SOURCE: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-09-13/amtrak-downeaster-rolls-to-brunswick-maine
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Amtrak's Downeaster is ready to roll northward to Freeport and Brunswick with the service kicking off on Nov. 1, ahead of Thanksgiving travel and holiday shopping, officials said Wednesday.
Banners announcing the new service and schedule adjustments were installed in stations along the route on Wednesday, said Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority. Tickets for the new service go on sale on Oct. 1.
"It's a huge milestone," Quinn said Wednesday. "Really, the service expanding to Freeport and Brunswick was always part of the plan. When we inaugurated the service in 2001, it was supposed to happen in a couple of years. To make it finally happen is pretty exciting."
The Downeaster is coming off a record year with 528,292 passengers.
Initially, two of the five daily roundtrips between Portland and Boston will travel to Brunswick. The expanded service is expected to add 36,000 more passengers each year, Quinn said.
Amtrak President and CEO Joe Boardman said the expanded rail service "coincides with record ridership demand on both the Downeaster and rail travel throughout the country."
Expanding the Downeaster northward to Freeport, home to L.L. Bean's flagship store and outlet shopping, and Brunswick, home of Bowdoin College, required improvements to more than 30 miles of rail, rehabilitation of 36 crossings and construction of two station platforms. Remaining track work will be completed in weeks.
Most of the track upgrades were funded through $38.3 million in federal stimulus dollars.
"We are proud to deliver this expanded service on schedule and on budget," said Martin Eisenstein, chairman of the Northern New England Rail Authority's board, who praised the partnership with the Federal Railroad Administration, Pan Am Railways, Amtrak and the Maine Department of Transportation.
Sen. Olympia Snowe, who helped secure the original funding that got the rail service started, said the project will be nearly complete with the expanded service.
"This route will be an indispensable economic boon for Maine," she said.
The Downeaster serves eight communities in addition to Boston and Portland: Old Orchard Beach, Saco and Wells in Maine; Dover, Durham and Exeter in New Hampshire; and Haverhill and Woburn in Massachusetts.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Plan For CT Rail Line Could be Boon for Berkshires
PITTSFIELD -- It’s a concept at this point, but if Am trak’s plans for a new high-speed rail line through Con necticut come to fruition, it could benefit the Berkshires should passenger service to Pittsfield becomes a reality.
Amtrak has released an ambitious plan to construct a high-speed rail line between Washington, D.C., and Boston that would bypass the traditional route along the Connecticut shoreline by bisecting that state diagonally.
The plan calls for high-speed express trains traveling be tween those two eastern cities to rocket through Connecticut without stopping, but second-tier ex press service would stop at three Connecticut cities: Danbury, Waterbury and Hartford.
Here’s where the idea could affect the Berkshires. The Housatonic Railroad Co. is exploring the idea of restoring passenger rail service between Danbury and Pittsfield. If that service is restored, and Amtrak is able to build its new high speed rail line, Berkshire County passengers would be able to connect directly to high-speed rail in Danbury, instead of taking Metro North trains from that southwestern Con necticut city to New York City................ READ WHOLE ARTICLE
Amtrak has released an ambitious plan to construct a high-speed rail line between Washington, D.C., and Boston that would bypass the traditional route along the Connecticut shoreline by bisecting that state diagonally.
The plan calls for high-speed express trains traveling be tween those two eastern cities to rocket through Connecticut without stopping, but second-tier ex press service would stop at three Connecticut cities: Danbury, Waterbury and Hartford.
Here’s where the idea could affect the Berkshires. The Housatonic Railroad Co. is exploring the idea of restoring passenger rail service between Danbury and Pittsfield. If that service is restored, and Amtrak is able to build its new high speed rail line, Berkshire County passengers would be able to connect directly to high-speed rail in Danbury, instead of taking Metro North trains from that southwestern Con necticut city to New York City................ READ WHOLE ARTICLE
Audit Finds $100M Discrepancy in MBTA's Fare Collection System
BOSTON (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) – An audit of the MBTA's automated fare collection system highlighted several inadequacies in the protection of fare money, including revenue variances of more than $100 million between the system's records and the actual money collected, missing keys to fare boxes, and incomplete tracking of fare box cash.
The audit which was announced on Thursday did not find any evidence of lost money or theft; however, without a properly functioning fare collections system, there is no real way for the MBTA to know that theft, loss or misuse is not occurring.
"The MBTA cannot properly safeguard revenue it may not know it has," State Auditor Suzanne Bump stated in a release.
Since its inception in 2005, the automated fare collection system has not been able to properly record the intake of cash or communicated electronically with the MBTA central accounting system. Accordingly, fare box collections have been manually counted and cannot be reconciled with any of the system's revenue reports.
From July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2011, actual fare box cash receipts deposited were $123.8 million whereas the AFC system recorded over $225.5 million in fare box cash receipts. This variance of more than $101.7 million demonstrates significant reliability problems in the MBTA's collection and control of cash revenue.
The audit also found that the MBTA reduced the amount of testing required to ensure that all machines were fully functional. It also found that the MBTA had inadequate control over keys to fare box cash. At the time of the audit, 12 keys that provide access to fare box cash were missing and 1,313 keys that were unnumbered and cannot be tracked.
The audit also found that cash boxes were not properly tracked during removal, deposit, and reinsertion. As a result, MBTA management is not provided with reliable tracking information regarding the removal and deposit of fare box cash.
"Especially at a time when the MBTA is facing a major fiscal crisis and increasing fares, it needs to do all it can to assure its riders and taxpayers that it is protecting and maximizing public funds and holding its contractors accountable," Bump said.
Bump has called on the MBTA and its vendor to immediately implement corrective actions to address software and hardware deficiencies and has recommended that all revenue locking systems be replaced.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
The Three Bridges, Greenfield MA
This vintage image shows the three bridges that once spanned the Deerfield River at the Cheapside section of Greenfield MA. Railfans know this area well as it is down the road from Pan Am's East Deerfield yard. Massive flooding in March 1936 swept away many area bridges, including the covered bridge at the lower left corner of the photo.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Old Town Maine Railroad Station Sign
This vintage Old Town Maine station sign is on display at the Boothbay Railway museum.
Dragon Products, Maine Eastern RR Push for Tax Help
(SOURCE: By Stephen Betts, BDN Maine Staff)
THOMASTON, Maine — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voiced her support Tuesday for the extension of a federal tax credit that allows local railroads to invest in their tracks and equipment.
Collins heard about the importance of that tax credit during a tour of Dragon Products cement plant in Thomaston and a presentation by Maine Eastern Railroad.
The Republican senator is a co-sponsor of the tax credit for so-called short-line railroads.
Wes Weis, the president and chief executive officer of Morristown and Erie Railway, which is the parent corporation of Maine Eastern, said the credit allows the company to reinvest money into construction and maintenance of rail lines. The credit returns 50 cents for every $1 invested.
Dragon Products is the largest user, by far, of the Maine Eastern Line that runs from Rockland to Brunswick, noted Maine Eastern Vice President Gordon Page.
Maine Eastern employs 25 people, he noted, but it’s impact goes well beyond that. Dragon Products uses the railroad to ship cement to the Rockland waterfront, where it is put on a barge and shipped to Boston. Cement also is shipped south by rail to Yarmouth, where it is then sent to Canada.
The second-largest user of the railroad is Dicaperl Corporation in Thomaston, which processes raw perlite ore, mined from New Mexico. The perlite is used to produce filter aid that is used by FMC in Rockland, which manufactures the food stabilizer carrageenan.
The senator was given a tour of the cement plant, including a ride to nearly the top of a 340-foot tower.
THOMASTON, Maine — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voiced her support Tuesday for the extension of a federal tax credit that allows local railroads to invest in their tracks and equipment.
Collins heard about the importance of that tax credit during a tour of Dragon Products cement plant in Thomaston and a presentation by Maine Eastern Railroad.
The Republican senator is a co-sponsor of the tax credit for so-called short-line railroads.
Wes Weis, the president and chief executive officer of Morristown and Erie Railway, which is the parent corporation of Maine Eastern, said the credit allows the company to reinvest money into construction and maintenance of rail lines. The credit returns 50 cents for every $1 invested.
Dragon Products is the largest user, by far, of the Maine Eastern Line that runs from Rockland to Brunswick, noted Maine Eastern Vice President Gordon Page.
Maine Eastern employs 25 people, he noted, but it’s impact goes well beyond that. Dragon Products uses the railroad to ship cement to the Rockland waterfront, where it is put on a barge and shipped to Boston. Cement also is shipped south by rail to Yarmouth, where it is then sent to Canada.
The second-largest user of the railroad is Dicaperl Corporation in Thomaston, which processes raw perlite ore, mined from New Mexico. The perlite is used to produce filter aid that is used by FMC in Rockland, which manufactures the food stabilizer carrageenan.
The senator was given a tour of the cement plant, including a ride to nearly the top of a 340-foot tower.
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