Berkshires seasonal service

[John Bredin]

Unless the Ethan Allen extension to Burlington begins first, it seems the first new service since Covid will be Berkshires seasonal service, NY to Pittsfield on Friday afternoon and the other way Sunday afternoon, through the summer. Per Business Insider (yes, I know, but linking to an Amtrak press release), it'll begin July 8.

 

[amtrakpass]

Nice to see but I hope these trains can be extended to Springfield and Boston before very long to give them a little better shot of good ridership.

 

[fdaley]

I really hope the Berkshire Flyer attracts some riders, but I kind of have my doubts about this one. The plan is for the most minimal schedule possible -- one round-trip per week, and only in the summer. It'll be potentially useful to some weekend tourists from New York City, and granted the Berkshires draws a lot of those. But this train will have little to no utility for the region's many second-home owners and for the large number of people who live in the Berkshires year-round but travel back and forth to metro New York regularly for professional and personal reasons. A lot of those people now drive an hour or more to Metro North at Wassaic or to Amtrak at Hudson, but there are lots of others who drive down the Taconic Parkway who might be attracted by a train that started/ended closer to their Berkshires destination.

I understand the rationale for setting this up as a low-cost demonstration project that can use equipment and crews from Rensselaer and the existing station at Pittsfield. But I fear that if the ridership is poor, that becomes a basis for certain politicians to say, "Well, we tried running a direct train from New York to the Berkshires, and hardly anyone rode it." When in fact, as with Scranton and the Poconos, the Berkshires could sustain a multi-frequency, year-round rail corridor to New York but would need some investment in track and stations on a more direct route.

 

[daybeers]

But I fear that if the ridership is poor, that becomes a basis for certain politicians to say, "Well, we tried running a direct train from New York to the Berkshires, and hardly anyone rode it."

This is exactly my fear as well. Same thing will likely happen with the Valley Flyer: extensions of the Hartford Line service from New Haven, CT to Springfield, MA up to Greenfield, MA.

 

[fdaley]

This is exactly my fear as well. Same thing will likely happen with the Valley Flyer: extensions of the Hartford Line service from New Haven, CT to Springfield, MA up to Greenfield, MA.

I haven't seen any ridership figures, but at least the Valley Flyer has a couple of runs every day, year-round, that seem fairly well timed for travel to all the more populous places to the south. If I lived in Greenfield or Brattleboro, I'd definitely be able to ride the the Valley Flyer to go places. If I lived in Pittsfield, the Berkshire Flyer would be useless to me.

 

[Maverickstation]

Just listening to a news piece on this service, and I found it interesting that the claim is the service is inspired by the success of the summer only, Cape Flyer service that runs between Boston and Hyannis. That said part of the reason why the Cape Flyer had done well is that it is run by MBTA/Keolis, in the manner of it's commuter rail trains (with some added features), that biggest benefit is that these trains do not require reservations, and you can ride whichever train you want on the days that it operates. Although it is a weekend only service it has enough flexibility with it's late Friday run to the Cape (departing after most people have finished work), and it's AM trip to the Cape on Saturdays/Sundays/Holidays with a early evening return.

Since day one of this operation it also has coordinated it's schedules with the Ferries operating to the Islands, and bus companies running to the outer Cape.

If Amtrak plans on running the Berkshire service as "reserved coach" only, it could be a nail in the coffin for the service, not to mention that it's end point of Pittsfield leaves much to be desired.

Some further suggested reading:

https://www.berkshireeagle.com/opin...cle_7bdc44e2-c73e-11ec-82f9-37cde7da972a.html
https://capeflyer.com/capecod-transportation-getting-around/transportation-to-nantucket/
Stay tuned.............

Ken

 

[BlackDiamond]

One problem I see is that the BRTA buses do not run on Sunday, so taxi or Uber would be the only choices for "last mile".

 

[daybeers]

Didn't realize this hadn't been posted! Tickets for the Berkshire Flyer service went on sale on May 25th.
The app is buggy for this train for some reason so I can't see the other fare classes, but coach ( likely Saver) is $45 NYP-PIT; $9 ALB-PIT, matching the LSL. #1235. Empire Service low bucket Saver NYP-ALB is $35.

NEW YORK – Amtrak, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), and New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), is now selling tickets for its newest train service, the Berkshire Flyer, for travel between New York City and Pittsfield, MA via Amtrak.com, the Amtrak app, Amtrak ticket desks and kiosks, and through 1-800-USA-RAIL. Service will begin Friday, July 8 and will operate on weekends through the summer months between Moynihan Train Hall and Pittsfield, MA, via Albany-Rensselaer, NY with several station stops in between.

The Berkshire Flyer will depart from New York Penn Station at 3:16 p.m. on Fridays and arrive at Joseph Scelsi Intermodal Transportation Center, 1 Columbus Ave, Pittsfield at 7:12 p.m. The train will make all the intermediate station stops as the typical Amtrak Empire Service train does on Fridays, which include Yonkers, NY, Croton-Harmon, NY, Poughkeepsie, NY, Rhinecliff, NY, Hudson, NY, and Albany-Rensselaer Station. The Sunday return trip, making all the same station stops, will depart Pittsfield at 3:00 p.m. and arrive in New York at 7:05 p.m.

 

[JP1822]

Isn’t this Berkshire train going to fill the spot of the current Ethan Allen’s schedule that leaves NYP at 5:45 pm on Friday and then returns on Sunday with a departure out of Pittsfield at say 5:45 pm and arrival into NYP before 11 pm? It’s the weekend get-away train. If so this train was popular in just bringing folks out of NYC to their weekend homes along the Hudson River, So the route alone - and its highly sought after schedule - is going to appeal to not only someone trying to get to the Berkshires (Pittsfield) but lso the Hudson River Valley points.

Whose funding this train exactly? Benefits Massachusetts and New York States,

 

[fdaley]

Isn’t this Berkshire train going to fill the spot of the current Ethan Allen’s schedule that leaves NYP at 5:45 pm on Friday and then returns on Sunday with a departure out of Pittsfield at say 5:45 pm and arrival into NYP before 11 pm? It’s the weekend get-away train. If so this train was popular in just bringing folks out of NYC to their weekend homes along the Hudson River, So the route alone - and its highly sought after schedule - is going to appeal to not only someone trying to get to the Berkshires (Pittsfield) but lso the Hudson River Valley points.

Whose funding this train exactly? Benefits Massachusetts and New York States,

The Ethan Allen was rescheduled in December so it now has the same northbound departure from NYP at 2:20 p.m. every day; there's no longer a later departure on Fridays. Southbound, it also now runs the same schedule daily, arriving NYP about 5:45p. So this won't conflict with that.

The Berkshire Flyer is simply an extension of existing NYP-ALB runs (although the 3:16p departure northbound has been dormant since Covid); the only part of the run that's really new is the portion from Albany to Pittsfield. Massachusetts is paying for that.

 

[blueman271]

Does this train have to reverse direction at Albany?

 

[PRR 60]

Does this train have to reverse direction at Albany?

Yes.

 

[Cal]

https://media.amtrak.com/2022/05/am...service-between-pittsfield-and-new-york-city/