Photos from Jane’s Walk 2024
Kevin Ellis on “The Embarrassment of Amtrak”
An Amtrak trip from Vermont to New York made Kevin Ellis angry. But not in the way a difficult flight or terrible traffic can make us angry. A trip that could have been, that should be, a pleasure was instead deeply annoying. And he was embarrassed to think that this was the best America has [...]
1972: Train Service to Upper Harlem Valley Terminated
There have been several women active in campaigning for passenger rail in the tristate region. One was Mrs. Gerald Carson. We wonder what her name was! By Harold Faber; Special to The New York Times - March 26, 1972 Train Service to Upper Harlem Valley Terminated CHATHAM, N.Y., March 25 — The last passenger train from Chatham [...]
From 1991: “The Housatonic, the Little Railroad That Could, and Did”
The Housatonic, the Little Railroad That Could, and Did - New York Times By Randall Beach Feb. 10, 1991 A version of this article appears in print on Feb. 10, 1991, Section 12CN, Page 1 of the National edition with the headline: The Housatonic, the Little Railroad That Could, and Did. NINE years ago, John Hanlon Jr. heard about an overgrown, [...]
Watch a Chinese high-speed train take off from Shanghai to Beijing
China has been investing billions in a high-speed rail network across the country, between major cities and into rural regions. Here’s what it's like to ride one of these trains leaving Shanghai for Beijing. It will get up to 350 km per hour (that’s 217 miles per hour). High-speed rail is expensive, but it [...]
Summary Information for An Act Funding a Study of Passenger Service on the Housatonic Rail Line
The Housatonic Line—also known as the Berkshire Line—was the route to the Berkshires from 1842 until 1971, when service stopped along with similar closures across the United States. It operates today as a freight line run by Housatonic Railroad Company. Download the March-2020 Housatonic Line handout. The Massachusetts portion of the track was purchased in [...]
Let’s also keep CT in mind – read what then-governor Dannel Malloy told the Berkshire Record
There's been so much going on in Massachusetts, exciting developments and a lot of debate, and that winding road down to New Milford looks a lot longer in the winter. But we can't forget our friends, and the rail line, in Connecticut. It was good to have a reminder in the excellent Berkshire Record article, [...]
Why the US has no high speed rail – transcript of CNBC video
Why The US Has No High-Speed Rail, May 2019, 16 minutes. Full transcript below, made by the Train Campaign. https://youtu.be/Qaf6baEu0_w [Start of video] China has the fastest and largest high-speed rail network in the world. The country has more than 19,000 miles of high-speed rail, the vast majority of which was built in the last [...]
Housatonic Line Upgrade Photos
I had a talk yesterday afternoon with one of the crew working on the Berkshire (Housatonic) Line. There are about 50 people hard at work on the $30-million upgrade to the line within Massachusetts. They have 25 of the yellow machines you see in the photos, and perhaps I'll be able to get a video [...]
Rural Rail: Reforging the Essential Connection between Cities and Rural Regions
Here's a summary of what I talked about in my presentation at RailNation, which I did from a friend's living room in Washington, DC. My proposal was this: "While there is lots of focus on metropolitan transit needs and major intercity lines, a connection that has been primary throughout human history is largely ignored. That [...]