mr2448

You can get a good view of the line as it crosses Route 140 in Somers. Some track is still down and it looked like it use to be double tracked here.

With the present attitude of the Governor and State Legislature I wonder what buses it will serve? All T.F. Green RIPTA service is proposed to be canceled.

Ft. Lauderdale has a shuttle to the Tri Rail service that runs between Miami and West Palm Beach. Which in turn connects you to the Miami Metro System. I am not sure if there are shuttles from WPB or MIA to the Tri Rail service.

Great news, rumor wise. Continued service to Boston as before or maybe two stop Hyannis service? Fall River and New Bedford stop possibilities. Mark

Despite the time frame this is great news. I hope there is some consideration by the State of Mass to extend this service to Northhampton. Also, this will allow imput for bus connections all along the line. Done correctly Wallingford, Hartford, Springfield and Meridan stations could be completely intermodel. Mark

The lottery system has been going on for years. My 3 children were fortunate enough to get in. Two from kindergarten and one from 2nd grade. And, no joke, parents put their kids names in right after birth! I can't see it being any different than 25-30 years ago. Mark

Much of the track(in Ct.) is still in place and while the Mass. ROW might be a trail, it could always be converted back or have a dual purpose ROW like they have in Portland, Or with their light rail. Yes, the tracks are in disrepair, but a secondary line serving both Hartford and Springfield should be in place. Hartford should plan for full commuter rail rather than just the north/south line. That is why the New Britain/Waterbury line needs to also be a priority. It is another access to NYC, Stamford, etc. Mark

An example of this; I grew up on Taft Avenue and went to John Howland Elementary School, I also had a choice to go to Summit Avenue School as this was a border area, which was located on Cole Ave where the Luzon Ave apartments are now located. This was a mile away and we walked or biked back and forth twice a day. We came home for lunch and there was really no concern that anyone of us would be stolen from the streets by an adult predator. After school meant going to the JCC field at Sessions and Elmgrove, where the present JCC is now located. The only bussing at this age was sometimes taking the UTC(now RIPTA) bus from Savoy Street (the turn around) to Laurel Avenue (they ran both ways on Elmgrove then every 15-20 minutes) for the paltry sum of 7 cents. The idea that this is only a suburban cacoon is incorrect. Most urban school children are bussed out of their neighborhoods to a school across town. Where there were once Abbott Street, Doyle Avenue, John Howland and Summit Avenue elementary schools, there is now but one. Even the High schools did not necessitate crosstown ventures. They were all neighborhood schools except for Classical, but even there many of us would walk the streets/tunnels of Providence rather than bus it. Oh yes, one side thought. The Classical of then mandated two years of Greek and three years of Latin for graduation. At that it had been downgraded from four years of each in the late 50's. Mark

IKEA in New Haven at Long Wharf Mark

Athletic Fields. Amazing how things turn around. The area to the left of the former Marvel Gym (as you're facing it) was the original practice field for all outdoor sports. Football, La Crosse and soccer were played and practiced there. The baseball stadium was also there bordering Elmgrove Ave. There are now homes in that entire area. This was done about 1960. The space in front of the football stadium was a place for hammer, discus and shot put practice. Also, a place where young boys could go and have a pickup baseball or football game. The spot where the JCC is was also a ball field until this new JCC building was built about 1965? The former JCC was a rehab of a Prov. police sub station across from Wayland Ave on Sessions Street. Mark

I also think that commuter rail could/should be revived on the New Britain/Waterbury line. The Hazardville/Somers line to Springfield could also be reinstituted. Mark

Presently there is a third set of tracks being being built to facilitate the Quonset Point industrial area. This will also be used for the extended commuter line to Wickford. A forth siding set might be built at each station for layovers. Except for the Attleboro station with 4 sets of tracks, the Prov-Bos line has only two sets of track that handle all the traffic without conflict. Mark

RDU has the luxury of being an American hub. American mainline and now Eagle service it with feeder flights. This helps support the n/s London flights. Mark

Ct. DOT has little to do with it. There are international charters fom BDL. Scheduled international service, not including Canada, needs to be approved by both countries. New gateway cities are hard to come by. That is why the Providence-Bermuda service was discontinued. It was scheduled service, but Bermuda wanted to limit the number of U.S. gateway cities. Providence was thus discontinued in favor of the larger airports. A few years back Delta had a Bradley-JFK-Charles De Gaulle(Paris) flight. It lasted 5 months and only averaged 45 pax per flight on a 747. A DC-10 use to go BDL-BOS-LAX-Tokyo years ago on a daily basis. DL also did BDL-BOS-Bermuda for a number of years with a L1011. The Hartford metro and Providence metro could both handle n/s European scheduled service, but unless there is an upstart airline, non of the majors will water down their existing service in the major markets. One stop scheduled service is likely the only type of service we will receive for a while. Mark