All Aboard!

and branching off to the south, to New Haven via Hartford. That last link is perhaps particularly exciting, because the corridor along which it runs could be upgraded to replace the current Acela service to New York and points south.

So Providence gets cut out of high speed service to NYC?

I'll have to come back to read everyone's comments, but quick question: did any of you also nearly fall out of your seat when the Globe described the contemplated Boston to Montreal run as a "bullet train" and then, in the very next paragraph, said it would run at 110 mph?

110 mph is not a bullet train by any country's standard - not even ours. 110 mph is only about 20 mph higher than we should reasonably expect the longer commuter rail lines to travel at.

Notwithstanding his/her name, Cynic is reasonably optimistic abou this plan, and I think, reasonably so. I particluarly liked the point about five or six states meaning 10 or 12 U.S. Senators - that is not a throw away argument. Rhode Island should get its rear end on board now.

I also liked the commentary on the inland route. This has been a pet peeve of mine for quite some time. It is ridiculous that there is only 1 or 2 trains to Albany each day, and that it takes nearly five hours. A high speed route to Albany would also create massive economic development in Worcester, Springfield/Holyoke, and Pittsfield. And while this may come as a surprise to many of you, there are many, perhaps not half but nearly half of the population, in Albany who are just as tied to Boston and particularly Western MA as NYC (both for business and personal reasons - I speak from a decent amount of experience with this). There is also the fundamental truth that if the state capitals in Vermont, NH and RI will be tied to Boston, so should that of NY.

The one thing that I was disappointed was not included was a passenger service line across the northern tier of Masssachusetts - from North Station to at least North Adams. (The existing freight operation across most of this route is being substantially upgraded by a joint venture of Norfolk Southern and PanAm (successor to Boston & Maine) as part of a project called the "Patriot Corridor". It would be smart and cheaper for the state and federal government to work something out with them now so that the line could carry high speed passenger trains in the future). This would have the same beneficial economic effect on the Rt. 2 corridor cities that the inland line would have across the southern tier. Greenfield, for example, would become a destination overnight.

This would be such a great thing.

Even at 110 mph (or slower), the Acela ride to NYC is such a pleasant contrast to going to Logan, undressing to go through metal detectors, enduring 30 minute delays for 35 minute flights, landing in LaGuardia, then taking a slow bus or paying megabucks for a cab to get to Manhattan.

If they could put down some new tracks and speed it up, heaven.

And cheers to Dukakis for having beat this drum for decades, even when few were listening. He's got a lot left in his tank, and it would be fitting for him to be among the leaders in seeing this through.

It's always been annoying and kind of ridiculous that you can't take a train to Hartford. Well, you can, but let's say you want to go tomorrow.

You'll leave Back Bay at 6:00 am, arrive in New Haven at 8:33, board a shuttle at 10:30 am and arrived in Hartford at 11:19.

That's over 5 hours to travel a very short distance between two state capitals in the most developed segment of the most developed transit corridor in the nation.

That's pathetic.

An inland route would be welcome if it does away with the nonsensical routing currently employed by Amtrak. It'll also have the benefit of side-stepping the Thames River Bridge in New London which must be kept open when a train is not passing per Coast Guard regulations, and can only close X number of times per day thanks to rich boaters lobbying the government. Because a few yachts are obviously more important than a rail corridor.

Deval just announced the next step on the South Coast Rail plan on Wednesday.

This is so stupid. No offense to the people of Fall River, etc. but we already can't afford all of the trains we're already running, we have NO plan to pay for CURRENT debt, transportation improvements, and maintenance issues because Deval is too weak to accomplish a gas tax. And the people in charge have proven to be too inept at maintaining a schedule in competition with Amtrak/CSX/etc....

EVERY aspect of our current commuter rail network is FAILING ... and the answer is to add MORE tracks and trains to the problem!?

I've about had it with Deval between this, his inability to push anything meaningful like the gas tax through the legislature, the scooter law changes, failure with his casinos legislation, and his completely botched handling of Grabauskas (and completely misidentifying the problem as being DanG and not the horrendous debt obligation foisted on the MBTA from 2000).

The only thing Deval seems to be able to accomplish is honking his own horn when the Feds give him earmarked economic stimulus money...something he HAS to spend on a specific project and had no real hand in accomplishing other than to ask for free money that was already being handed out.