Keolis North America Moving Headquarters to Boston MA

Keolis North America moving headquarters to Boston - Boston Business Journal

Fresh ideas for Western Mass. rail service - The Boston Globe

Fresh ideas for Western Mass. rail service - The Boston Globe

Boston Sand & Gravel and Possible Passenger Trains - Boston MA

(SOURCE:  Boston Globe, By Mike Ross - January 3, 2016)

Boston Sand and Gravel, now in its 102nd year of operation, is one of the city’s most curious landmarks. With its giant cisterns towering 120 feet in the air and its long double-barrel conveyor belts angling earthward, the concrete mixing plant looks more like it belongs as the backdrop for a scene in a Batman movie. Indeed, it’s been used by Hollywood for “The Departed,” “The Town,” and “The Equalizer.”

But why is a hulking concrete plant, enmeshed in a spider web of highways and onramps, sitting in the middle of prime real estate? Just 1,200 feet away, in North Point, newly constructed luxury housing units are renting for $3,200 per month for a one-bedroom.

David L. Ryan/Globe Staff file

The question has come up on Reddit, which asked “What’s the story behind Boston sand and gravel?” Dozens of comments in response range from the ridiculous: “[Ben] Affleck has a part time gig down there” to the logical: “Why would you want to move the city’s largest concrete supplier further from the city?”

But whether it remains a concrete plant or is sold for new construction, its most valuable contribution to the region may have more to do with 43 miles of rail in New Hampshire that the company fortuitously thought to purchase in 1986.

Boston Sand and Gravel first opened at the current site of the Cambridgeside Galleria. At the time, the best method to extract raw materials for concrete was to dredge the ocean floor. The sand and gravel came in by boat via aqueduct. Soon, however, technology and resources necessitated a move to the rails. That’s why the current operation sits near tracks owned by the MBTA. Today, sand and gravel come in on rail from a pit 100 miles north, in Ossipee, N.H.

It’s that stretch of rail, rather than the plant itself, that has captured imaginations.

“We have a crisis in New England where the major tourist destinations are not accessible by public transportation,” said Peter J. Griffin, president of the New Hampshire Railroad Revitalization Association, a group trying to bring back rail across the region.

He wants to see a return of the old ski train route that would bring riders to North Conway — a popular destination for skiers, hikers, and other year-round tourists.

Today, a freight train can go from Boston only as far as Ossipee. To get to North Conway, 25 miles away, the rail lines would have to be upgraded for passenger service. A 2004 study by New Hampshire’s Department of Transportation estimated the cost for that portion alone to be $6 million.

Those familiar with New Hampshire’s recent forays into passenger rail are probably rolling their eyes right now. New Hampshire rail once had 24 points of access to neighboring states and Canada. Today it has four.

In 2015, the New Hampshire Legislature foolishly rejected even studying the plans for the Capitol Corridor, which would bring passenger service from Boston to Manchester. The plan called for more than $70 million in outside investment, including funds from Massachusetts.

In response to the Legislature’s short-sightedness, New Hampshire transportation officials have turned their attention to public-private partnerships, recently releasing a request for proposals to make use of defunct rail corridors, including the former ski train route. According to Patrick C. Herlihy from the Department of Transportation, there is interest from private companies looking to invest in the upgrade of existing rail corridors for passenger and commercial service.

One of those companies, Golden Eagle Railway, has plans to run a luxury train, with a four-star restaurant onboard, from Boston to Montreal, with stops along the way at the Mount Washington Hotel and other popular destinations. According to its president, David Schwanke, the company has already had conversations with the various owners of the track, including Boston Sand and Gravel. He believes he can fund the entire project — which would cost hundreds of millions of dollars — with private investment. He claims he could have service running as soon as next year if the state moves forward quickly with awarding a lease to the selected proposal.

More than the stalled Capitol Corridor, it’s this private-public partnership that has the best shot to connect the North Country, Schwanke says.

For decades, sand and gravel have been carted down the old rails from New Hampshire to Boston. And those raw materials built — and are still building — many of the city’s roads and buildings. For the first time in many years, Boston’s best shot at building a passenger rail corridor to New Hampshire now runs down those same tracks.

BOOK: The Race Underground by Doug Most

The Race Underground | Doug Most | Macmillan

I accidentally heard about this book about the race to open the first subway in the USA.   Everyone thinks New York had the first, but they didn't... it was BOSTON.  Who's is run better today?  Well, that is open to debate!

A REVIEW:   https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2014/02/08/review-the-race-underground-boston-new-york-and-incredible-rivalry-that-built-america-first-subway-doug-most/qU8feBFyanSJlhRSrhEuQI/story.html

MBTA train derails in Andover MA 1/5/16

MBTA train derails in Andover - The Andover Townsman: Local News

http://www.wcvb.com/news/state-federal-investigators-looking-into-mbta-derailment/37288544
http://www.myfoxboston.com/news/mbta-commuter-rails-delay-riders-on-coldest-day-of-winter/13187777
http://www.lowellsun.com/breakingnews/ci_29346362/fed-inpectors-investigating-cause-haverhill-train-derailment

Maine Central Coach #2001 Donated to Colebrookdale Railroad

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:

BOYERTOWN, PA. The Titanic had been at the bottom of the sea just two years when the Colebrookdale Railroad’s newest addition was built. Constructed by the Pullman Company as a smoking coach for the Maine Central Railroad, car 2001 spent its life in the majestic White Mountains of New Hampshire.

“The car is a now- very rare example of a once ubiquitous design for the first generation of steel train cars, making its preservation a worthy goal and its value as restored immeasurable,” said Nathaniel Guest, executive director of the Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust

The car was donated to the Trust, , the non-profit restoring the Colebrookdale Railroad. It will be stabilized and stored as funds are raised for its restoration. “It needs work, but it’s remarkably complete for a 101-year-old,” said Guest. “I wish we had it in service right now, as we need the capacity, but good things take time—and this will be a very good thing when completed,”

The car travelled on a truck through New Hampshire and Vermont, then to Albany, Oneonta, and Binghamton, New York, crossing into Pennsylvania with a stop in Scranton.

Support the Trust by making a donation at www.colebrookdalerailroad.com.

Mismatched equipment snags railroad project in Boyertown

NOTICE the incorrect truck is from MEC #949!

Third Street in Boyertown was closed for much of the day Friday between Chestnut and Pear Streets as crews from the Colebrookdale Railroad worked on a new antique rail car from the early 1900's.

Nathaniel Guest, executive director of the Colebrookdale Railroad Trust, said a tractor-trailer delivered the car from New Hampshire. The trucks, also known as the wheels, the rail car would ride on were shipped separately from Maine. The two were joined together for the first time Friday, but the rail car and the trucks did not match up as officials expected.

"The original trucks for the car were gone," Guest said. "We needed to find new ones, and obviously finding 101-year-old trucks to mount with a car (is difficult).

"They're close, but there's some work that's going to need to be done to join them together."

Guest said the work to make the rail car and the trucks compatible will take place over the coming weeks.In the interim, crews worked Friday to remove the car from the middle of Third Street so the street could be reopened and to move it into position for work to be done on it. The car was expected to be moved into the parking lot of the railroad and put up on cribbing so that work can be completed.

Guest added that another car will be arriving in a few weeks and both cars then will be craned back onto the railroad tracks.

He said the arrival of the car Friday was very exciting for the railroad."There's very few cars this vintage and not many at all in this kind of condition," Guest said. "This was a very common type of car back in 1914 - it was the first generation of steel cars. Before then, the cars were wooden."Most of them have been scrapped or severely modified, so we're very lucky to be able to save it."

CT Rail Fares to Rise in 2016

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  Connecticut rail commuters will be paying a little more for their trip in 2016.

The Department of Transportation says train fares on the New Haven Line and Shore Line East will increase one percent on Jan. 1. Monthly tickets on sale for January will reflect the new fares.

The increase stems from legislation that required passengers to help contribute toward the cost of the new M-8 rail cars being put into active service.

Additional one percent increases across all rail fare types, including weekly and monthly combined bus/rail tickets, are scheduled to also take place on Jan. 1, 2017 and 2018 under the legislation.

The increase applies to all tickets for travel to and from Connecticut. New Haven Line tickets for travel within New York State will not be affected.