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Transit and Infrastructure All things T or civilly engineered within Boston Metro. |
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#1 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Arlington
Posts: 26
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CSX sale of B&A to MassDot: Possibilities?
CSX has announced that it's interested in selling off the B&A mainline, most likely to MassDot. This includes trackage from Springfield to the border with New York, and, more excitingly, from Worchester to Springfield (I think).
What will happen now? If MassDot buys the tracks, double-tracking the line between Worchester and Springfield should be easy. Commuter rail to Springfield, Inland route NE regionals, a Boston-frequency Montrealer; all of this is suddenly much more possible than it was just two weeks ago. What do you guys think? |
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#2 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: salem ma and washington dc
Posts: 4,498
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Re: CSX sale of B&A to MassDot: Possibilities?
I think its Worcester not Worchester.
Why would MassDot run commuter rail to/from Springfield? There is no demand for such.
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A man gazing on the stars is at the mercy of the puddles in the road |
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#3 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 3,290
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Re: CSX sale of B&A to MassDot: Possibilities?
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I'm not enough of an expert in scheduling to say anything definitive, but I wouldn't think of those two lines in the same way. With that said, public ownership of rail lines is typically a good thing for everyone, and this one is already at the highest specs (MassDOT has had to do a lot of upgrades on other purchased lines), so while any repairs and maintenance would be really high-priority, it wouldn't need much work to start with. MassDOT doesn't generally own trackage for commuter rail services, btw. That's mostly MBTA-owned. MassDOT lines see Amtrak service, and will carry CTrail into Springfield, but MassDOT owns rail mostly for freight use. The only useful part of South Coast Rail, for instance, is the upgrade of the relevant lines to NB and FR to modern weight restrictions. |
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#4 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Rozzie Square
Posts: 1,841
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Re: CSX sale of B&A to MassDot: Possibilities?
When has that featured in CR expansion plans in the past 30 years? It is a political decision, and maybe a pretty good one, as it might bring Western legislators in to the pro-MBTA caucus.
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#5 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: salem ma and washington dc
Posts: 4,498
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Re: CSX sale of B&A to MassDot: Possibilities?
You are asking the Commonwealth to pay for track maintenance for a freight railroad. CSX then pays what is basically a user fee, which may not cover the annual cost of maintenance and operation of the track. Even if CSX paid 'full freight' for its use, it avoids the real property taxes to cities and towns on that trackage.
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#6 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,194
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Re: CSX sale of B&A to MassDot: Possibilities?
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#7 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 3,290
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Re: CSX sale of B&A to MassDot: Possibilities?
Springfield is a tack-on there. It's run by ConnDOT, so it's not going to continue anywhere else in MA. Even if MA were to pay for it, the added length would make schedules worse in Connecticut.
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#8 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,194
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Re: CSX sale of B&A to MassDot: Possibilities?
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Amtrak would have no issue running the trains. No different than Virginia paying them to run NEC trains to farmsville in farmland county. |
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#9 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 587
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Re: CSX sale of B&A to MassDot: Possibilities?
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I do think if there's serious interest in commuter rail, following the I-90 alignment for most of the Palmer to Worcester segment is probably appropriate instead of investing in double tracking the old B&A alignment, and that would involve getting rolling stock that can cope with 3% grades (which is not rocket science although I bet it would be worth looking at getting batteries from a company whose CEO does also have a rocket company). |
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#10 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 587
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Re: CSX sale of B&A to MassDot: Possibilities?
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#11 | |||
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 587
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Re: CSX sale of B&A to MassDot: Possibilities?
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#12 | ||
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,194
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Re: CSX sale of B&A to MassDot: Possibilities?
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#13 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 587
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Re: CSX sale of B&A to MassDot: Possibilities?
I think from a passenger train perspective, it's also worth keeping in mind that while Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited is currently the only train running between Worcester and Albany, the Springfield to Worcester segment probably has a lot more potential for passenger service than the Springfield to Albany segment.
In particular, since the Connecticut River bridge on the Shore Line is a bottleneck, adding Northeast Regional service from Boston to New York via Springfield and Hartford is probably going to be desirable. |
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