Worcester MA station questions

[Tlcooper44]

This discussion confirms my opinion that passenger and freight service do not mix well. East of Worcester works much better than it used to when it was dispatched by CSX although there were fewer trains. My vision is that the next step going west should be be a new shortcut to Hartford, built parallel to the Mass Pike and I-84, creating a Boston-NYC route better than the shoreline. After that construct a new line next to the Pike from Sturbridge to Palmer and then next to the RR into Springfield. This would bypass the circuitous historic B&A, now largely single track and save several miles.

Of course, all of this would require electrification, which I am a huge fan of, but I don’t realistically see this happening for 20 years.

Connecting Worcester to the NEC I think is a great idea, and maybe would allow for additional trains daily (and more chances for BOS - NPY express trains).

 

[Palmetto]

Here are the stretches of single track between Boston and Pittsfield, MA [where there is a proposal to begin commuter rail].

Milepost 48.3 - MP 57.7 [11.4 miles]
MP 64.0 - MP 79.4 [15.4 miles]
MP 83.6 - MP 92.0 [8.4 miles]
MP 109.6 - MP 123.1 [22 miles]

The last--and longest--stretch is west of Springfield. All the others are between Worcester and Springfield. Even just adding a few passing sidings in the short term would give a lot more fluidity to run a decent Amtrak service on the current Inland Route.

To the comment that freight and passenger trains do not mix. Performance shows that the validity of that idea depends greatly on the host railroad. BNSF runs Amtrak trains in some places at 90 MPH on a line that is LOADED with their own freight trains.
CSX, on the other hand, doesn't "play nice" with Amtrak, according to the current folklore--which means that they don't have qualms about delaying a passenger train that is running on their tracks.

Worcester and Springfield stations are both under utilized. The Inland Route that serves them would be a great addition to Amtrak's route map, while increasing service between Boston-Hartford-New Haven. With the drawbridge restrictions that are currently in place on the Shore Line , Amtrak has no room to add more trains there, and the Inland Route would open a bunch of new city pairs.