# Longest Commuter Rail Trip?



## reefgeek

Okay, I know I will come off sounding like one of the very few cranks on this board, but here goes:

Whar's the longest trip one might take by commuter rail? (in the US, not some 3-day nightmare in China...) How big a masochist would you need to be? I started thinking about NJ Transit from Philly to Port Jervis, then I thought there must be some service south of Philly. But Port Jervis is a dead end, so I guess if you cheated a little and jumped over to Grand Central you could get out to Montauk or Waterbury CT?

Is this even in the runnning or is there something longer that could be ridden somewhere else?

I know scheduling enters into this, I once had the idea to leave from my workplace in East Rutherford and make the run up to Port Jervis but found I would need a hotel to wait for the return...


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## MattW

Well, if you didn't mind changing services, you could do New London-GCT via Metro North, GCT-NYP via subway, NYP-Trenton via NJT, Trenton-Newark, DE via SEPTA. When they close the MARC gap between Perryville, MD and Newark, DE, you could do that trip, then transfer at Newark to WAS via MARC, then transfer to VRE all the way to Fredericksburg, VA. And if they close the New London-Providence gap, you could go all the way from Haverhill, MA to Fredericksburg, VA without driving, flying, or Amtrak.


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## AlanB

MattW said:


> you could do New London-GCT via Metro North,


Metro North starts at New Haven, not New London. You'll need Shoreline East to get from New London down to New Haven.


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## Shawn Ryu

I really dont see them closing New London-Providence gap.


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## rrdude

MattW said:


> Well, if you didn't mind changing services, you could do New London-GCT via Metro North, GCT-NYP via subway, NYP-Trenton via NJT, Trenton-Newark, DE via SEPTA. When they close the MARC gap between Perryville, MD and Newark, DE, you could do that trip, then transfer at Newark to WAS via MARC, then transfer to VRE all the way to Fredericksburg, VA. And if they close the New London-Providence gap, you could go all the way from Haverhill, MA to Fredericksburg, VA without driving, flying, or Amtrak.


That is kind of amazing thou, that one could go that far on nothing other than commuter rail. Wouldn't earn to many AGR points tho


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## Train2104

There are ways to bypass both gaps. For the MD gap, take DART bus to Glasgow and transfer to a Cecil County The Bus to Elkton and then another The Bus to Perryville. For the CT/RI gap, take a SEAT bus to the RI border, walk across the border, get a Westerly Dial-A-Ride reservation which will take you to the Warwick Mall for RIPTA bus service.

There's been talk of extending commuter rail to close both gaps, but the MD one is at least 6 years way and the RI one at least a decade away.

Haverhill-Fredericksburg will involve a couple of overnights due to that fact that many of these services have limited hours (north of New Haven and south of Wilmington)


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## jis

reefgeek said:


> Okay, I know I will come off sounding like one of the very few cranks on this board, but here goes:
> 
> Whar's the longest trip one might take by commuter rail? (in the US, not some 3-day nightmare in China...) How big a masochist would you need to be? I started thinking about NJ Transit from Philly to Port Jervis, then I thought there must be some service south of Philly. But Port Jervis is a dead end, so I guess if you cheated a little and jumped over to Grand Central you could get out to Montauk or Waterbury CT?


Montauk is I believe the longest commuter service out of New York. And BTW Montauk trains, or more precisely trains that connect to the Montauk train at Jamaica depart from Penn Station and not Grand Central. There is no direct way to get to Montauk from Grand Central. You could take the 7 to Hunterspoint Avenue and get from there to Montauk on weekdays I suppose.



Shawn Ryu said:


> I really dont see them closing New London-Providence gap.


The Rhode Island and the Connecticut DOT guys at the Boston NARP meeting apparently thought otherwise  But what would they know?


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## AlanB

Here's a trip report on how to conquer the NEC by commuter rail.


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## reefgeek

Thanks everybody, what a well-informed bunch! The idea is really attractive to me as a lark...now to see if I can interest Michael Palin... :lol:


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## Shawn Ryu

jis said:


> reefgeek said:
> 
> 
> 
> Okay, I know I will come off sounding like one of the very few cranks on this board, but here goes:
> 
> Whar's the longest trip one might take by commuter rail? (in the US, not some 3-day nightmare in China...) How big a masochist would you need to be? I started thinking about NJ Transit from Philly to Port Jervis, then I thought there must be some service south of Philly. But Port Jervis is a dead end, so I guess if you cheated a little and jumped over to Grand Central you could get out to Montauk or Waterbury CT?
> 
> 
> 
> Montauk is I believe the longest commuter service out of New York. And BTW Montauk trains, or more precisely trains that connect to the Montauk train at Jamaica depart from Penn Station and not Grand Central. There is no direct way to get to Montauk from Grand Central. You could take the 7 to Hunterspoint Avenue and get from there to Montauk on weekdays I suppose.
> 
> 
> 
> Shawn Ryu said:
> 
> 
> 
> I really dont see them closing New London-Providence gap.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The Rhode Island and the Connecticut DOT guys at the Boston NARP meeting apparently thought otherwise  But what would they know?
Click to expand...

I know they are working on extending Providence MBTA line to Wickford Junction, but how far is Wickford Junction from CT/RI border? Is there people commuting from New London or Mystique all the way to Boston?


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## Spokker

Longest commuter rail trip? Any trip in which some poor ******* jumps in front of the train.

Car accidents they can't clean up quickly enough. But train accidents? 3 hour delay. It's not like anybody has to get home or anything.


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## steamtrain6868

Has to be the South Shore South Bend to Chicago--- It was like 3 hours on the local at 80 miles.


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## jis

Shawn Ryu said:


> I know they are working on extending Providence MBTA line to Wickford Junction, but how far is Wickford Junction from CT/RI border? Is there people commuting from New London or Mystique all the way to Boston?


I don't know, and certainly no one goes to Mistique. Some may go to Mystic.  All that I said is that the ConnDOT and RI DOT think that they will run service connecting New London with Providence at some point. If you disagree go and argue with them.


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## AlanB

steamtrain6868 said:


> Has to be the South Shore South Bend to Chicago--- It was like 3 hours on the local at 80 miles.


The LIRR's Montauk station is 117 miles from Penn Station and a total ride time of 3 hours and 16 minutes for the fastest train. Slower trains can take 3 hours 27 minutes.


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## the_traveler

Shawn Ryu said:


> I know they are working on extending Providence MBTA line to Wickford Junction, but how far is Wickford Junction from CT/RI border?


Wickford Junction is about 20 miles from the CT/RI border as the crow flies, but crows don't fly straight in RI! (We have good beer in RI!




) But that will only be served by MBTA, and not at all by Amtrak. Wickford Junction is about 5 -10 rail miles north of KIN, but I have not heard of any extension plans to KIN.

And FYI: Many, many people commute from KIN to BOS every day. The (large) parking lot fills up for #66 about 6:20 AM and pretty much empties out after the 6:35 PM train from BOS arrives!


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## jis

the_traveler said:


> Shawn Ryu said:
> 
> 
> 
> I know they are working on extending Providence MBTA line to Wickford Junction, but how far is Wickford Junction from CT/RI border?
> 
> 
> 
> Wickford Junction is about 20 miles from the CT/RI border as the crow flies, but crows don't fly straight in RI! (We have good beer in RI!
> 
> 
> 
> ) But that will only be served by MBTA, and not at all by Amtrak. Wickford Junction is about 5 -10 rail miles north of KIN, but I have not heard of any extension plans to KIN.
> 
> And FYI: Many, many people commute from KIN to BOS every day. The (large) parking lot fills up for #66 about 6:20 AM and pretty much empties out after the 6:35 PM train from BOS arrives!
Click to expand...

Apparently Wickford Jct will get a huge parking structure. According to the RI DOT guy the next step after Wickford will be Kingston, but in his words, let's get Wickford done first.  RI also wants to add stations at Pawtuckett and two other places that I cannot remember off the top of my head.

OTOH, ConnDOT is toying with the idea of extending Shore Line East from New London to Mystic, but that needs a bit of trackwork and high level platform work at Mystic. Also this won't happen until after the second round of M8s arrive so it is a few years away. This will be fully electric service, unlike the MBTA service from the north. Meanwhile they are busy installing high level platform progressively at all Shore Line East stations, since M8s are incapable of operating from low level platforms, and that is the equipment that they plan to transition the NEC service to while cascading the diesel equipment to the Connecticut Valley Line.


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## Ryan

AlanB said:


> Here's a trip report on how to conquer the NEC by commuter rail.


I've read that a few times before, what an awesome trip. One of these days I'll have the time to do something similar.


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## DET63

I think I once posted a similar question: What is the longest trip one can take by train in the U.S. without using Amtrak?

I think I confined the trip to the Lower 48.


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## Long Train Runnin'

DET63 said:


> I think I once posted a similar question: What is the longest trip one can take by train in the U.S. without using Amtrak?
> 
> I think I confined the trip to the Lower 48.


Well there are 2 ways to look at it. I think Penn Station To Montauk is the longest single seat ride on a commuter railroad. I understand although its not convenient one could go from LA to San Diego by taking Metrolink from LA to Oceanside then transfer to a Coaster train from Oceanside to San Diego although from what I've heard the schedules don't exactly work out. Once in San Diego you can catch the light rail right from the station and ride the blue line right to the Mexican border.

EDIT I guess if you really wanted the full experince you could start in Oxnard and ride the Ventura county line into LA Union station. That would be a quite a long ride.

the mileage from OXN to SAN is 205


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## Shawn Ryu

Long Train Runnin said:


> DET63 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think I once posted a similar question: What is the longest trip one can take by train in the U.S. without using Amtrak?
> 
> I think I confined the trip to the Lower 48.
> 
> 
> 
> Well there are 2 ways to look at it. I think Penn Station To Montauk is the longest single seat ride on a commuter railroad. I understand although its not convenient one could go from LA to San Diego by taking Metrolink from LA to Oceanside then transfer to a Coaster train from Oceanside to San Diego although from what I've heard the schedules don't exactly work out. Once in San Diego you can catch the light rail right from the station and ride the blue line right to the Mexican border.
> 
> EDIT I guess if you really wanted the full experince you could start in Oxnard and ride the Ventura county line into LA Union station. That would be a quite a long ride.
> 
> the mileage from OXN to SAN is 205
Click to expand...

From San Diego take the Coaster to Oceanside. From Oceanside take the Metrolink OC Line to LA Union Station, then take Ventura County Line, OR from Oceanside take the Orange County Inland Empire line to San Bernardino.


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## jis

Long Train Runnin said:


> Well there are 2 ways to look at it. I think Penn Station To Montauk is the longest single seat ride on a commuter railroad.


There is no one seat ride from Penn Station to Montauk. You have to change in Jamaica or Babylon.


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## johnny.menhennet

Shawn Ryu said:


> Long Train Runnin said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> DET63 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think I once posted a similar question: What is the longest trip one can take by train in the U.S. without using Amtrak?
> 
> I think I confined the trip to the Lower 48.
> 
> 
> 
> Well there are 2 ways to look at it. I think Penn Station To Montauk is the longest single seat ride on a commuter railroad. I understand although its not convenient one could go from LA to San Diego by taking Metrolink from LA to Oceanside then transfer to a Coaster train from Oceanside to San Diego although from what I've heard the schedules don't exactly work out. Once in San Diego you can catch the light rail right from the station and ride the blue line right to the Mexican border.
> 
> EDIT I guess if you really wanted the full experince you could start in Oxnard and ride the Ventura county line into LA Union station. That would be a quite a long ride.
> 
> the mileage from OXN to SAN is 205
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> From San Diego take the Coaster to Oceanside. From Oceanside take the Metrolink OC Line to LA Union Station, then take Ventura County Line, OR from Oceanside take the Orange County Inland Empire line to San Bernardino.
Click to expand...


I think the longest single seat ride in SoCal is the end-to-end L.A. Union Station to Lancaster, often put on the schedule at over 2 1/2 hours.


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## Shawn Ryu

Metrolink line to and from Oceanside sucks because of the schedule which is severely limited. I think thats because of Amtrak Pacific Surfliner which serves most stations on the route., and pretty much all the stations on the Ventura County Line.


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## railgeekteen

The Port Jervis line is 95 miles.


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## Mystic River Dragon

What a wonderful thread! I had been wondering the same thing, just in case Amtrak tanks completely at some point and only commuter rail is left. I had figured out the New London to Newark, DE, part, but not much else. Thank you all--I hope there are more posts with other connections we haven't thought of yet.

I suppose the most difficult part for the east coast would be trying to get from VIrginia down to Florida--don't see much there.

By the way, for connectivity, could we make an exception to commuter rail only and include ferries if they are the only way to get from one commuter rail to another?


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## brianpmcdonnell17

Once the Hartford Line opens, that will be 43 miles longer than the Shore Line East to New London. Therefore, the longest trip by passenger rail not using Amtrak will soon be Newark, DE to Springfield, MA at about 297 miles. In the Midwest, the longest is Harvard, IL to South Bend, IN, which is about 154 miles.


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## jis

brianpmcdonnell17 said:


> Once the Hartford Line opens, that will be 43 miles longer than the Shore Line East to New London. Therefore, the longest trip by passenger rail not using Amtrak will soon be Newark, DE to Springfield, MA at about 297 miles. In the Midwest, the longest is Harvard, IL to South Bend, IN, which is about 154 miles.


It will involve a bit of a Subway ride or walk across New York City however.


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## Metra Electric Rider

jis said:


> brianpmcdonnell17 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Once the Hartford Line opens, that will be 43 miles longer than the Shore Line East to New London. Therefore, the longest trip by passenger rail not using Amtrak will soon be Newark, DE to Springfield, MA at about 297 miles. In the Midwest, the longest is Harvard, IL to South Bend, IN, which is about 154 miles.
> 
> 
> 
> It will involve a bit of a Subway ride or walk across New York City however.
Click to expand...

Pretty much the same for Chicago too.


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## brianpmcdonnell17

Metra Electric Rider said:


> jis said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> brianpmcdonnell17 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Once the Hartford Line opens, that will be 43 miles longer than the Shore Line East to New London. Therefore, the longest trip by passenger rail not using Amtrak will soon be Newark, DE to Springfield, MA at about 297 miles. In the Midwest, the longest is Harvard, IL to South Bend, IN, which is about 154 miles.
> 
> 
> 
> It will involve a bit of a Subway ride or walk across New York City however.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Pretty much the same for Chicago too.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is why I said passenger rail and not commuter rail. In New York one could take the Shuttle or 7 to Times Square and transfer to the 1,2,3,A,C, or E. In Chicago, it would be a direct ride on the Green Line although a short walk would be required on each end.


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## Metra Electric Rider

brianpmcdonnell17 said:


> Metra Electric Rider said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jis said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> brianpmcdonnell17 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Once the Hartford Line opens, that will be 43 miles longer than the Shore Line East to New London. Therefore, the longest trip by passenger rail not using Amtrak will soon be Newark, DE to Springfield, MA at about 297 miles. In the Midwest, the longest is Harvard, IL to South Bend, IN, which is about 154 miles.
> 
> 
> 
> It will involve a bit of a Subway ride or walk across New York City however.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Pretty much the same for Chicago too.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yes, that is why I said passenger rail and not commuter rail. In New York one could take the Shuttle or 7 to Times Square and transfer to the 1,2,3,A,C, or E. In Chicago, it would be a direct ride on the Green Line although a short walk would be required on each end.
Click to expand...

A bit less direct than it used to be though... (stations combined eliminating no street crossing to Randolph Street - though I can't remember if you _had_ to exit to the west side of Wabash anyways south/east bound)


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## Trogdor

Randolph/Wabash allowed crossing the street on the mezzanine level.


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## Metra Electric Rider

Trogdor said:


> Randolph/Wabash allowed crossing the street on the mezzanine level.


Thanks, I rarely ever used it and couldn't remember.


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## fairviewroad

Another long commuter rail trip not mentioned on this thread would be ACE from Stockton to Santa Clara (83 miles), then Caltrain from Santa Clara to San Francisco (44 miles) for a respectable 127 miles.

In San Francisco you could connect to MUNI/BART to add some additional mileage, though the farthest points of the BART system would practically send you in a loop back towards where you came from, so that probably wouldn't count.


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## me_little_me

One train trip on the NM RailRunner between Santa Fe and Belen, NM is about 95 miles. $10 for adults and $5 for seniors! Free for disabled vets.


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## gswager

me_little_me said:


> One train trip on the NM RailRunner between Santa Fe and Belen, NM is about 95 miles. $10 for adults and $5 for seniors! Free for disabled vets.


Done that! Esp. with beep beep noise when the doors are closing. You'll gain nearly 1,890 feet from Albuquerque to Santa Fe.


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## PVD

The Cannonball does NYP to Montauk which is close to 120 miles in just over 90 minutes. It goes out Friday and back Sunday, summer season only. Half the time of the normal connecting train schedule. They take seat reservations for 3 cars at a premium price 9 reg cars. Very popular


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## jis

PVD said:


> The Cannonball does NYP to Montauk which is close to 120 miles in just over 90 minutes. It goes out Friday and back Sunday, summer season only. Half the time of the normal connecting train schedule. They take seat reservations for 3 cars at a premium price 9 reg cars. Very popular


Are you sure that it is not 150 minutes instead of 90 mins? I think LIRR may be astounded to learn that they operate a train at a start to stop average speed that is the same as their maximum allowed speed. 

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum


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## railgeekteen

The longest line in the Boston area is the Fitchburg line.


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## PVD

From the LIRR bulletin.

*Cannonball East*

The Cannonball East departs Penn Station on Fridays at 4:06 p.m. from Penn Station - May 27th through September 2nd and travels non-stop to Westhampton in 95 minutes, also stopping at Southampton, Bridgehampton, East Hampton and Montauk. For the July 4th holiday weekend, the Cannonball East departs on Friday July 1. Hamptons Reserve seating is $49.25 one-way. The remaining cars are filled on a first come, first-served basis priced at the regular one-way peak fare of $28.25

Even if I shave the trip to 100 miles to WestHampton in 95, that is pretty fast for LIRR. Wouldn't bet on it being on time too often.....It is unique in that it doesn't stop in any of the places like Woodside or Jamaica or Hicksville.....


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## SarahZ

gswager said:


> Done that! Esp. with beep beep noise when the doors are closing. You'll gain nearly 1,890 feet from Albuquerque to Santa Fe.


Despite several trips to Albuquerque over the years, I have yet to do this. It's still on my bucket list.






I've been to Santa Fe a couple of times (beautiful town), but we drove.


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## brianpmcdonnell17

PVD said:


> From the LIRR bulletin.
> 
> *Cannonball East*
> 
> The Cannonball East departs Penn Station on Fridays at 4:06 p.m. from Penn Station - May 27th through September 2nd and travels non-stop to Westhampton in 95 minutes, also stopping at Southampton, Bridgehampton, East Hampton and Montauk. For the July 4th holiday weekend, the Cannonball East departs on Friday July 1. Hamptons Reserve seating is $49.25 one-way. The remaining cars are filled on a first come, first-served basis priced at the regular one-way peak fare of $28.25
> 
> 
> 
> Even if I shave the trip to 100 miles to WestHampton in 95, that is pretty fast for LIRR. Wouldn't bet on it being on time too often.....It is unique in that it doesn't stop in any of the places like Woodside or Jamaica or Hicksville.....


I think it does stop in Jamaica going one way. As for Hicksville and Woodside, many trains on the Montauk Branch don't stop at those stations. Some trains don't even go through Hicksville.


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## jis

PVD said:


> From the LIRR bulletin.
> 
> *Cannonball East*
> 
> The Cannonball East departs Penn Station on Fridays at 4:06 p.m. from Penn Station - May 27th through September 2nd and travels non-stop to Westhampton in 95 minutes, also stopping at Southampton, Bridgehampton, East Hampton and Montauk. For the July 4th holiday weekend, the Cannonball East departs on Friday July 1. Hamptons Reserve seating is $49.25 one-way. The remaining cars are filled on a first come, first-served basis priced at the regular one-way peak fare of $28.25
> 
> 
> 
> Even if I shave the trip to 100 miles to WestHampton in 95, that is pretty fast for LIRR. Wouldn't bet on it being on time too often.....It is unique in that it doesn't stop in any of the places like Woodside or Jamaica or Hicksville.....


It is ~45 miles from Westhampton to Montauk. It is ~75 miles in 95 mins, which makes sense. 
This was my old stomping grounds. I lived on LI (Suffolk County) for five years, so this is not theoretical based on studying maps and time tables. Been there done that both by train and car many times [emoji6]

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum


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## PVD

My error on the distance between WH and Montauk. I only go Jamaica to/from Penn to catch Amtrak, or once in a while after a game at the garden, back to Forest Hills. I hate to say I've only taken the train to Montauk once, and it was a special Parlor Car Train for the Tricentennial of Queens County in 1983 boarded in LIC after breakfast, only stop was Jamaica then straight out to Montauk for festivities. One of my friends had to buy tickets because his boss was tight with Queens County politicos.....

Cannonball "West" does add Jamaica....Just about nothing on Montauk timetable through Hicksville, but almost everything out of Penn is a change at Jamaica .


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## brianpmcdonnell17

PVD said:


> My error on the distance between WH and Montauk. I only go Jamaica to/from Penn to catch Amtrak, or once in a while after a game at the garden, back to Forest Hills. I hate to say I've only taken the train to Montauk once, and it was a special Parlor Car Train for the Tricentennial of Queens County in 1983 boarded in LIC after breakfast, only stop was Jamaica then straight out to Montauk for festivities. One of my friends had to buy tickets because his boss was tight with Queens County politicos.....
> 
> Cannonball "West" does add Jamaica....Just about nothing on Montauk timetable through Hicksville, but almost everything out of Penn is a change at Jamaica .


The trains on the Montauk Branch that involve a change at Jamaica are diesel east of there, with most trains operating via Hicksville but not stopping. There are also a few trains a day that do stop. In addition, Montauk Branch trains are sometimes routed via the Babylon Branch. Any Montauk Branch train with a change in Babylon rather than Jamaica operates this way, as it is entirely electric east of Jamaica while the Central Branch from Hicksville to Babylon is diesel-only.


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## PVD

Yes, going through but not stopping is the more accurate way to say it.


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## me_little_me

SarahZ said:


> gswager said:
> 
> 
> 
> Done that! Esp. with beep beep noise when the doors are closing. You'll gain nearly 1,890 feet from Albuquerque to Santa Fe.
> 
> 
> 
> Despite several trips to Albuquerque over the years, I have yet to do this. It's still on my bucket list.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've been to Santa Fe a couple of times (beautiful town), but we drove.
Click to expand...

Clean restrooms; low prices; fast service; friendly conductors/ticket takers. Obviously, they never "learned" from Amtrak.

Been ABQ-->Belen once round trip and ABQ <-->Santa Fe about half a dozen times. Been on it every time we go back to visit our hearts.


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## ParanoidAndroid

Reviving a 4-year-dead thread...

GO Transit's pilot service extension of their Toronto-Kitchener line to London takes over 4 hours total. This might be the longest single-seat commuter train ride in North America, and certainly close to it if not! Most of the extended portion seems to go no faster than 30 mph according to historical data (see for example Intercity Rail Map).

VIA Rail also operates it (Toronto-London-Sarnia) once a day, and the Toronto-London portion is 1.5-2 hours slower than _via_ Burlington and Brantford, and 2 hours slower than driving. In fact, from the morning Sarnia -> Toronto train, you can do a 50-minute transfer at London to another VIA train that will get you to Toronto 33 minutes earlier along the faster route.

Edit: here's the timetable: https://www.gotransit.com/static_fi...Planning/FullSchedules/FS25062022/TABLE31.pdf


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## Deni

jis said:


> There is no one seat ride from Penn Station to Montauk. You have to change in Jamaica or Babylon.


There is on summer weekends. The Cannonball.


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## Deni

Deni said:


> There is on summer weekends. The Cannonball.


I failed to notice I responded to a super old post.


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## jis

Deni said:


> There is on summer weekends. The Cannonball.


Now there is. There was not in 2011 when the post that you quoted was posted


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## jiml

ParanoidAndroid said:


> Reviving a 4-year-dead thread...
> 
> GO Transit's pilot service extension of their Toronto-Kitchener line to London takes over 4 hours total. This might be the longest single-seat commuter train ride in North America, and certainly close to it if not! Most of the extended portion seems to go no faster than 30 mph according to historical data (see for example Intercity Rail Map).
> 
> VIA Rail also operates it (Toronto-London-Sarnia) once a day, and the Toronto-London portion is 1.5-2 hours slower than _via_ Burlington and Brantford, and 2 hours slower than driving. In fact, from the morning Sarnia -> Toronto train, you can do a 50-minute transfer at London to another VIA train that will get you to Toronto 33 minutes earlier along the faster route.
> 
> Edit: here's the timetable: https://www.gotransit.com/static_fi...Planning/FullSchedules/FS25062022/TABLE31.pdf


For GO, this is past the "pilot" stage and is now an official route. The Toronto <-> London portion was also the route of Amtrak's International, and speed on this section was one of the many "nails in its coffin". The viability of the current train was discussed in another thread when the route was rolled out. Apparently the ridership is exceeding what were very low expectations, with the only major criticism being lack of food and beverage on a 4-hour trip. (GO is looking into this.) It is cheaper than the VIA service on the same route and the drive on the 401 highway is bad - particularly during rush hours - due to massive construction projects and resulting lane closures expected to continue for up to 2 years.

Speaking of pilot projects, a portion of the route (Kitchener) will be GO's first electrified segment.


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## daybeers

Related...


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## BCL

I know - old thread, but....

The longest linked ride I can think of around here is Altamont Corridor Express from Stockton to San Jose, then Caltrain from San Jose to San Francisco.

I purposely leave any Amtrak California services out of it since I guess those aren't technically commuter rail.

There might be something even longer on Coaster and Metrolink, although schedules might be an issue. San Diego to Ventura would be one heck of a long commuter ride. Maybe Lancaster or San Bernardino?


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## ParanoidAndroid

Probably the longest linked commuter rail trip in California would be Coaster and Metrolink from San Diego to Lancaster.

Looks like the trip with the shortest transfers is on weekends, but I wouldn't bet on making them every time.

Coaster 675 Depart San Diego 12:20pm, Arrive Oceanside 1:22pm
Metrolink 665 Depart Oceanside 1:28pm, Arrive Los Angeles 3:39pm
Metrolink 267 Depart Los Angeles 3:51pm, Arrive Lancaster 5:59pm

5 hrs 39 mins to travel about 205 miles
- 41 miles San Diego - Oceanside
- 87.2 miles Oceanside - Los Angeles
- 76.6 miles Los Angeles - Lancaster

If the trolley counts, then the trolley Santee to Old Town then the Coaster would be longer (longer than from San Ysidro too!)


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## AmtrakBlue

brianpmcdonnell17 said:


> Once the Hartford Line opens, that will be 43 miles longer than the Shore Line East to New London. Therefore, the longest trip by passenger rail not using Amtrak will soon be Newark, DE to Springfield, MA at about 297 miles. In the Midwest, the longest is Harvard, IL to South Bend, IN, which is about 154 miles.


Someday, the Springfield, MA to Newark, DE may be extended to DC and beyond if MARC ever gets approval from MD to extend from Perryville to Newark. If they’re waiting for the new platform in Newark to be built, it will probably be another 2 years. The work for the platform was put on hold due to COVID and I’ve heard they hope to resume by end of this year.


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