RUTLAND RAILS BEYOND THE by Philip R. Jordan
The Rutland Railway shut down in 1961, ending an era in New England railroading. Three years later the railroad was revived by the state of Vermont and began operation as two different companies. Author Philip R. Jordan looks at the Rutland’s successors — the Vermont Railway and Green Mountain Railroad — with a tour of the lines between Burlington, Vermont, and North Walpole, New Hampshire.
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The Second Avenue Subway Advances
YES, THE WORK on the Second Avenue subway in New York City continues and the first big phase of the project has been com- pleted. The tunnel boring machine reached the Lexington Avenue 63rd Street station and access to an existing tunnel. Service be- tween 63rd Street and 96th Street will be of- fered as an extension of the Q train, and is expected to serve 200,000 passengers on an average workday. New subway stations will be built at 96th, 86th, and 72nd streets. The price tag for this new venture is $4.45 bil- lion. In time the subway is planned to be ex- tended south all the way to Hanover Square in the financial district. The first part of the project is expected to be finished and in rev- enue service by 2016. Heading north, the line is expected to reach 125th Street. As long time readers will recall, this sub-
way was supposed to be constructed when the Second Avenue elevated was torn down; unfortunately that event took place on June 13, 1942, so the promise will be more than 70 years behind schedule when finally com- pleted. Thanks to Fred Cole and Nat Baer for the information.
Federal Safety Oversight of Rail Transit In 2009, there was a fatal crash on the Washington Metrorail Red Line. Nine peo- ple died when the signal system failed to de- tect the presence of a train and sent another train racing toward it at full speed. The Na- tional Transportation Safety Board noted that there were chronic failures of the track circuits in the signal system and the transit authority had an indifferent attitude toward safety and safety oversight was feeble. Safety legislation was proposed and sup-
ported by Senators Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin L Cardin, both of Maryland. Rep- resentative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland also supported the legislation. The fatal ac- cident took place on June 22, 2009, and it took three years to gain passage of the safe- ty legislation. The legislation requires tran- sit agencies to develop safety plans after evaluating safety risks, establish criteria for repairs and require employees go through a federally certified safety training program. Thanks to Peter Perreault for the news.
Historical Vacuum Most Americans lack any great understand- ing of the role that various modes of trans- portation played in the development of the United States. Along with this travesty is how the major media treat the railroads with such little respect and understanding. Even such venerable institutions as the As- sociated Press rely on suspect terms such as train station, train cars, train conductor, train crossing, and such. What about using the more proper terms of railroad and railway? Union Pacific’s recent series of ads in
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print and on television celebrating their 150th anniversary is a good start in correct- ing this problem, but more needs to be done. We can help by demanding that our educa- tion system do a better job of teaching trans-
portation history and provide teachers with information and school districts with finan- cial support to do a better job.
NICTD/South Shore: Farewell to Kensington Ever since the South Shore Line service was extended into the Chicago Loop a century ago the trains from the South Shore Line coming onto the Illinois Central electric line tracks at 115th Street in the Kensington section of Chicago’s south side have served the station at that spot. That changed on February 15, 2012, when the bypass around the Kensington station opened. The change had been a long time in gestation because discussions with Metra Electric and the Canadian National (which bought out the Illinois Central) began in the late 1990s. The South Shore cannot handle local pas- sengers along the Metra Electric line and there were not many South Shore passen- gers who wished to deboard at Kensington to transfer to Metra Electric trains. Opera- tion through the station and across the dia- monds of the erstwhile Illinois Central through passenger and freight lines was slow, and there were many delays. With the change the South Shore trains
shift from track to track across the Canadi- an National and then connect directly with Metra Electric tracks 3 and 4. The new dis- pensation will save a few minutes in operat- ing time and help to reduce the number of complete delays at the station.
Boston: Taking Care of Maintenance The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Au- thority is short of money and long on things that need to be done to keep the system of rail and buses functioning safely and smoothly. The much wanted extension of the Green Line from Lechmere to Somerville has been pushed back three years because of a lack of capital. Fears of Red Line trains de- railing between Harvard and Alewife sta- tions have caused the MBTA to shut down weekend rail service along the line between the stations in order to carry out needed track maintenance. Leaks in the tunnel have caused serious damage to the integrity of the track structure. Power lines have been damaged and the basic trackbed is in very bad shape. To carry out the repairs the Red line will be shut down between the aforementioned stations from November 2011 to March 2012. Getting the money to take care of virtual-
PLEASE SEND light rail, tran- sit and commuter rail news items and correspondence di- rectly to Prof. George M. Smerk, Emeritus Suite, Kelley School of Business, 1309 East Tenth Street, Bloomington, IN 47405-1701.
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