Private-sector BOS-MTR service proposed

[CHamilton]

Via NARP:

A team of three entrepreneurs is seeking to start a passenger train service connecting Boston to Montreal via Portland and western Maine, and they say the project will be “ready to go” as soon as a lease agreement is signed with track owner St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad, and that service could start as soon as by the end of next year.The Golden Eagle Railway Company’s George Schwanke and Bob Steele, along with Montreal entrepreneur Francois Rebello, presented their project at a meeting of the Androscoggin, Oxford and Coos Counties Corridor Committee on Wednesday in Paris, ME. Rebello said he wants to see an overnight Montreal-Boston train with stops in Bethel and on the southern Maine coast. He said he has investors ready to jump in, and he could begin to develop the service once agreements with the Quebec government and the freight carriers that own the tracks are secured.

“My target is next summer,” Rebello said, which would require an agreement with the host railroads by October.

Steele said his company wants to run daytime passenger trains serving western and southern Maine and linking Montreal to Boston. His company has investors lined up, awaiting an agreement with the St. Lawrence & Atlantic. He said stations at Bethel and Auburn, ME were already “on the books.”

“I have no doubt that this is going to happen,” Portland, ME-based economic development consultant Tony Donovan told the Bangor Daily News, saying the expanded service wouldn’t have even been thinkable were it not for the existence of Amtrak’s Boston-Portland Downeaster and the two decades plus of work that has gone in to making it possible. “This has to do with what the federal government is doing under the Obama Administration; it has to do with the success of rail across the world and it has to do with demand. Everything the State of Maine has done for the past 20 years has brought us to this day.”

 

[jis]

Methinks they forgot that they have to deal with CBSA and USCBP

 

[Anderson]

Let's see...
(1) The SLQ doesn't connect to Montreal. You have about 80 miles on CN from Richmond, QC to Montreal to deal with, either by going due west via Acton Vale and Saint Hyacinthe or by going northwest to Drummondville and then coming back southwest to Saint Hyacinthe. Mind you, 80-ish miles on CN isn't the end of the world (and the Drummondville-Saint Hyacinthe-Montreal line is a fast one, too), but it's another railroad to deal with.
(2) On the eastern end, Boston-Portland is another question. Currently, you have Downeaster service there...will this train "jump on" one of the Downeasters, or will it add a frequency there?
(3) Given that the route is around 300 miles Portland-Montreal (and given the likely track conditions), I suspect we'd be looking at around 8 hours of running time (you'd be able to go fast enough on the Drummondville line, but you'll more than make up for that in the middle of nowhere). Add in another 2:30 Portland-Boston...yeah, 10-11 hours seems about right. That does make an overnight trip the right call IMHO...
(4) ...with a major caveat. As silly as it sounds, there might be a good deal of business on the Canadian side of this run to be had. Either they're going to run straight through from the border to Montreal (possible, but also forgoing any possible business in Quebec) or they're going to stop at the border and have a bunch of bored CBSA agents who're still butthurt about the whole passport thing checking everyone's papers sometime between midnight and 3 AM. Yeah, that's going to be /real/ popular.
(5) One thing that makes this doable: Though you'd need a cafe/bar of some kind, it's a short enough trip that you don't necessarily need a full diner.

Edit: Oh boy...from what I can glean off their (rather weak) website, they may be looking to do something rather dubious like make this work with RDCs. That's not clear by any stretch, but it looks like they might be tempted by it. Of course, that might also be a subset of the Portland-Auburn project that's also floating out there.

Their website is here: http://goldeneaglerailwaycorporation.com/

 

[railiner]

I see that they are looking for investors. Would anyone reading this actually consider investing in this scheme? hboy:

 

[Bob Dylan]

I see that they are looking for investors. Would anyone reading this actually consider investing in this scheme? hboy:

Remember what PT Barnum said! And Con Men have always made their Livings off of People with more Money than Sense!

 

[jis]

I think I will gladly pass on this incredible investment opportunity

 

[railiner]

That's what I thought.....

BTW, if anyone thinks this is a wise investment, I know a guy in Brooklyn with a bridge for sale....... :lol:

 

[Anderson]

Just my thought on the matter, but while I doubt this will be profitable...between the back-end business BOS-POR[-Auburn], the potential for the same on the Quebec side depending on the border arrangements and whatnot, and the fact that you'd get at least some through business? There might be enough there for it to attract an offsetting subsidy. So if it can't make money, I'm wondering how good/bad the CR numbers would be. At 40%, it's dead meat. At 75-80%, a state subsidy or takeover is plausible.

 

[afigg]

I see that they are looking for investors. Would anyone reading this actually consider investing in this scheme? hboy:

I am not in need of a tax loss write-off for my investment portfolio. At least, not one that big. This proposal makes the entire X-Train efforts look solid (not to be confused with the Xpress West), and the X-Train is seeking a tiny slice of a very large LA/SoCal to Las Vegas travel market.

Boston/Portland to Montreal on a slow overnight train? There is a market, but how big is it? I see major border & customs approval headaches, questions of staffing and maintaining the trains, will towns pay for restoration of stations on the route?. What will be the frequency of service?

What concerns me about this effort is that if it starts service and then fails, it could damage or hinder the MA plans for a daytime Boston to Montreal service. There could be fall-out from a failed new service, privately funded or not.

 

[railiner]

They'd be better off just extending the Vermonter to Montreal, and add a Boston to Springfield connection.........

 

[afigg]

They'd be better off just extending the Vermonter to Montreal, and add a Boston to Springfield connection.........

Vermont wants to (eventually) add a second daily frequency over the Vermonter route in VT. A Boston to Montreal train via Springfield would provide that and direct BOS service, although through Springfield is rather out of the way for a BOS-MTR day train.

But a MA supported BOS-MTR day train is not in the near term plans. I pulled up the MBTA FY2014-2018 Capital spending plan. The budget for major expansion projects over the next 5 years (FY14-FY18) for the commuter rail system has $850 million for South Station expansion and $568 million for South Coast rail. There is also funding for completion of Worcester Line improvements. There is a mention of the "Inland Route through Worcester and Springfield, and future high-speed rail service to Montreal", but in the context of projects following the completion of the South Station expansion. There is a study underway on Worcester to Springfield upgrades, so once the study is complete, MA may budget funds for the track upgrades.

In the meantime, we will see what happens to the private initiative for an overnight Boston/Portland - Montreal overnight train. I only see long odds to even start service, let alone keep running.

 

[fairviewroad]

I see that they are looking for investors. Would anyone reading this actually consider investing in this scheme? hboy:

According to the article, "the company has investors lined up" already. I'm sure they wouldn't mind a few more, of course.

And yes, we can all certainly find twenty dozen different reasons why this "won't work" but I don't see the need to pour

more fuel on the fire. Looking at this railroad's website, the three main guys behind this venture sound like die-hard rail

fans who would fit in very well on AU...the main difference being they're actually taking steps to start up rail service instead

of kvetching about it on the internet.

 

[jerichowhiskey]

I for one will wish Golden Eagle Railway the best. If they succeed, perhaps more people will look into investing rail again. If it fails, well then perhaps it can serve as a recent example of how Amtrak is needed as an entity that needs to be supported correctly.

 

[MikefromCrete]

I see that they are looking for investors. Would anyone reading this actually consider investing in this scheme? hboy:

According to the article, "the company has investors lined up" already. I'm sure they wouldn't mind a few more, of course.

And yes, we can all certainly find twenty dozen different reasons why this "won't work" but I don't see the need to pour

more fuel on the fire. Looking at this railroad's website, the three main guys behind this venture sound like die-hard rail

fans who would fit in very well on AU...the main difference being they're actually taking steps to start up rail service instead

of kvetching about it on the internet.

I wish them well, but the project seems a bit off the wall.

 

[Texan Eagle]

If they are really serious, the first thing they should be doing is make a website that does not look like a middle school student's class project.

http://goldeneaglerailwaycorporation.com/

 

[CHamilton]

If they are really serious, the first thing they should be doing is make a website that does not look like a middle school student's class project.

http://goldeneaglerailwaycorporation.com/

Very true. As a web developer, sites like that make me cringe. And even people who aren't professionals expect a good-looking website these days.

 

[railiner]

I see that they are looking for investors. Would anyone reading this actually consider investing in this scheme? hboy:

According to the article, "the company has investors lined up" already. I'm sure they wouldn't mind a few more, of course.

And yes, we can all certainly find twenty dozen different reasons why this "won't work" but I don't see the need to pour

more fuel on the fire. Looking at this railroad's website, the three main guys behind this venture sound like die-hard rail

fans who would fit in very well on AU...the main difference being they're actually taking steps to start up rail service instead

of kvetching about it on the internet.

Okay. fair enough, you make a valid point. I do wish them well, and as they say in New York Lottery ads.......'Hey, you never know'........

I just think that before anyone here decides to invest their life savings, they research well before pulling the trigger.......

 

[CHamilton]

Plan to restore Maine-to-Vermont rail service unveiled

A startup company wants to revive the old Mountain Division line in stages.

A Maine entrepreneur is proposing to revive a defunct rail line for freight and passenger service between Portland and the White Mountains region of New Hampshire, with plans to extend the line eventually to Vermont and Montreal.

The driving force behind the project is David Schwanke, president of Golden Eagle Rail Corp., a startup company.

Schwanke, 61, who lives in Norridgewock, moved to Maine a decade ago after a career handling logistics in the motion picture industry. He said he is waiting for the snow to melt so experts can examine the old Mountain Division line, which runs from the Portland Transportation Center to the New Hampshire border in Fryeburg.

Schwanke said he would spend $7 million to $10 million to replace railroad ties on the line to bring it up to the standards for many short-line railroads.

He said the study is a necessary step before he can meet with the Maine Department of Transportation, which owns the 45-mile section from Westbrook to Fryeburg.

 

[CHamilton]

Plans for passenger train service from Portland to Montreal