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Very interesting analysis. Would having a South Florida commuter operator handling most of that traffic resolve most of the problem? Was this their original assumption?

While, technically, a low-level platform for Chatham would probably be compliant, if FRA funding is involved they likely would fund a station with a high-level platform.

Current US DOT rules require level boarding for the full length of the trains in use on the route. Thus, platform height varies. However, there is a major exception for platforms on tracks owned by private freight railroads (if the specific track is used by freight). In these cases platforms...

I just looked up Peter Pan schedules. I was shocked to see that half of the 6 Springfield-Boston trips require a bus change in Hartford. The others go via Worcester, yielding a 2 hour running time. I remember all service being virtually nonstop between Springfield and Boston. 2 hours on the...

Any rumors as to how soon the additional cars (20?) are expected to arrive from Siemens?

An Inland Route with fast, frequent service would increase the rail market share as well as serve Worcester (rather than Providence).

I think that we can assume that Alstom sees this as a way to get in on the huge (currently monopolistic) market that Siemens has for its Venture cars (for Brightlane-Florida, Midwest corridors, Caltrans, VIA, and Amtrak Airo.

I'm all in favor of passenger trains between Albany, Springfield, Worcester and Boston. But the historic Western RR of Massachusetts route, built 1837-1841, between Worcester and Palmer is extremely circuitous, making trip times on this segment that are vaguely competitive with Peter Pan buses...

I really thought that they'd totally stopped using the cabbages. They are, in reality, very old and, I understand, pretty unreliable, these days.

The principal reason to extend Amtrak service to O'Hare is to get people from Downstate cities to O'Hare. These people hate having to drive to O'Hare and switching to CTA is extremely inconvenient and time-consuming. Watch the new HSRA Crossrail video .

Actually, the Texas Supreme Court surprised a lot of people (likely including TC management, who quit while waiting for a ruling) by sustaining TC's right to use eminent domain. I don't understand why people think that it would be a good idea to walk away from from the dedicated, passenger-only...

Despite being publicly-funded Amtrak can be remarkably tight-lipped. But they would be more likely to follow "Buy America" regulations. That might spell the end of wholesale importing of Shinkansen technology/standards. It would be great if Dallas-Houston HSR were built to FRA-approved Tier 3...

I have heard that FRA has been willing to authorize 90 mph on PTC-equipped lines which have track upgraded and maintained to the appropriate track classification. Can any one provide any specifics?

The Friday, July 28 edition of the Rail Passenger Association's Hotline online newsletter included this link https://fralongdistancerailstudy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Overview_Presentation_2.pdf to the overview prentation shown in the second round of meetings of FRA's Long Distance Study...

Remember that the Wisconsin portion includes 3 cab cars. This will be the first of these in the Midwest. They will replace the ex-F40s, which I believe have already been removed from service.

The CVS across the street from CUS was closed during the pandemic and did not reopen.

I'm not sure if there are any movable bridges on the entire LOSSAN route. Although most of the route south of Anaheim was historically single track, much of it has been doubled since it went into public ownership, especially south of Oceanside where it overlaps NCTD commuter service. The primary...

Congress limited spending IIJA (BIL) funding in NEC to 40%.

At the recent USHSRA conference High Speed Rail Conference the president of Brightline West clearly stated that they in negotiations with both Siemens and Alstom.

We have lots of evidence that Class 1 freight rail owners will play along on reasonable terms and lots of evidence that they won't. Public ownership of ROWs is essential. Even Brightline West is being made possible by use of the I-15 median at a very modest cost.