-level platforms to provide passengers with disabilities full access to the trains. Layout of the third track will enable Amtrak trains stopping at the station to come off the main line, while high-speed Acela trains bypass them, state officials said in a press release.
> 
> ...


Providence Journal article from June 29 on the kick-off ceremony: RI officials kick off high-speed rail project in South Kingstown which has a scattering of typical anti-rail postings in the comments section.


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## neroden (Jul 1, 2015)

afigg said:


> Saw this news a few days ago that the state of Massachusetts will be providing an additional $12 million to complete the upgrade of the Springfield station. Prigressive Railroading: Massachusetts Gov. Baker pledges $12 million for Springfield station. If I am reading between the lines correctly, the cost of the SPG station project has gone up, so the state is stepping in to provide enough funds to complete the station rebuild in 2016.


Springfield's been an incredible shaggy dog story. Every time they start work they discover something which makes it more expensive or complicated than expected. The renovation plans started in 1989! At the time I hoped they'd be done by roughly 1994!
I still haven't seen platform designs. They *ought* to have full-high platforms everywhere, two full freight main bypasses without platforms, and a pull-off track north of the northern main track (with a full-high) next to the station building for the westbound Lake Shore Limited. There is *plenty* of room. But I don't know if they're planning to do it right.


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## afigg (Jul 4, 2015)

neroden said:


> Springfield's been an incredible shaggy dog story. Every time they start work they discover something which makes it more expensive or complicated than expected. The renovation plans started in 1989! At the time I hoped they'd be done by roughly 1994!
> 
> I still haven't seen platform designs. They *ought* to have full-high platforms everywhere, two full freight main bypasses without platforms, and a pull-off track north of the northern main track (with a full-high) next to the station building for the westbound Lake Shore Limited. There is *plenty* of room. But I don't know if they're planning to do it right.


Rebuild SPG station by 1994, 2016, no biggie, only a couple of decades late...
As for the platforms, the rendering down the page on the Springfield Redevelopment Corporation Union Station project website shows at least 2 high level platforms. With the tracks and space available in light of the plans for returning SPG into a hub station, would make sense to build at least 2 long HLPs serving 3 or 4 tracks. The details should be available in a EIS somewhere.

I was wondering about the status of the various eastern Keystone station projects, found this recent June 23 news article on the Middletown PA station. Which is another station project that got stalled. New train station: Everyone still 'on board,' PennDOT says. Excerpt:



> The long-anticipated new train station in Middletown could be open by early 2018 under an updated timetable that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation presented to Middletown Borough Councils planning committee on Wednesday, June 17.
> 
> Besides the station, PennDOT would also build the proposed extension of Emaus Street and a pedestrian bridge over Route 230 that would connect Penn State Harrisburg to the new station, according to Jennie Granger, director of PennDOTs Bureau of Aviation.
> 
> ...


So, construction could start in early 2016 - or slip again because Amtrak track crews are busy elsewhere.


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## afigg (Sep 17, 2015)

I was wondering whatever happened to the plan to build a new intermodal station in Charleston, SC. There were plans to build a station at a new location, but that fell through and the project was back to the current location in North Charleston. I did a Google search and it turns out that they are indeed working towards building a new North Charleston Regional Intermodal Transportation Facility with Amtrak and local bus hub service at the location of the current station. The schedule is for the new facility to be completed in February, 2017. So add another improved station to the 2017 list.

Charleston website for the intermodal station project with renderings and links to recent viewgraph presentations.

To get the cost down the proposed size of the station was reduced from 32K sq ft to 14K sq ft along with the number of parking spaces. Still has a long term parking lot. Link to a May, 2015 presentation to a local council.

There is a rendering of the platform down the main page and it appears that at least part of the platform is to be mini-high? Not clear though. The overhead renderings show a 900+ foot long platform.


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## neroden (Nov 3, 2015)

On the topic of Actual Progress, Rochester's moving into a temporary station on Monday:

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2015/10/31/construction-begin-rochester-amtrak-train-station/74938740/


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## neroden (Dec 2, 2015)

So did any of this get done in 2015?



neroden said:


> 2015:
> 
> "spring": hotel power at Albany-Rensselaer
> 
> ...


* Holyoke station opened.

* Blaine customs siding is open.

* the Toronto Airport train is open.

* it looks like SEPTA/CSX separation on the West Trenton Line has happened, though I'm not sure.

EVERYTHING else seems to be delayed! And not to any particular date, either, just delayed.

Did they ever get hotel power at Albany-Rensselaer?


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## jis (Dec 2, 2015)

Metrolink and SEPTA supposedly are meeting PTC deadline. Amtrak is meeting it on the NEC but not on the Empire Corridor. NJT is not.

ACS64 deliveries might yet finish, there is a couple or three or so more to go.

SEPTA - CSX separation appears to have been completed. SEPTA could not really claim completion of its PTC without completing the separation.

Among the unlisted. SunRail Phase IIa Sand Lake Road - Poinciana) construction is starting. And Phase III Sand Lake Road to Orlando International Airport has been approved as a candidate for FTA funding, though currently any funding for Phase IIb (Debary - Deland) or Phase III is yet to be approved.

AAF Phase I (Miami - West Palm Beach) construction is going on full swing.


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## leemell (Dec 2, 2015)

Expo line to open in 1st quarter next year. Second Track Van Nuys to Chatsworth stopped for now in August by NIMBYs. Van Nuys second platrorm going to bid in January.


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## WoodyinNYC (Dec 2, 2015)

WSDOT claims to be on schedule as of the August/September update:

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Rail/railmonthlyupdate.htm



> *Progress continues on Amtrak Cascades high-speed rail projects*
> The high-speed rail program reached a halfway point, with 10 of its 20 projects now complete. This milestone was reached with the completion of three more projects in August and September – Advanced Wayside Signal System, Mount Vernon Siding Extension, and Blaine-Swift Customs Facility. Nine more projects are in construction and the final project, King Street Station Track Upgrades, begins construction in early 2016.
> 
> All projects must be completed by spring 2017, when new service will begin for two additional daily roundtrips between Seattle and Portland, as well as improved on-time performance and reduced travel times.


Looking forward to an October-November update.


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## Anderson (Dec 2, 2015)

jis said:


> Metrolink and SEPTA supposedly are meeting PTC deadline. Amtrak is meeting it on the NEC but not on the Empire Corridor. NJT is not.
> 
> ACS64 deliveries might yet finish, there is a couple or three or so more to go.
> 
> ...


I think Empire Corridor is partly down to the state-supported situation (Amtrak is probably in a fight with NYS over billing for the upgrades) and partly down to the late transfer of half of it (the other half was an MNRR property).

SunRail: IIb is basically on indefinite hold and I suspect pressure within the Orlando area has probably forced it behind Phase III (there's apparently a lot of demand for that airport connection, and AAF coming to town cannot be helping DeLand's position in the priority list). My guess is that Phase IIa, Phase III, and a significant frequency increase on those phases all happen before Phase IIb.


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## neroden (Dec 3, 2015)

Amtrak was never planning to complete the resignalling on the Empire Corridor until 2016 or 2017, due to the date of transfer of the line from CSX to Amtrak. Amtrak specifically asked to be exempted from PTC requirements for a year so that they could install PTC along with the new signalling; the blanket three-year exemption seems to make that moot, but basically the signalling seems to be on the same schedule it was before.

The track & platform work at Albany, however, appears to be delayed, and it's not clear why. I have heard that there were some drainage problems, but they shouldn't account for *this much* delay. Especially the hotel power which was supposed to be ready last spring...


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## jis (Dec 3, 2015)

Anderson said:


> SunRail: IIb is basically on indefinite hold and I suspect pressure within the Orlando area has probably forced it behind Phase III (there's apparently a lot of demand for that airport connection, and AAF coming to town cannot be helping DeLand's position in the priority list). My guess is that Phase IIa, Phase III, and a significant frequency increase on those phases all happen before Phase IIb.


The interesting thing about SunRail IIb is that there is more and more interest being shown about a SunRail Phase IV consisting of new trackage on the I-4 ROW to Daytona Beach. If that happens it would leave the extension to Deland further out in the cold, since the overall ridership to Daytona would be stupendously large than to Deland. Of course nothing has been done other than endlessly talk about the so called Phase IV.

I think that Phase III will indeed happen soon after Phase IIa. And the rest, we shall see. It will all be after the Rick Scott nightmare is over possibly, hopefully not to be replaced by a worse nightmare.


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## afigg (Dec 3, 2015)

neroden said:


> So did any of this get done in 2015?
> 
> ....
> 
> EVERYTHING else seems to be delayed! And not to any particular date, either, just delayed.


Still have almost a month left in 2015. Maybe ask this again after January 1, although not much to be said about the projects that started in 2015. For construction projects, may be little to see for some time after it officially "starts" if the initial work is final design, getting the permits, and starting on utility relocation.
The one I'm wondering about is the Vermonter. What is the status of the track upgrades on the CT River line and cutting the trip times from the schedule? Not a lot of visibility into what the status is.

Looking ahead to 2016, I think we will see a number of improvements and upgrades finally starting to be apparent in reduced schedule trip times and more reliable services by the latter parts of 2016.


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## neroden (Dec 3, 2015)

They usually do some sort of ceremony or press release when they start construction. Most of the projects which were supposed to start construction did not start construction. (Delays in design or permitting, one presumes.)


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## afigg (Dec 6, 2015)

While this news is about the New Haven - Hartford - Springfield MA commuter service, the additional $155 million that CT is contributing will upgrade the corridor and benefit the Vermonter and should get one segment on the Inland Route into good shape & help to eventually restore the Inland Route Regionals to service. Perhaps even add the second NYP/NHV to Vermont and Montreal train that is in the proposed long range plans for the Vermonter route.

The New Haven to Hartford to Springfield commuter service is now scheduled to start up in January 2018. We'll see if they can keep to the new extended schedule.

Hartford Courant: Springfield-To-New Haven Commuter Rail Cost Increases, Service Begins In 2018. Excerpt:



> But by May, Malloy was complaining to Amtrak that work was behind schedule and over budget — with no final cost figure in sight. That led to negotiations between Connecticut, Amtrak and the FRA; they concluded it will take an additional $135 million to finish the work.
> 
> "When we went out to do a complete inspection of every bridge and culvert, we found the line to be in very, very poor shape compared to what anybody expected," state Transportation Commissioner James Redeker said Thursday. "Amtrak has been in tough shape for years — they had no money, and based on just six round trips a day this line didn't warrant much money over the last 30 years."
> 
> ...


Gov. Malloy press release: Gov. Malloy Announces Funding to Complete Construction of the Hartford Line Commuter Rail Service


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## neroden (Dec 6, 2015)

I'm not 100% sure why New Haven - Hartford renovations have been so expensive but I get the impression the line was *very* decrepit.



> "When we went out to do a complete inspection of every bridge and culvert, we found the line to be in very, very poor shape compared to what anybody expected,"


Hartford is on hold pending the highway relocation, but will probably be funded by the highway project, which will probably happen eventually.

Of course the funded portion is only half of the project! Hartford-Springfield is going to need a lot of work too. I don't know when that's going to get funded! They've done signal cabling all the way to Springfield, and track and signals as far as Windsor (skipping Hartford), but they will eventually need to do structures from Hartford to Springfield, and that looks like a *lot* of culverts and bridges.


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## Andrew (Dec 8, 2015)

This could change things up a bit:

http://www.schumer.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/schumer-booker-amtrak-chair-announce_breakthroughs-achieved-in-just-passed-transpo-bill-that-provides-clear-path-to-federal-funding-for-gateway-tunnel-new-law-puts-gateway-on-track-for-billions-of-much-needed-additional-federal-dollars


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## west point (Dec 8, 2015)

IMO all the proposals on the table merit future implementation. However until the equipment to implement these additions and expansions of current trains this is only intellectual scrimmage. Once additional LD single level V-2s are ordered in significant numbers ( Approximately 500 - 700 ) these east coast routes can be planned upon delivery. That will include new coaches, lounges to displace the Amfleet-2s to corridor service then to surge fleet. As well all these proposals will need more V-2 sleepers & diners as the present order will only fill out present single level trains.

The need for addition diesel locos will also be noted and maybe even a few more electric motors.

Additional Superliner (TYPE) will be needed for the LD trains bulking out using them and new routes.

Amtrak needs the surge fleet of the older equipment for heavy travel periods. That way Amfleet-2s , Superliner-1s, and eventually Horizons and Amfleet-1s can be pulled out for these rush periods. This past Thanksgiving and into this month has shown that there is more demand than supply


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## Andrew (Dec 9, 2015)

west point said:


> IMO all the proposals on the table merit future implementation. However until the equipment to implement these additions and expansions of current trains this is only intellectual scrimmage. Once additional LD single level V-2s are ordered in significant numbers ( Approximately 500 - 700 ) these east coast routes can be planned upon delivery. That will include new coaches, lounges to displace the Amfleet-2s to corridor service then to surge fleet. As well all these proposals will need more V-2 sleepers & diners as the present order will only fill out present single level trains.
> 
> The need for addition diesel locos will also be noted and maybe even a few more electric motors.
> 
> ...



Do you know if a new Amfleet coach order is likely to happen soon?

Also, I thought that the new Nippon Sharyo coaches are going to replace the Superliners?


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## Eric S (Dec 9, 2015)

Andrew said:


> Also, I thought that the new Nippon Sharyo coaches are going to replace the Superliners?


The bilevel coaches that have been ordered for California and Midwest corridor service?


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## MikefromCrete (Dec 9, 2015)

The N-S cars are for Midwest and California state-supported services. A few Superliners on the west coast might become available, but most will free up Horizon cars and some Amfleets.


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## Devil's Advocate (Dec 9, 2015)

So far as I am aware nobody has discussed replacing or refurbishing any of the remaining Superliner fleet or long distance locomotives. There will be some brand new 1980's era baggage cars with fluted skirts and that's about it. Even if Amtrak started discussing Superliner replacements today the final delivery would probably be a decade or more away.


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## west point (Dec 9, 2015)

What is needed is funds now to order more V-2s and NS cars configured for LD service. As stated before until that happens Amtrak is being strangled by the Amtrak haters who hope it will go away before there is too many US persons wanting more. Many persons who have talked to that return from Europe or Japan want more. Any one experience with China ?


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## neroden (Dec 10, 2015)

Devil's Advocate said:


> So far as I am aware nobody has discussed replacing or refurbishing any of the remaining Superliner fleet or long distance locomotives.


There's an option on the Siemens Charger contract which is very clearly for Amtrak long distance locomotives. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they find a way to exercise part of it. Replacing the long-distance diesel fleet is definitely on Amtrak's radar.

The fleet strategy has separate plans for locomotives and for cars. It very clearly contemplates replacing the Amfleet IIs next, and then the Amfleet Is. There really is no plan for replacing the Superliners in the next decade.


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## keelhauled (Mar 30, 2016)

In the ongoing saga of the Schenectady station replacement, it is again going out to bid for a second time in hopes of attracting lower bids. On the first try, the only bidder came back with a bid twice the budget. Supposedly, if the state awards the contract this fall, the station would be built by the end of 2018.


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## afigg (Mar 31, 2016)

Hope NY DOT succeeds in getting a new acceptable bid for the Schenectady station, so the dang station can get built. The new SCH station project has been dragging on for years and years.

With this thread popping back up, I searched for updates on a few of the projects.

Found this INDOT webpage for the Indiana Gateway project. Not sure if the website has been kept up to date, but the construction photos indicate that someone has been updating it. if the info is correct, all of the Indiana Gateway component projects will be completed in 2016. Which is good news for the Michigan trains, CL, and LSL.

Springfield MA Union Station project site. Construction photos from as recent as March 22, 2016. States that the restored station is scheduled to open in Fall of 2016.

Expanded West End Concourse at NYP. Found a PDF document from a November, 2015 meeting of the directors of the Moynihan Station Redevelopment Corporation that expanded West End Concourse project was on schedule at that time to be completed in August 2016.

So three improvement projects that should finally be completed by the end of this year.


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## WoodyinNYC (Apr 1, 2016)

west point said:


> . . . Amtrak is being strangled by the Amtrak haters who hope it will go away before there are too many [voters] wanting more. Many who I have talked to [after] returning from Europe or Japan want more. Any one experience with China ?


My nephew sells a line of products made by several suppliers, mostly in various places in China. He said he used to fly to visit the factories all over the country, but now he takes the High Speed trains.

He'd be even more enthusiastic about passenger trains if he didn't live and do business in a city with 3-days-a-week service.


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## cirdan (Apr 1, 2016)

neroden said:


> Devil's Advocate said:
> 
> 
> > So far as I am aware nobody has discussed replacing or refurbishing any of the remaining Superliner fleet or long distance locomotives.
> ...


I can see the motivation.

On the other hand, it's not necessarily good future proofing to replace everything you've got in one go, because that would dry up the market for future orders for a long time and thus prevent any onward development or showcasing of new innovations. Also, when all the stuff comes due for replacement that will be an awful lot of investment required in one bang and thus put the future of Amtrak at the mercy of whoever will be in government then.

The optimal situation is to have an even spread of different ages so you are basically replacing stuff and bringing in new stuff all the time without it blowing your budget.


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## WoodyinNYC (Apr 1, 2016)

For both the single-level coach fleet and the Superliners, the plan was to get them over 5 or 6 years or more, about 100 cars a year. Ordering hundreds at a time gets the best price. Clearly Amtrak is thinking to do single-level first, maybe the whole order, then do the bi-level fleet.

In a Fleet Plan document some years back, Amtrak declared its hope to rebuild the passenger railcar industry, from suppliers to competing manufacturers. But when the haters slashed the budgets, they may have killed off that industry revival.


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## jis (Apr 1, 2016)

The real problem faced by Amtrak is that due to various reasons, some in its control and some not, it is stuck with requiring a dedicated production line which produces cars for it and maybe a small additional set for a few that are willing to tag on, and that is the end of useful life of the production line. This is what raises unit costs, and Amtrak really is not large enough to maintain a cost effective production line over a long period of time.

AAF specifically went with an off the shelf car from Siemens to avoid exactly this problem. They can reap most of the advantage of a well established design, though they still have to eat some additional cost for setting up an instance of a well understood production line in California.For whatever reason of their own, Siemens is actually not loading up the entire cost of it onto AAF, possibly because they believe that eventually they can get other customers in the US.

Meanwhile, the Viewliner saga carries on ....


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## A Voice (Apr 1, 2016)

WoodyinNYC said:


> But when the haters slashed the budgets, they may have killed off that industry revival.


Why, why, why does anyone who takes a differing opinion have to be labeled a "hater"? Critics of passenger rail do indeed take a narrow-minded, short sighted view of the situation (often for ideological reasons), but that only makes them (badly) mistaken or misinformed and doesn't mean they are a "hater"; Rather, more often, they just fundamentally don't understand passenger rail.


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## Devil's Advocate (Apr 1, 2016)

A Voice said:


> WoodyinNYC said:
> 
> 
> > But when the haters slashed the budgets, they may have killed off that industry revival.
> ...


Have you ever seen an anti-rail protest or read anti-rail postings on news websites? Failing to understand passenger rail doesn't explain the flippant mockery and personal attacks they lob indiscriminately at passenger rail supporters and customers alike. If you casually hate anything you don't fundamentally understand then why _shouldn't_ you be called a hater?


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## WoodyinNYC (Apr 1, 2016)

jis said:


> The real problem faced by Amtrak is that . . it is stuck with requiring a dedicated production line which produces cars for it and maybe a small additional set for a few that are willing to tag on, and that is the end of useful life of the production line. This is what raises unit costs, and Amtrak really is not large enough to maintain a cost effective production line over a long period of time.
> 
> . . . an off the shelf car [e.g. from Siemens] . . . can reap most of the advantage of a well established design . . .


Another excellent example that *the cure for what ails Amtrak is more Amtrak!* With more routes, more trains, more cars in the consists, and bigger fleets meaning larger orders for more cars* wins a lower average cost *for all the cars in the order.

So make the _Cardinal_ and _Sunset_ daily, extend the _City of New Orleans_ to Orlando, restore a _Broadway Ltd_ to serve Philly, start up the fabled "_day train_" to Atlanta, put 6 trains a day on the short cut Richmond-Petersburg-Raleigh, revive the _Coast Daylight_ L.A.-S.F., run 2 or 3 more frequencies Philly-Pgh, get another train CHI-MSP, add more corridor service like Ft Worth-Dallas-Longview-Shreveport, Baton Rouge-New Orleans, CHI-Carbondale-Memphis, Cincy-Indy-CHI, etc.

Then *order another 100 or 200 or 300 coaches and lounges for growth[/b/]. The greater volume discount with the added cars for growth would reduce the unit cost of the 500 or 600 needed simply for replacement.*


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## Philly Amtrak Fan (Apr 1, 2016)

WoodyinNYC said:


> Another excellent example that *the cure for what ails Amtrak is more Amtrak!* With more routes, more trains, more cars in the consists, and bigger fleets meaning larger orders for more cars* wins a lower average cost *for all the cars in the order.
> 
> So make the _Cardinal_ and _Sunset_ daily, extend the _City of New Orleans_ to Orlando, restore a _Broadway Ltd_ to serve Philly, start up the fabled "_day train_" to Atlanta, put 6 trains a day on the short cut Richmond-Petersburg-Raleigh, revive the _Coast Daylight_ L.A.-S.F., run 2 or 3 more frequencies Philly-Pgh, get another train CHI-MSP, add more corridor service like Ft Worth-Dallas-Longview-Shreveport, Baton Rouge-New Orleans, CHI-Carbondale-Memphis, Cincy-Indy-CHI, etc.
> 
> ...


* *

*Can I get an amen!*


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## jis (Apr 1, 2016)

The trick as always is to find the money. Since it seems unlikely that huge pots of money will be found, the other solution is to get used to using off the shelf equipment even though might be sub optimal at times. but you are then able to piggy back on others multi thousand car orders and gain the cost advantage anyway.


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## neroden (Apr 1, 2016)

Not this year, but next year, if the budget gods smile upon them, VIA Rail might finally make a new rolling stock order. Their needs are going to be similar to Amtrak's single-level needs, so I hope they're talking to each other...


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## jis (Apr 1, 2016)

My guess is Siemens is angling to get the VIA order, since VIA is not hamstrung with the various encumbrances that Amtrak has built for itself. They can never get as good a price if they jump in bed with Amtrak at this point, unless Amtrak chooses to and is able to, abandon one bed and move to another, if you know what I mean


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## neroden (Apr 1, 2016)

jis said:


> My guess is Siemens is angling to get the VIA order, since VIA is not hamstrung with the various encumbrances that Amtrak has built for itself. They can never get as good a price if they jump in bed with Amtrak at this point, unless Amtrak chooses to and is able to, abandon one bed and move to another, if you know what I mean


Well, Amtrak needs single-level coaches. And lounge/cafes. Lots. And VIA needs single-level coaches. And lounge/cafes. But not very many. I think in those categories it might be worth it for Amtrak to see if it can tag on to any hypothetical VIA order.


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## jis (Apr 1, 2016)

My point is that Amtrak could try. But I think VIA could get better prices in the much larger world market. Amtrak has no hope of creating a market that large in the US in the near to middle term, specially when the real large mass purchasers of the commuter agencies are not part of it.


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## neroden (Apr 1, 2016)

I don't think VIA can get better prices in the world market. AAF has essentially the same regulatory restrictions as Amtrak... and *so does VIA*, thanks to Transport Canada for copying US regulations.


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## jis (Apr 1, 2016)

No VIA does not have the same regulatory restriction as Amtrak. Transport Canada is actually considerably more flexible than FRA.

And in any case they will probably get a more timely delivery without being burdened with make is USA rules which Amtrak will always be subject to, which in itself increases the cost too.


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## afigg (May 20, 2016)

Saw this news in Progressive Railroading: VRE wraps up project to add third track. This is a different project from the 11 mile Arkendale to Powell's Creek 3rd track project, it is a VRE project to add 2.5 miles of 3rd track on the RF&P corridor south of Fredericksburg VA leading to the VRE railyard with a new station off on the 3rd track. Should help with traffic congestion on the corridor.



> The Virginia Railway Express (VRE) on Tuesday opened a new third track between Hamilton and Spotsylvania County, Va.
> 
> The new track is aimed at increasing capacity and fluidity while also providing operational flexibility on CSX's rail line, which hosts VRE, Amtrak and CSX trains.


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## Eric S (Jun 22, 2016)

neroden said:


> Revised for my own entertainment. The purpose of this for me is to keep track of *dates*, to see when I should expect things to open, to watch for early openings or delays. So I haven't included much with really unclear schedules (though see the end of the list) -- where I couldn't find a projected completion date, or where future groundbreaking dates seemed wildly speculative. This includes nearly everything done by the MBTA. If you've got a project I'm missing, please link me to a recent report with a projected completion date, or at least a groundbreaking date. Year is sufficient. I'm not looking past 2018, though.
> 
> ...
> 
> ...


The Milwaukee station trainshed and platform improvements have been completed. When I was last at the station in late May there was still work ongoing, so I can't add anything to this article yet - http://urbanmilwaukee.com/2016/06/22/eyes-on-milwaukee-new-22-million-rail-concourse-opens/


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## jebr (Jun 23, 2016)

Moved discussion of potential options for more fleet here.


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## neroden (Jun 24, 2016)

I'm surprised to see that Milwaukee was allowed to build all-low-boarding platforms. This is going to increase the pressure on Wisconsin to buy bilevels.


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## Paulus (Jul 17, 2016)

12th daily round trip between San Diego and Los Angeles anticipated October 2016. Early morning from San Diego, mid-evening from Los Angeles. Some special trains from Los Angeles to Palm Springs in April 2017 and extra trains for Thanksgiving, not just longer ones.


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## WoodyinNYC (Jul 17, 2016)

Paulus said:


> 12th daily round trip between San Diego and Los Angeles anticipated October 2016. Early morning from San Diego, mid-evening from Los Angeles. Some special trains from Los Angeles to Palm Springs in April 2017 and extra trains for Thanksgiving, not just longer ones.


I like all of this.

The specials to Indio-Palm Springs will get lots of earned media and word of mouth to build support for spending to upgrade that line for two more trains a day. Any extra trains at Thanksgiving will probably get TV coverage, too.

Tweaking the schedules of two trains to provide a commuter-friendly schedule Santa Barbara-L.A. and vice versa should increase business riders on that segment too.

An earlier arrival San Diego-L.A, and a later departure, giving a longer work day, should help attract more business travelers.

+++++++++++

How do they do it? Nobody else can spare a coach, much less a sleeper or a food service car. But California keeps launching new trains: the 7th San Joaquin last month, and now this!

The Surfliners counted 2,827,134 riders in FY2015. Most of them on the 11-frequency L.A.-San Diego segment. Divide the 2.8 million by 11, divide that by half to be conservative, and we're looking at adding about 130,000 more riders from the 12th frequency. Add a few per cent for the usual annual growth, and this route should be 3 million a year by the end of 2017.


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## Eric S (Jul 17, 2016)

Paulus said:


> 12th daily round trip between San Diego and Los Angeles anticipated October 2016. Early morning from San Diego, mid-evening from Los Angeles. Some special trains from Los Angeles to Palm Springs in April 2017 and extra trains for Thanksgiving, not just longer ones.


Thanks for digging through the reports from LOSSAN (and other CA transportation/planning agencies) for us. It's definitely appreciated.


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## west point (Jul 17, 2016)

It will be fine as long as there is no equipment sidelined for whatever reason.


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## Paulus (Jul 18, 2016)

WoodyinNYC said:


> How do they do it? Nobody else can spare a coach, much less a sleeper or a food service car. But California keeps launching new trains: the 7th San Joaquin last month, and now this!
> 
> The Surfliners counted 2,827,134 riders in FY2015. Most of them on the 11-frequency L.A.-San Diego segment. Divide the 2.8 million by 11, divide that by half to be conservative, and we're looking at adding about 130,000 more riders from the 12th frequency. Add a few per cent for the usual annual growth, and this route should be 3 million a year by the end of 2017.


Previous presentations to the board have indicated that they're able to do this by using existing equipment a bit more efficiently.


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## Thirdrail7 (Feb 18, 2018)

Well, better late than never!



Paulus said:


> LOSSAN thingies
> 
> 
> 2016
> -Poinsettia station replaces at grade pedestrian crossing with an undercrossing and an inter-track fence, 15" platforms.


Poinsettia Station to get rail improvements



> CARLSBAD — One year after its proposed renovation, the Poinsettia train station rehabilitation will begin in April, according to the San Diego Association of Government.
> 
> Jim Linthicum, director of mobility for SANDAG, updated the Carlsbad City Council on Feb. 13 of the organization’s plans, timeline and budget for the project.
> 
> ...


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