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said that the railroad had not fulfilled its maintenance obligations. Fillmore & Western disputes that assertion and says it will contin- ue to operate while negotiations continue.
MBTA
NEW OPERATOR: In January the Massa- chusetts Bay Transportation Authority select- ed Keolis America to replace Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad as operator of MBTA rail services. MBCR was a consortium of Veo- lia and Bombardier. Keolis also runs the Vir- ginia Railway Express commuter system in northern Virginia.
BIG PLANS ARE AFOOT: Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has unveiled his pro- posed $12 billion, multi-year transportation plan which includes big ideas for the state’s rail transportation system. The program in- cludes: Completion of the Green Line subway extension; partial replacement of Red Line and Orange Line rolling stock; improvements to track, signals, and bridges on the South Coast commuter rail line to New Bedford and Fall River; the replacement of locomotive- hauled equipment on the Fairmount Line with diesel multiple units; rehabilitation of the Housatonic Railroad in western Massa- chusetts, possibly with an eye toward passen- ger service; and money to complete track and signal work for the seasonal CapeFlyer pas- senger service to Cape Cod.
Maine Eastern
DOWNEASTER CONNECTION IS SET: Maine Eastern will expand its passenger serv- ice between Rockland and Brunswick, Maine, this coming season, including connecting serv- ice with Amtrak’s Downeaster service to Port- land and Boston. On Fridays and Saturdays from July 4 though October 12 the Mid-Coast Limited will make north- and southbound con- nections with the Downeaster at Brunswick. The railroad will also introduce the Wiscasset Flyer, which will provide short sightseeing trips from Wiscasset to Newcastle and Bath on Saturdays. In addition, ticket prices have been reduced by ten to 20 per cent.
Metro-North
THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD: Metro- North Railroad President Howard Permut re- tired on January 31 and has been replaced by Metro-North alumnus Joseph J. Giulietti, who returned to the beleaguered New York com- muter railroad after 14 years running the South Florida Regional Transportation Au- thority. Guilietti’s career started in 1971 with Penn Central and after transitioning to Con- rail in 1976 he joined the nascent Metro- North at its startup in 1983. In 1998 he left MNR for SFRTA, where he was named execu- tive director in 2000. SFRTA runs the Miami- area Tri-Rail commuter rail system and its connecting bus services.
Permut had come under fire after a series of accidents in 2013 which culminated in the De- cember 1 high speed derailment on a curve at Spuyten Duyvil that killed four passengers. (See January 2014 RAILNEWS for details.)
Short Line Group Celebrates Golden Anniversary in Vermont
IN HONOR OF ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY, THE VERMONT RAIL SYSTEM dedicated spe- cially lettered GP40-2W No. 311 to Joan Wulfson, mother of Vermont Railway founder Jay Wulfson, in a ceremony at Burlington Union Station on January 6, 2014. The Vermont Railway began operations on January 6, 1964, over 125 miles of trackage purchased by the state after the Rutland Railway was abandoned in late 1961. In the ensuing half century, VTR has expanded by purchasing the Clarendon & Pittsford (CLP) in 1972, and the Delaware & Hudson’s Rutland branch came under the CLP banner in 1983. Then VRS bought the Green Mountain Railroad, which operated the former Rutland between Bellows Falls and Rutland in 1997. The Washing- ton County Railroad’s former Central Vermont branch serving the state capital of Montpelier was acquired in 1999. WACR took over operations of the former Boston & Maine/Canadian Pa- cific route between White River Junction and Newport in 2003. CLP hosts Amtrak’s Ethan Allen Express between Rutland and Whitehall, N.Y., and the state of Vermont is planning to intro- duce Amtrak service to the state’s “West Coast” over VTR rails between Burlington, Rutland, and Bennington a few years from now. VRS has also been mentioned as possibly acquiring the former CPR between Newport and Brookport, Québec, and trackage rights from Brookport to Farnham, Québec, from the bankrupt Montréal, Maine & Atlantic, which was sold in January to Railroad Acquisition Holdings, a unit of Fortress Investment Group.
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A New Image in the Lake State
THE LAKE STATE RAILWAY of Saginaw, Mich., has introduced a new paint scheme designed by railfan Kevin Burkholder which is based on a scheme Kevin had developed for his freelanced HO scale railroad. The new scheme uses the same blue as recent repaints and introduces a gray and white lightning stripe with the railroad name spelled out on the long hood. LSRC SD40-2 No. 6301 (above) is the first unit to receive the new colors; No. 6302 is being repainted now and ad- ditional SD40-2s are expected to follow it into the paint booth. The intrastate LSRC operates about 300 miles of track from Flint, Mich., through Saginaw to Gaylord and Alpena, with branch- es to Midland, Bay City, and Paines. The railroad handles about 45,000 carloads of coal, cement, construction materials, chemicals, fertilizer, and agricultural products every year. In addition to the six-axle EMD’s, LSRC acquired over 200 freight cars last year to handle the traffic.
VERMONT RAIL SYSTEM PHOTO BY KEVIN BURKHOLDER
LAKE STATE RAILWAY PHOTO BY KEVIN BURKHOLDER
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