A proposal for passenger prepare service between Boston and Montreal is gaining steam.
Once it turned clear that the funding wasn’t there to supply high-speed rail service between the 2 cities, challenge guide and former Quebec politician Francois Rebello stated he started considering of a slower-paced, extra luxurious in a single day prepare service.
“Could I do a project where I could sleep on the train and arrive in the morning?” Rebello stated. “And on that train, there would be comfortable private bedrooms, and also a dining car and bar, like it was before.”
“When you watch movies from the ’60s and ’70s, you have the dining and lounge car, and if it was possible at the time, why not today?” the previous Quebec National Assembly member added.
The prepare would journey by means of Montreal, Quebec, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Boston, the place it might connect with North Station, however challenges stay round funding and the necessity to negotiate utilization with a number of railway operators.
Should the proposal transfer ahead, vacationers can anticipate at the least a two-year wait earlier than the service turns into out there.
The $100 million in funding for monitor upgrades that will allow a high-speed rail element between Montreal and Sherbrooke, Quebec, is underneath dialogue with the Canadian authorities.
The remainder of the journey could be extra of a low-speed affair however would choose up the tempo a bit in Portland, the place rail speeds are much like freeway limits.
At 14 hours, the journey would take twice so long as driving between the 2 cities. A one-way ticket would price $160 for passengers with a bed room and $80 for these touring in coach.
A market examine discovered that 1,000 of the 4,000 day by day vacationers between Montreal and Boston would go for rail service, however Rebello is envisioning a prepare with 190 passengers, break up between 120 bedrooms and 70 coach seats.
The final time passenger rail service was supplied between Montreal and Boston was within the Sixties, an idea that started to die out as airplanes and vehicles gained extra recognition.
However, curiosity in trains is selecting up steam once more, as leaders in main cities, together with Boston, proceed to push for methods to cut back site visitors congestion.
To that finish, Congress has authorised greater than $100 billion in railway infrastructure funding.
Rail advocates, lawmakers and tourism officers met lately in Coaticook, Quebec, to debate the idea, which is being promoted by Montreal-based Night Train Foundation.
Rebello, the muse’s director, stated he has a gathering in two weeks with Genesee and Wyoming, which owns St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad, the monitor operator alongside the proposed route in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Proponents have additionally spoken with the Canadian Pacific Railway for the Montreal to Sherbrooke connection. In Maine, CSX-owned rail passes by means of Old Orchard Beach, which is common amongst Canadians.
Rebello stated the group is looking for to safe the G&W proper of solution to the monitor between Sherbrooke and Portland earlier than discussions with the MBTA concerning the Boston connection happen.
“We hope that it will work,” Rebello stated.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”