Commuter Rail’s Potential Is Untapped

[M II A II R II K]

Data: Va.’s subsidized train routes finding success

https://sungazette.news/data-va-s-su...nding-success/

.....

- Passenger counts on Virginia’s state-supported train services hit an all-time high in July, with more than 110,000 travelers. --- Every route saw an increase in ridership, with Newport News topping the list. That route – with intermediate stops in Alexandria, Woodbridge, Quantico, Fredericksburg, Ashland, Richmond Staples Mill Station, Richmond Main Street Station and Williamsburg – carried an additional 10,315 passengers in July compared to June, a 54-percent increase.

- The state’s Norfolk route – which includes intermediate stops in Alexandria, Woodbridge, Quantico, Fredericksburg, Ashland, Richmond Staples Mill Station and Petersburg – saw the second largest increase from June to July, with 40,763 passengers traveling, a 23-percent jump. In addition to beating June, it marked a 36.5-percent increase over the pre-pandemic July 2019 number of 29,864. --- “These numbers make it very clear – Virginians want more passenger rail to be a part of their transportation network,” said D.J. Stadtler, executive director of VPRA.

.....

[202_Cyclist]

This seems like excellent news.

Ballot question wins in New Bedford, Fall River pave way for South Coast Rail
The South Coast Rail will extend commuter rail service to Taunton, Fall River, and New Bedford.

By Abby Patkin
Boston.com
November 9, 2022

"Voters in New Bedford and Fall River have overwhelmingly chosen to join the MBTA, clearing one of the final hurdles for commuter rail service from Boston to the South Coast.

The South Coast Rail will extend commuter rail service to Taunton, Fall River, and New Bedford via the existing Middleborough/Lakeville Line. Those three communities are the only major cities within 50 miles of Boston that do not currently have commuter rail access to Boston, according to the MBTA.

The project has been in talks for more than 30 years..."

https://www.boston.com/news/local-ne...ll-river-mbta/

[ardecila]

LOL, people protesting this because it means they have to allow TOD around future stations. Cry harder!

[202_Cyclist]

Booming Research Triangle Looks Again to Passenger Rail
The metro area in North Carolina faces unprecedented population growth and traffic congestion, which has triggered a study of possible commuter rail service. But the legacy of a failed light rail project casts a shadow on the plan.

By Jared Brey
Governing
Jan. 18, 2023


Image courtesy of Governing.

"Over the next 25 years, the Triangle region of North Carolina, encompassing Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, is anticipating an unprecedented population boom, with more than a million new people and 800,000 new jobs expected by 2050. So local leaders are asking themselves some tough questions: Where’s everybody going to live, and how are they going to get around?

One potential answer to the mobility question — one with lots of unknowns and provisos — is new commuter rail service connecting the densest urban areas in the region. Earlier this month, GoTriangle, the regional transit authority, published a feasibility study for a potential commuter rail line on around 40 miles of existing track running from West Durham to Clayton, in Johnston County..."

https://www.governing.com/community/...passenger-rail

[Busy Bee]

"So local leaders are asking themselves some tough questions: Where’s everybody going to live, and how are they going to get around?"

Paraphrased:

"After decades of mindless auto sprawl and planning malpractice, how are we going to un-f*** ourselves?

[electricron]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Paraphrased:

"After decades of mindless auto sprawl and planning malpractice, how are we going to un-f*** ourselves?

An interesting debacle facing Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill.
The question you failed to ask was how did they attract an additional 1 million residents without a great mass transit system?
If they had a great mass transit system in place before that growth occurred, would they have had a larger increase in residential growth or not?
I'm pretty sure the local leaders will find a way for the increase population to move about with or without great mass transit - something they have already done.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by electricron

An interesting debacle facing Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill.
The question you failed to ask was how did they attract an additional 1 million residents without a great mass transit system?
If they had a great mass transit system in place before that growth occurred, would they have had a larger increase in residential growth or not?
I'm pretty sure the local leaders will find a way for the increase population to move about with or without great mass transit - something they have already done.

They failed to ask that question because it wasn't relevant. Becoming a mid-sized city - or even a large city - without a decent transit system isn't that difficult. It's functioning as a large city without a decent rail system that's a major challenge and that challenge only grows larger with the growth of the city. For a small city, sprawl mostly just has externalized problems that affect things such as the environment. But as the city grows, the costlier it gets to both the municipality and the drivers stuck in ever worsening traffic.

[Doady]

The problem with lack of mass transit isn't about constrained residential growth on the outskirts, but rather how it constrains growth in the core, especially commercial development, due to the extra space required for parking lots and garages.

And it's not like Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill is devoid of transit in the first place. Local transit in the Raleigh metropolitan area got around 5.4 million boardings in 2019, twice that of similar-sized Oklahoma City. The Durham and Chapel Hill local transit systems got around 6.6 million and 6.3 million boardings respectively. The regional system for Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill got 1.9 million boardings, 0.6 million Raleigh and 1.3 million Durham-Chapel Hill.

With 14.2 million transit boardings annually for population of 600,000 and a commuter mode share of 4.2 percent, the Durham-Chapel Hill metropolitan area is not only the transit leader in North Carolina, far ahead of Charlotte, it is also one of the leaders in all of the USA, ahead of Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix, Miami, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Cleveland, and many more.

You can see on this graph how Durham-Chapel Hill urban area compares to other similar-sized urban areas in US, Canada, and UK in terms of non-car travel:



You can on this graph the correlation between high transit use vs. high rates of walking and cycling. Durham-Chapel Hill is not only one of the leaders of transit in the US, it also one of the leaders in terms of walkability. Again, getting people onto transit is not about enabling growth, but enabling intensification to reduce travel distances and therefore the city more walkable.

[202_Cyclist]

In push to electrify Danbury trains and extend rail line to New Milford, the 'pendulum is swinging'

By Sandra Diamond Fox
Feb. 5, 2023
CT Insider

“ DANBURY — Town and state leaders are trying to build momentum to electrify the Danbury rail line and extend train service north to New Milford — projects that would give residents a faster commute.

In the latest bid, state lawmakers are hoping to pass legislation that could lead to electrification of the Danbury Metro-North commuter railroad line.

State Rep. Bill Buckbee, R-New Milford, recently proposed a bill in the state legislature to study the use of hybrid trains on the Metro-North. The goal of the bill is to study the feasibility of operating hybrid trains on the Danbury line of the railroad. Currently, the Danbury line is diesel-powered...”

https://www.ctinsider.com/news/artic...d-17753959.php

[Crawford]

They've been talking about electrifying the Danbury line for decades. Hopefully it's finally happening. CT is very pro-transit in recent years, so probably pretty good odds.

It would be great to have a fast, electric, one-seat ride to Grand Central or Penn from that corridor. You'd eventually have a one-seat ride to Grand Central or Penn all the way out to the Berkshires in Western MA.

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by Crawford

They've been talking about electrifying the Danbury line for decades. Hopefully it's finally happening. CT is very pro-transit in recent years, so probably pretty good odds.

It would be great to have a fast, electric, one-seat ride to Grand Central or Penn from that corridor. You'd eventually have a one-seat ride to Grand Central or Penn all the way out to the Berkshires in Western MA.

I looked and it takes over two hours to commute from Danbury to Grand Central. Even reducing the time by 15 minutes by switching to electric trains, this would still be a long commute to do daily. As the article notes, however, there are plenty of residents in this part of Connecticut who work in Norwalk, Stamford, etc... This would be a significant benefit for them.

[202_Cyclist]

'North Valley Rail': Commuter train line between Sacramento area and Chico in the works
The line would go from Chico to the Natomas area of Sacramento, with proposed stops at Gridley, Marysville, Yuba City and Plumas Lake

By Orko Manna
KCRA3
2/09/34


Map courtesy of KCRA3

"YUBA CITY, Calif. —Businesses at different stops along a proposed commuter train line in Northern California are hoping to get more customers if the plan moves forward.

The "North Valley Rail" line would go from Chico to the Natomas area of Sacramento, with proposed stops at Gridley, Marysville, Yuba City and Plumas Lake.

The Butte County Association of Governments, or BCAG, is behind the plan. BCAG has listed numerous benefits to the project, including improving connectivity throughout the region, supporting transit-oriented development and furthering California’s climate goals..."

https://www.kcra.com/article/north-v...hico/42808680#

Here is a presentation on this proposal from March 2022.
http://www.bcag.org/documents/Rail%2...1-Sildes-1.pdf

[202_Cyclist]

Boston-to-Manchester rail study puts $782m price tag on construction
Fares could cover up to 82 percent of operating cost, study says

New Hampshire Business Review
March 1, 2023

“ An 80-page draft report by the state Department of Transportation concludes that bring commuter rail service from Boston through Manchester would cost nearly $782 million to build and $17 million a year to operate.

The report says that fares could cover 82 percent of the operating budget and concludes an annual state taxpayer subsidy could be as low as $200,000 and as high as $3.5 million, depending on how many use the service.

The report assumes host communities would spend up to $63 million to build new train stations south of Granite Street in Manchester, a layover train facility in Manchester and a train station on Crown Street near downtown Nashua...”

https://www.nhbr.com/boston-to-manch...-construction/

[202_Cyclist]

Providence to Boston in 45 minutes? RIDOT, MBTA studying faster, cleaner electric trains

Patrick Anderson
The Providence Journal
Mon, March 13, 2023

“At a time when cars, buses and kitchen stoves are going electric, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail trains still chug along behind diesel locomotives, even on wired Providence Line tracks shared with Amtrak.

Now Rhode Island leaders who have talked about the benefits of speeding commutes to Boston for years are taking some steps to bring faster electric trains to the Providence Line...”

https://news.yahoo.com/providence-bo...090444334.html

[202_Cyclist]

The article also noted that Rhode Island is studying an Amtrak station at T.F. Green airport.

“ In other Northeast Corridor rail projects, Alviti said Rhode Island continues to work on preliminary design and feasibility of having Amtrak trains stop at T.F. Green Airport. The state received a $2.8-million grant to study building an Amtrak T.F. Green stop, something Warwick elected leaders have sought for years.”