Longest Commuter Rail Trip?

[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.

 

[jis]

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.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

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.

Pretty much the same for Chicago too.

 

[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.

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

Pretty much the same for Chicago too.

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.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

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.

Pretty much the same for Chicago too.

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.

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)

 

[Trogdor]

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

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

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

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

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[gswager]

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.

 

[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

 

[jis]

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.

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[railgeekteen]

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

 

[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.....

 

[SarahZ]

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.

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

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.

 

[jis]

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]

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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 .

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

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.

 

[PVD]

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

 

[me_little_me]

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.

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.

 

[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

 

[Deni]

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.

 

[Deni]

There is on summer weekends. The Cannonball.

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

 

[jis]

There is on summer weekends. The Cannonball.

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