Two things about the White Train....mainly that it ran east of Hartford where the grades and curves were not as bad as those west of Hartford.. Secondly, West of Hartford it ran down to New Haven then along the shore west to NYC. And again the Willamantic route was not east/west, but northeast-southwest. They also, despite speed limits and supposed physical limits, pushed those limits more than is allowed today. Basically, I guess what I am saying is that the terrain is more rolling east of the CT River than west of it, the valleys are wider, and the streams less winding.....but west of the River, sharp hills and tight and twisting valleys
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It appears that most of you posters think that the route thru central Conn. is difficult & expensive. IMHO you are right. Maybe get the route laid out and buy ROW but build the routes that will get more passenger miles per dollar first. Many years in the fuure getting more than the 9% thru NYP passengers may be possible. That number must rise a lot before a bypass of NYP is contemplated. Granted if a route first goes to NYP and ridership Bos - PVD - Hartford - NYP can justify the quicker route then the middle Conn route can move up in priority but bypassing NYP is a real question..
What are possible priorities BOS -- WASH that were not discussed. I would pick the most RPM's gained per dollar.spent.
1. CAT & track upgrade Newark - Trenton
2. Portal bridge. -- a complete failure of present one would be a disaster.
3 Gateway tunnels
4. 4 tracking and replacement of 3 bridges PHL -- WASH. + straighten ROW & new CAT
5. new Baltimore tunnels ( 4 tracks ).
6. PVD -- Hartford HSR line
6a. Upgrade MNRR shoreline
7. PHL -- Harrisburg 125 MPH upgrades
8. Trenton - PHL HSR upgrade.
9. Dedicated new HSR NYP--WASH
10. Hartford -- ? HSR NYP bypass.9. Dedicated new HSR NYP - WASH.
11. Long island sound tunnel(s)
Lets see -- 10 factorial gives a very large variations of these and I may have forgoten some.
blue streak 16. PVD -- Hartford HSR line
As a guy who grew up in Providence I'm waiting for service to Hartford to be restored. But I feel like Charlie Brown waiting for the Great Pumpkin.
FRA has an update newsleter about NEC upgrades but did not find anything of substancial difference
http://www.necfuture.com/pdfs/newsletter_spring_2013.pdf
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