Did Amtrak run trains between Boston and New Haven, or did they shut down the entire NEC north of NYP?
Apparently service was suspended between Boston and New York at least later in the day. AFAICT earlier in the day when they thought things will get fixed faster they did run some trains from Boston which in an unplanned way terminated somewhere in MNRR territory with transfer to MNRR.
I took 148 north. This didn't have a locomotive on the tail end. I'm not sure whether the fact this train goes to Springfield is the reason why that's so. In bth trans we have fixed seating, half the seats face forward, have face towards the rear. The locomotives at both ends of 181 suggest that they can run push-pull operations between Boston/New York and Washington. If so, then the business class car should be on either the north (east) or south (west) end of the consist regardless of what direction the train is traveling. On the Acelas, the First class car is always on the south (west) end of the consist, which means that it's on the rear of the train when going from Washington to New York/Boston and on the front of the train when going to Washington. However, with the Northeast Regionals, the business class car is always at the rear of the train. This suggests that they're turning the trains around at the terminals, which sort of defeats the purpose of having fixed seating and locomotives at both ends of the train.
I just see the President cutting the ribbon for the new Acela platform this spring, and three weeks ago reports that the scaffolding is down on the station, but construction has stopped because of an unexpected cost increase. The concourse bridge over the tracks is done. I really had it backwards with the new Lavale Street station to be built across the tracks from the historic station. Amtrak will be there, while the old station will be for MARC and moooore reeeetail. Hope they keep the bookstore section of the convenience store, sort of a rarity in train stations these days I think. It's similar to the book section in airport stores. But I can't find the ore detailed documents I used to read about Lavale Street plans, so maybe it changed when the plans for the tunnel went from four bores to two, and no diesel (right?), so less ventilation.Had to go down the Washington today. Took the Northeast Regional both ways. Just a couple of observations:
I took 181 south. It had 8 cars with ACS-64's at both ends. No more railfan window in the business class car!
The trains ran more or less on time, but on 181 (which was a non-stop express between Baltimore and Washington) whe slowed down around New Carrolton, and crept along all the way into Union Station. Wonder what was holding up the trains?
They've got pretty good 5G service in the Washington Metro. I was able to book my return ticket while riding along between Metro Center and Judiciary Square. (I usually don't like to make my return reservations until I know what time I'll be getting to Union Station.) I wish Amtrak could get some wi-fi operating in the B&P tunnels and the Hudson Tunnels.
Looks like the new platform for Track 8 in Baltimore is open. Have any trains actually used it? Does anybody know what the plans are for its use? The new platform for track 3 looks like it's also getting close to completion. When it's done there will now be 5 though tracks (tracks 3,4,6,7, and 8) and one stub track (Track 5) serving Baltimore. Are we expecting more service any time soon?
What's labeled as track F, closest to Lanvale St. is now track 8 (at least according to the signs on the new platform.)
Yes, that is what was built in place recently
