Hello, all. I’m a fairly new rider and on my way from Wilmington, DE to Boston, I noted that, at some stations, only certain doors open. I watched nervously as these announcements were made and people scrambled to find the nearest conductor (and hence, the nearest open door). Are there limited door openings at the New Haven, CT station?
New Haven, CT station discussion
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blueman271
OBS Chief
No. New Haven has high level platforms and all doors will open.
Thanks! I just could not remember with all of those stops in CT (I rode the Northeast Regional). Thanks again.
Mystic River Dragon
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You beat me to it!
Just as a matter of interest for our new rider, though, I will add that the stations with just a couple of doors opening are often small ones like Mystic, CT, where they have to put the steps down so you can reach the platform.
Thank you so much for your response. I thought that might be the case - small stations. I think the tough part for me being a new rail traveler is not really knowing where you are on the train when only certain doors open. Luckily, with my stop being in Back Bay on my last trip, I didn’t have to worry about it. I watched many stops though where they announced the train would only be at the platform for one minute and people were scrambling. Made me think about what I would do if I missed a stop because I couldn’t find a conductor in time!You beat me to it!
Just as a matter of interest for our new rider, though, I will add that the stations with just a couple of doors opening are often small ones like Mystic, CT, where they have to put the steps down so you can reach the platform.
Usually, I think, they use the cafe car (or one of the cars on either side of it) and will announce which car to move forward to. You should move forward or backward to the announced car well before you get to the station. The cafe car is generally in the middle of the consist.Thank you so much for your response. I thought that might be the case - small stations. I think the tough part for me being a new rail traveler is not really knowing where you are on the train when only certain doors open. Luckily, with my stop being in Back Bay on my last trip, I didn’t have to worry about it. I watched many stops though where they announced the train would only be at the platform for one minute and people were scrambling. Made me think about what I would do if I missed a stop because I couldn’t find a conductor in time!
Mystic River Dragon
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Thank you so much for your response. I thought that might be the case - small stations. I think the tough part for me being a new rail traveler is not really knowing where you are on the train when only certain doors open. Luckily, with my stop being in Back Bay on my last trip, I didn’t have to worry about it. I watched many stops though where they announced the train would only be at the platform for one minute and people were scrambling. Made me think about what I would do if I missed a stop because I couldn’t find a conductor in time!
You’re very welcome.
Even seasoned travelers go through this as well, although that “one minute” sounds like you had an unusually tough crew.
It’s not quite as disorganized as it looks. The conductors usually go through periodically and announce, for example, “New London next, only three doors will open” and pull the tickets of people getting off there. Sometimes they know which doors and can tell you, other times they don’t know themselves til practically at the station.
What I have done in the past is ask the conductor when they come through for the stop before mine. For example, if I were getting off at Mystic, I would ask them when they were collecting the New London tickets if they knew which doors would open at Mystic.
A good general guess is one of the cafe car doors—they seem to be popular for some reason.
AmtrakBlue and I posted at the same time. She is an extremely knowledgeable traveler, so I would take her advice about the cafe car.
It does depend on if they can spot the cafe car based on the consist length and station factors.You’re very welcome.
Even seasoned travelers go through this as well, although that “one minute” sounds like you had an unusually tough crew.
It’s not quite as disorganized as it looks. The conductors usually go through periodically and announce, for example, “New London next, only three doors will open” and pull the tickets of people getting off there. Sometimes they know which doors and can tell you, other times they don’t know themselves til practically at the station.
What I have done in the past is ask the conductor when they come through for the stop before mine. For example, if I were getting off at Mystic, I would ask them when they were collecting the New London tickets if they knew which doors would open at Mystic.
A good general guess is one of the cafe car doors—they seem to be popular for some reason.
AmtrakBlue and I posted at the same time. She is an extremely knowledgeable traveler, so I would take her advice about the cafe car.
If a Regional is doubleheaded (two engines) or has more than 8 cars, not all doors will open at NHV. 9-car runs are fairly common, as are 10 and 11 during busy holiday travel. NHV is a crew change point, so the engines always have to stop with access to the platform. In these cases, it will just be the cars at the rear of the train whose doors won't open. Old Saybrook has a shorter platform, so usually doors will open where a conductor is as the cars are old and can't open specific doors only. Mystic and New London are on curves with unusual setups, so usually the cafe car and one or two adjacent ones will open.
TL;DR: Unless there is a special case, yes, all doors open at New Haven, CT.
TL;DR: Unless there is a special case, yes, all doors open at New Haven, CT.
Seaboard92
Engineer
With the exception of what daybeers has stated in longer train lengths you shouldn't have to worry. The Amfleet I's which they are using on the corridor all have a master door control by the conductor. And you shouldn't have a problem. Now lower level platforms that is a different story because you have to have the trap operated by a member of the crew. And I don't think there are many amtrak stations on the corridor that have low level boarding. I think the only ones I know of are the Washington, DC (Long Distance side IE Virginia), Aberdeen, MD, Newark, DE, and Mystic. There may be others but I don't generally ride the corridor north of New York much.
Washington also has some low platforms on the upper level, too, tracks 7&8 and 15&16. For some reason, they would frequently berth my morning MARC train into track 15 or 16. There would be over a thousand anxious commuters waiting for the conductors to open the traps (and they did open every door), and it took a lot longer to offload the train than it would have if they had pulled up to one of the numerous empty high level platforms.
They also usually board the Capitol Limited at track 15 or 16, but that's a Superliner train and needs the low platform. On the other hand, the inbound Capitol Limited nearly always (in my experience, at least) seems to arrive at a track on the lower level, which slows things down, as you have to ride up an escalator to get to the station.
Seaboard92
Engineer
I remember Thirdrail telling me about why that is and it had something to do with the arrival/departure flow. One or two times I've arrived on the upper level deck on No. 30 but that is incredibly rare. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't some of the new MARC Cars have the same style doors that the NJT multi-level has which allows you to open them in motion so the bottom door shield opens at the same time.
jis
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Yes. MARC acquired a bunch of NJT style MLVs that were acquired from NJT options. They have doors that can be remotely operated at low level platforms. The traps have to be set properly before hand at the doors that are to be opened.
With the current schedules and expansion of Virginia service, it seems that a larger percentage of the Northeast Regionals are continuing through to/from Virginia, and are thus stopping on the lower level. Because all of the doors aren't opened at the low platforms, that trains take longer to empty upon arrival in Washington. Because it's in the lower level, there's no direct access to the tracks from the Club Acela, which means you have to leave the Club Acela and get in the cattle line at the gate. And when you get down to the train, not all the doors are open, so boarding takes longer than if the train had been at a high-level platform. Some relief may be at hand soon, as it looks like the Track 22 improvements now under construction will include a high platform, and hopefully future improvements will add a couple more high platforms on the lower track level. But I guess they'll always need a few low platforms to accommodate the Superliners and the VRE gallery cars.
jis
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The other relief across the board will come with the Airo sets which are like the NJT MLVs, but a little bit better. You can set the trap in the proper way without opening the doors and depending on how it is set, when the door is opened, possibly by remote control, it will automatically deploy the stairs down to the platform for low platform or a bridge plate bridging to the high platform.
Mystic River Dragon
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This month's Passenger Train Journal (2023-2, Issue 295) focuses on the New Haven Railroad. It has an interesting and informative article on New Haven Union Station, covering its history, what is there now (including which tracks are used primarily for which trains and which offices are still there and which have moved), and lovely photos.
The author seems to love it as much as some of us do, and it’s worth a read if you can find a copy of the magazine. I guess it might be online, too—I just subscribe to the print version.
The author seems to love it as much as some of us do, and it’s worth a read if you can find a copy of the magazine. I guess it might be online, too—I just subscribe to the print version.
I agree that was a great issue.
They are beta testing a digital version of their magazines which you can subscribe to for $4 a month. I haven't tried it, I prefer the print version which I can read sitting in a comfy chair rather than at a desk, or trying to read it on a tiny phone screen.
New Haven Union is indeed a lovely station. While I would like to see improvements to the TOD, local transit connection, platform canopies, and food options, I am lucky to use it on a regular basis. The covered bike parking comes in very handy.
The last time I was in the New Haven station was in 2010 when I needed an early morning arrival in New York (to ride the Nostalgia subway trip to Coney Island from the Transit Museum) and there wasn't an early enough Amtrak departure from Boston to make it, so I drove to New Haven and got Metro North from there. The station was pretty impressive especially compared to what I remember from the 1970's.
Bembidion
Train Attendant
A year or so ago, a guy and (I'm guessing) his son got on a Metro North train in New Haven. The teen brought a bike up the stairs and onto the train and held the door open for quite awhile. I couldn't believe that the man finally got onto the train with a motorcycle after lugging it up those NH station stairs. That was some effort.
By the way, I like NH station a lot. It is attractive and has some nice historical information in it.
By the way, I like NH station a lot. It is attractive and has some nice historical information in it.
Motor cycles of any kind are not allowed on Metro North trains, currently even E-bikes are under discussion as Customers will try to charge them in train which is a fire hazard. Bike regulations for Metro-North Railroad
Pretty sure Amtrak is even tighter on Bike rules.
Pretty sure Amtrak is even tighter on Bike rules.
rookzie
Train Attendant
Same here, as far as experience with Union Station, New Haven is concerned.
During the smoke break and power change on N° 55, the Washington-bound “Vermonter” (5-12-2023), and which I boarded in St. Albans (VT), I took a moment to soak in the transformation. The last time I previously had entered the station head-house had been around July 1972. It's been cleaned up a bit (to say the least), since then ─ I believe in the mid-'80s. We almost lost it, though, as it almost fell victim to becoming razed, during the mid-'70s.
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Bembidion
Train Attendant
I'm not surprised that motor cycles aren't allowed. I'm not sure how no one noticed a guy putting a motorcycle on the train.
They have replaced some of the luggage racks at the end of the Amfleet 1 coaches with bicycle racks. You can still sort of use them for luggage, but if someone gets on board with a bike, your bag might get moved over to the side, which recently happened to me on a ride home from New York. I think you have to pay extra to bring a bike aboard, and I think there's a limited number of spaces for bikes on each train.
on MN bikes are free, but only allowed on certain trains outside rush hour.
