[Chadd1014]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Depends High Speed Rail is about connecting Large cities with small cities and popular destinations. Its good for lengths between 200-500 miles , so that would mean 45 mins to Montreal or less depending how they do the border , and 1hr and 15 mins to Boston from Burlington which would be a huge boost along with connecting South Hampshire to Montreal and Boston which it could use. As for Regional Rail , the state can handle it as long as theres a stop in every major town along all 3 routes , its about connectivity....if you can have roads and Interstates you can have rail it just needs to be priced alot lower and service more frequent...

That's the problem with rail,the cost.Today,right now I can fly to NYC for $49. BTV to JKF in 45 minutes.

I took a high speed train from Amsterdam to France in four hours and it was nice but nothing like a plane.

[wxjay]

Not enough demand, and some of those lines are silly (the 'Lowell Connector' - how many people are going to travel from Ayer, MA to Lowell, MA by train?). This is a pipe dream and will continue to be.

Besides, Amtrak just announced it will take 28 years to get high speed rail from Boston to DC. And that is upgrading current lines. At that rate, we will be able to teleport between Montreal and Boston before seeing a high speed rail built.

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by wxjay

Not enough demand, and some of those lines are silly (the 'Lowell Connector' - how many people are going to travel from Ayer, MA to Lowell, MA by train?). This is a pipe dream and will continue to be.

Besides, Amtrak just announced it will take 28 years to get high speed rail from Boston to DC. And that is upgrading current lines. At that rate, we will be able to teleport between Montreal and Boston before seeing a high speed rail built.

Its not so much as Ayer to Lowell but other cities like Lawrence , Manchester , Portsmouth , Concord , it connects all the lines like I-495 connects all the Interstates its in the states master plan which is huge. Idk if it will be a pipe dream the New England states continue to get funding and expand the Network Intercity wise and enhance existing stations along with buy up land for future extensions. Aside from High Speed Rail all those regional rail lines should be open by 2035 , the question is whether they can start electrifying the network. The New England High Speed Rail Network will probably be built by Private rather then public Amtrak wants it that way and they seem to getting alot of offers from Japan , France and Germany.... As for the speed of projects they are slow , but the size of the Northeastern Network is so huge that the date is 2050 for complete completion so its on par with the Global Railway and Highway network that's under construction in phases. The Regions population is also supposed to be more dense and 15-20 million more crowded by 2050...kinda of why New England has been aggressive with Rail Expansions. Now all they need is Electrification plans and better service , the Metro North Modal would be great along with the zone fare prices.. It should cost 15$ from Burlington to Springfield or New Haven , or 5$ to White River JCT or Rutland from Burlington....that would be the Metro North zone fare system.

[Chadd1014]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Its not so much as Ayer to Lowell but other cities like Lawrence , Manchester , Portsmouth , Concord , it connects all the lines like I-495 connects all the Interstates its in the states master plan which is huge. Idk if it will be a pipe dream the New England states continue to get funding and expand the Network Intercity wise and enhance existing stations along with buy up land for future extensions. Aside from High Speed Rail all those regional rail lines should be open by 2035 , the question is whether they can start electrifying the network. The New England High Speed Rail Network will probably be built by Private rather then public Amtrak wants it that way and they seem to getting alot of offers from Japan , France and Germany.... As for the speed of projects they are slow , but the size of the Northeastern Network is so huge that the date is 2050 for complete completion so its on par with the Global Railway and Highway network that's under construction in phases. The Regions population is also supposed to be more dense and 15-20 million more crowded by 2050...kinda of why New England has been aggressive with Rail Expansions. Now all they need is Electrification plans and better service , the Metro North Modal would be great along with the zone fare prices.. It should cost 15$ from Burlington to Springfield or New Haven , or 5$ to White River JCT or Rutland from Burlington....that would be the Metro North zone fare system.

Those price's seem too low 10 years ago.

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by Chadd1014

That's the problem with rail,the cost.Today,right now I can fly to NYC for $49. BTV to JKF in 45 minutes.

I took a high speed train from Amsterdam to France in four hours and it was nice but nothing like a plane.

Those Small Regional Flights are the reason for every Airport being overcapacity , those flights are also heavily subsidized by the states or feds... But they do more damage then good for the larger cities Airports , which shouldn't have to deal with these small flights instead shift these flights over to High Speed Rail...or Intercity Rail which has proven to take a bite out of the Air Market like in Europe , Asia and between DC and NYC. Once the Air Space is freed up then you can increase the amount of International & Cross - Country flights. The Newer Acela's and Regional Trains will be able to carry up to 1500 people the same as a standard Airplane. The Original High Speed Networks in Europe faced similar doubts , but now it has shifted and balanced the Travel Market. The density of the Northeast is similar to Europe with Vermont on par with the Nordic Countries. Rail is Flexible , it can go anywhere Roads can for the most part and can operate in the toughest of weather like Blizzards , Ice Storms and dense fog unlike Air or Road travel which either is at a standstill or slow going. The Projects for the Northeastern Intercity Ridership is about 450,000 a day by 2035 up from 45,000 today but its growing fast and expanding to New Markets....the price is expected to be reformed by 2020 which would cause an explosion...

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by Chadd1014

[/b]

Those price's seem too low 10 years ago.

Its what a zone based fare system....college students and the elderly get half fare...

[nei]

Originally Posted by HandsUpThumbsDown

I love Vermont and I love trains, however it is so sparsely populated that the demand for passenger rail isn't really there.

idk… because there are large cities not too far away where one doesn't need a car and there's often bad traffic, there might be demand for a couple trains / day to Boston or NYC. The destination at the other end makes a big difference. Probably better places for rail, though.

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Its not so much as Ayer to Lowell but other cities like Lawrence , Manchester , Portsmouth , Concord , it connects all the lines like I-495 connects all the Interstates its in the states master plan which is huge. Idk if it will be a pipe dream the New England states continue to get funding and expand the Network Intercity wise and enhance existing stations along with buy up land for future extensions. Aside from High Speed Rail all those regional rail lines should be open by 2035 , the question is whether they can start electrifying the network. The New England High Speed Rail Network will probably be built by Private rather then public Amtrak wants it that way and they seem to getting alot of offers from Japan , France and Germany.... As for the speed of projects they are slow , but the size of the Northeastern Network is so huge that the date is 2050 for complete completion so its on par with the Global Railway and Highway network that's under construction in phases. The Regions population is also supposed to be more dense and 15-20 million more crowded by 2050...kinda of why New England has been aggressive with Rail Expansions. Now all they need is Electrification plans and better service , the Metro North Modal would be great along with the zone fare prices.. It should cost 15$ from Burlington to Springfield or New Haven , or 5$ to White River JCT or Rutland from Burlington....that would be the Metro North zone fare system.

Dream on. Once the unions and corruption got a stranglehold on this, it would be upwards of $40 to get from Burlington to New Haven.

It costs me $12 off peak to travel 45 miles into NYC on the LIRR -- which is not yet completely electrified.

The major investment into RR infrastructure on these hypothetical lines will be very costly; who is going to shoulder the cost?

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by OhBeeHave

Dream on. Once the unions and corruption got a stranglehold on this, it would be upwards of $40 to get from Burlington to New Haven.

It costs me $12 off peak to travel 45 miles into NYC on the LIRR -- which is not yet completely electrified.

The major investment into RR infrastructure on these hypothetical lines will be very costly; who is going to shoulder the cost?

I'm applying the MBTA fares to Vermont which are lower then NYC fares which are the highest in the country. Vermont / Feds have already agreed and started upgraded and expanding the Vermonter and Ethan Allen. Electrification of all the lines below would cost about 5 billion....but you'd save in fuel costs over time. Overhead wires are cheaper to install then 3rd Rail... The Western Electrification of Mass and Rhode Island is expected to cost 470 million... You will need to buy new train sets which are needed anyway....but you can run at higher speeds which makes the train more friendly to use. New England seems to be getting alot of private help for Train stations and a few of the land issues so there projects tend to gain traction and get built faster these days. Its the same with DC , Delaware , Northern Virgina and Maryland... Only NY , NJ and PA have funding issues... Alot of these lines are in use and just need to be upgraded ie Concrete ties and high level platforms...

[Logs and Dogs]

Personally, and I may be in the minority here, I want to see high speed access to the northern half of Vermont about as much as I want an industrial wind farm in my yard.....which is to say, I want nothing to do with it.