Lollygagging through Connecticut

[CJIMI]

I live about 10 miles west of Philadelphia, PA. I was planning a trip to visit some friends from Central Connecticut. We arranged a get together at Pepe's Pizza, not too far from Union Station in New Haven. ( Best pizza in the world - honest ).
I did not feel like driving - traffic around New York and the CT Turnpike is brutal, and I recently had shoulder surgery. So, we decided to take the train from Philadelphia to New Haven.
I purchased our tickets well in advance, and got a good price on the Acela Express; with a scheduled run time of 2h59min from Philadelphia to New Haven. I knew that I could not drive there that fast, even if I tried.

The scheduled 2:39 PM departure left Philadelphia 14 minutes late last Saturday. No explanation for the delay was given, but I expected that we would later make up for lost time. I activated the odometer App on my Smart Phone. It showed the train traveling at over 135 mph on the straight section of track north of Trenton, NJ. Nice. We only had a 10 minute layover at NY Penn station, and there was a crew change in New York; so they could not make up any time in New York.

After leaving Penn Station, I turned the Odometer App Back on, as we went through Connecticut.

The train speed NEVER exceeded 70 mph. Even though we often went faster than traffic on the adjacent and saturated Connecticut Turnpike, this is not high speed rail. We managed somehow to loose a little more time, and arrived in New Haven 20 minutes late. Still no explanation for the delays.

We spent the night in Bridgeport with a relative, and took the Northeast regional train home from Bridgeport to Philadelphia, the next day ( Sunday - the train was packed - sold out - from NY to Phila.) I asked the conductor why the train was so slow in Connecticut, especially as compared to train speeds in New Jersey and even in Pennsylvania ( where we had some 120 mph running in Bucks County ). He replied that Metro - North owns the tracks from New York to New Haven, and that they impose a 79 mph speed limit. Sounded like a BS response to me - 79 mph is Amtrak's speed limit when running trains on non-owned and non-electrified freight tracks.

The line from New York to New Haven is fully electrified, and has no grade level crossings. Any ideas as to why the trains in the western part of Connecticut are so slow ? I have been on trains in Spain, Italy and France that run close to 200 mph. 70 mph on a major inter city route is 3rd world.

 

[jis]

Curves. No one has ever suggested that New Rochelle to New Haven is high speed rail.

 

[John from RI]

In the middle 1850's the Camden And Amboy had a meandering rail line north from Trenton which passed though Princeton. The C&A decided to realign the road and did, making it straight between Trenton and New Brunswick. Princeton was served with a branch from Princeton Junction, most of which still exists. At the same time there is a fairly straight line from Elizabeth to New Brunswick. High speeds are possible on this section of the northeast corridor.

North of New York the Railroad follows the New York New Haven and Hartford Shore Line to Providence. The Shore Line as its name suggests follows the shore where it connects cities existing when the line was built. Its curves limits speeds. From Providence to Boston, about 30 miles, the line is straight and higher speeds are possible.

 

[jis]

Elizabeth to New Brunswick is straight except for the various 90mph curves around Metropark and Metuchen. From west of the CP Lincoln curve to CP Ham is pretty straight, but there still is a shallow curve in the middle there.

The two straight segment between New London and Boston are, one between Kingston and Providence in RI and the other between Massachusetts State Line to around Mansfield in Massachusetts.

 

[MARC Rider]

The train speed NEVER exceeded 70 mph.

Hey, 70 mph is pretty good for that stretch of track. I've ridden the Acela through there, and sometimes we rarely exceed 40 mph.

The conductor wasn't giving you BS about the track being owned by Metro-North. I've ridden their trains on this line, even express trains, and they don't go very fast either.

First, as Jis said, the route has a lot of curves. Then there's the fact that every time I've ridden this stretch over the past 20 years, they're doing track work that shuts down one of the tracks. That increases the likelihood that your Acela is following a Metro-North commuter train that's making a lot of stops and isn't going very fast.

Frankly, if they could run the Amtrak trains consistently at 70 mph between New Rochelle and New Haven, I'd be happy. And the last time I rode through, which was on an Acela last June, we did indeed seem to do the stretch without as many slowdowns as usual.
What I want to know is when they're going to finish the track work and have all 4 tracks on the line open.

 

[Dutchrailnut]

The track speed between New Rochelle and New Haven has been same 70/75 for nearly century. Metro north did have a small section of 90 but it did not really help timekeeping and wasted a lot of money in maintenance, so even that was dropped. the line has many restrictions , be it bridges or curves.

 

[bratkinson]

Actually, I'm surprised that the New Haven line is good for 70-75. Riding the Acela, it seems like we're usually running about 45-50 MPH. I hadn't looked lately. And yes, I know the smoother ride of the Acela compared to Amfleet makes higher speeds not seem so fast.

Although the Acela can run 150+ in spots, the problem on the New Haven has been lost/buried not long after the Acela was introduced. First and foremost, is that the tilting mechanism must be turned off on the New Haven as there's too little clearance between tracks to allow it to operate. Hence, slower speeds. Throw in that the Acela trains are 4" wider than all trains, BART excluded. That makes tilting even more limited.

For those that remember riding the NEC before 2000 when the Acelas were introduced, the distance between all high level platforms on the NEC and the sides of the Amfleet and Heritage Fleet cars was typically about an inch. And the platforms were always at the exact same height as the floors. Nowadays, because of the wider Acelas, the gap between Amfleet and platforms is over 2", sometimes more! And NYP is a disaster, in my book. When they rebuilt various tracks, #12 especially, they didn't even get the height right! There's an inch or two drop to the platform in addition to the gap, and that's from an Acela! Afleets are just as bad! Next time you leave or arrive on track #12, (it's usually south/westbound only), take a gander at the gap and the drop! One of these days I'll take my tape measure and check it out!

 

[20th Century Rider]

Just got off the Vermonter yesterday which runs through all that territory. North of New Haven all are mourning the removal of a second track which now causes delays as trains must wait the pass each other. So! There're rebuilding it all over again starting next year. And of course there's currently a lot of track repair on the main line around New Haven.

 

[daybeers]

Just got off the Vermonter yesterday which runs through all that territory. North of New Haven all are mourning the removal of a second track which now causes delays as trains must wait the pass each other. So! There're rebuilding it all over again starting next year. And of course there's currently a lot of track repair on the main line around New Haven.

CTDOT is never done with repair on the main line but what do you mean about north of New Haven being rebuilt? If you're talking about the Hartford Line, much of that project was done before it opened 3.5 years ago.

First and foremost, is that the tilting mechanism must be turned off on the New Haven as there's too little clearance between tracks to allow it to operate. Hence, slower speeds.

Not so anymore: Acelas have been able to tilt on the New Haven Line for several years now if I remember correctly.

 

[Dutchrailnut]

Just for information the tilting issue has been resolved some 6 years ago . and for information the proper gap between sill plate and platform is 4"

 

[jis]

Not so anymore: Acelas have been able to tilt on the New Haven Line for several years now if I remember correctly.

Right. It has been at least six or so years now that they have been tilting.

 

[truncated]

Somewhat related question — if one books PHL-NHV in first do you get two meals (one for PHL-NYP and another for NYP-NHV) or just one?

 

[jis]

The last time I did that 8 or so years back, actually Metropark to New Haven, I was offered two meals I took only one. I don't know what they do now.

 

[BlackDiamond]

Just got off the Vermonter yesterday which runs through all that territory. North of New Haven all are mourning the removal of a second track which now causes delays as trains must wait the pass each other. So! There're rebuilding it all over again starting next year. And of course there's currently a lot of track repair on the main line around New Haven.

The second track that was there in the New Haven days got removed some time ago well before there was any interest in more service NHV - SPG. The last few years with the increased service by CDOT some of the second track has been put back.

 

[daybeers]

The second track that was there in the New Haven days got removed some time ago well before there was any interest in more service NHV - SPG. The last few years with the increased service by CDOT some of the second track has been put back.

Amtrak ripped it up in the mid-80s. Most of it was restored through the Hartford Line project, and now there's only about 12 miles of single track left, though it's important: through Hartford and north of Windsor Locks. They still run a good service.

 

[west point]

That single track above the Hartford station is a real impediment. Especially for any planned increases in services especially Hartford terminations. Have often wondered why not restored even though it would be temporary as the bridge work is still there? Anyone know the reason? Political, weight, passenger access, money, other?

 

[jis]

That single track above the Hartford station is a real impediment. Especially for any planned increases in services especially Hartford terminations. Have often wondered why not restored even though it would be temporary as the bridge work is still there? Anyone know the reason? Political, weight, passenger access, money, other?

I have been trying to figure out ifcurrently the Hartford terminators turn at the station or in a yard north of the station. A quick perusal of the time table suggests that the turn happens in a yard and not at the station, but I don;t know which of the several possible yards. Anyone with any first hand knowledge, please help.

There does not appear to be any imminent plans to add a second platform track at the station AFAICT.

 

[daybeers]

The second track at Hartford was removed by Amtrak in the 90s. The viaduct is old (I believe original to the original station building back in 1889!) and cannot support the weight of two trains at once. The station and track won't be reconfigured until the Greater Hartford Mobility Study, a rerun of the I-84 Hartford Project Study probably so CTDOT can kick the can down the road longer before they have to decide and so they can get more funding for a project that will probably be in the several billions , comes out with options for what to do with the mess that is the I-84 viaduct through Hartford, the mixmaster in East Hartford, and the interchange with I-91 right downtown. The rail line snakes through it at 25 mph for 1.5 miles south of the station. There is a freight siding only good for 10 mph only really used for Amtrak MOW staging these days for an additional 1.5 miles from there, adjacent to the CTfastrak BRT Parkville station (which I imagine is called CP PARKVILLE though I'm not sure) to CP OAKWOOD at Oakwood Avenue in West Hartford. It's a bit of a mess when a southbound train is late and the northbound one has to wait and then traverse the 3 miles, 60% of it at 25. The switch speed at OAKWOOD is 45 splat in the middle of a 110 section, and PTC makes you slow down far, far back than necessary going north. The timetable is nearly hourly some times of day, but the meets in Hartford complicate things. It's annoying. The weekend schedule is more regular.

Only some CTrail trains terminate/originate in Hartford; all Amtrak ones continue to Springfield. They all have cab cars, so they're not really turned, but when a CTrail train arrives in Hartford, it then shuts the doors and moves north about a thousand feet for the engineer to get out and move to the cab car at the rear of the consist. The train is back within a few minutes. Unsure why they do this, probably FRA rules? The turn times in Hartford are mostly padding.