NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND NTERCITY RAIL INITIATIVE. INTERAGENCY SCOPING MEETING Springfield MA February 9, 2015

Transcription

1 NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND NTERCITY RAIL INITIATIVE INTERAGENCY SCOPING MEETING Springfield MA February 9, PARTICIPANTS Amtrak William Hollister Jeff Gerlach Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) Alan Anacheka-Nasemann Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (CMRPC) Rich Rydant Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission Steve Gladczuk Connecticut Department of Transportation Tom Maziarz Jon Foster CSX Joe Lisska Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCG) Linda Dunlavy Maureen Mullaney Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Trevor Gibson Kyle Gradinger Jessie Fernandez-Gatti Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Nick Garcia Kristin Wood Le Ministere des Transports du Quebec (MTQ) Interagency Scoping Meeting 1 March 20, 2014

2 Serge Routhier Office of State Senator Eric Lesser Michael Clark Massachusetts Department of Transportation (Mass DOT) Ammie Rogers Tim Doherty Metropolitan Transportation Authority: Metro-North (MTA) Fred Nangle New England Central Railroad (NECR) Charles Hunter New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) Shelley Winters Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) Dana Roscoe Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission Katharine Otto Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) Scott Bascom Karen Songhurst Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission Nate Miller Windham Regional Commission Matthew Mann Consulting Team Matthew Moran (HDR) Ron O Blenis (HDR) John Weston (HDR) Matthew Duranleau (HDR) Eric Smith (FH) Astrid Glynn Bill Lipfert (LTK) Clare Conley Interagency Scoping Meeting 2 March 20, 2014

3 Jay Doyle (AECOM) Jill Barrett (FH) Howard Latimer (FH) Other Agencies Gina Clark (Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce?) 1.2 INTRODUCTION AND PRESENTATION Due to inclement weather, the meeting was held via conference call. Ron O Blenis provided an introduction and agenda to the meeting. The agenda included: Introductions Project Background Purpose and Need Initial Build Alternatives Draft Build Alternative o Overview o Methodology o Service Levels o Infrastructure Requirements Next Steps Comments and Questions Ron O Blenis presented a PowerPoint overview of the Northern New England Intercity Rail Initiative (NNEIRI); the PowerPoint presentation is attached. 1.3 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Windham Regional Commission (Matt Mann) How is the previous ARRA funding contributing to the proposed capital costs? About $50 million was spent in Vermont. HDR (Ron O Blenis) The proposed improvements are for adding additional trains and capacity, not just to increase speed. In order to increase capacity we need to add sidings. The current ARRA investments are for the current capacity and do not contribute to adding additional capacity. MTA (Fred Nangle) Are the alternatives additive? Could you build Alternative 1 as a first phase for Alternative 2? Interagency Scoping Meeting 3 March 20, 2014

4 HDR (Ron O Blenis) No, they are not meant to be additive. These are a range of reachable alternatives, and all were used to create the draft build alternative. The draft Build Alternative is the most we want to achieve. ACOE (Alan Anacheka-Nasemann) Will the costs be presented in terms of cost per rider? HDR (Ron O Blenis) We haven t specifically done a cost per rider analysis yet. ACOE (Alan Anacheka-Nasemann) What models are you using to estimate ridership? HDR (Ron O Blenis) A lot of the ridership models are from AECOM, created for Amtrak. They are the same models that were used on the Northeast Corridor. Ministry of Transportation of Québec (MTQ) (Serge Routhier) Are the capital cost numbers the same as from the documents sent out in January, 2015? HDR (Ron O Blenis) No they are not exactly the same. Some of the capital costs were revised and corrected since then. MTQ (Serge Routhier) The service from Montreal to Springfield to Boston should take about eight hours? HDR (Ron O Blenis) Yes, that is correct. MassDOT (Tim Doherty) For the Boston to Springfield shuttles, the number of trains sound right, but is it to be determined if the service will be straight shuttles or an extension of Amtrak? HDR (Ron O Blenis) Currently we are looking at existing service when using the word shuttles. Making assumptions about connections in Springfield and unknown changes to the Northeast Corridor, we will see how that affects the shuttles. We will make a note about changing the word shuttles to additional service. MassDOT (Tim Doherty) I don t think the shuttles work as you re proposing. It seems like something years from now to determine when the infrastructure is in place. HDR (Ron O Blenis) You are correct that it does seem like something to determine when the infrastructure is in place. CTDOT (Jon Foster) Not just for Boston to New Haven, but we think Springfield is going to be a very robust market. This is something we will need to get fully coordinated. CTDOT (Tom Maziarz) Added trains versus shuttles is something that can be determined later. Interagency Scoping Meeting 4 March 20, 2014

5 Southern Windsor Regional Planning Commission (Katharine Otto) What do you mean by there aren t too many stations to skip beyond Worcester when talking about local service versus express service? HDR (Ron O Blenis) - The only station beyond Worcester is Palmer. Right now we are only discussing the Boston to Springfield and New Haven segment, not the segment north of Springfield. MassDOT (Tim Doherty) I would recommend changing the wording about the potential for MassDOT service between Springfield and Brattleboro. It s between New Haven and Brattleboro that there is potential for service, not just between Springfield and Brattleboro. Not a lot of people would want to travel just to Springfield. There has already been a look at potential service from Brattleboro and Greenfield down to New Haven and New York City. This could be addressed a little bit more carefully. HDR (Ron O Blenis) We will talk with you a little bit more about this after the meeting. The intent is to run trains north of Springfield to potentially Brattleboro, as we see the potential for ridership travelling south [from Brattleboro, Greenfield, and other stations north of Springfield]. MassDOT (Tim Doherty) This study doesn t talk about the market for ridership south from Brattleboro that was mentioned in previous studies. HDR (Ron O Blenis) We will look at going back and referencing the Knowledge Corridor Study. Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission (Nate Miller) The study shows siding between Charlestown and Claremont in New Hampshire. NHDOT is currently working on a project in this area to move a roadway and railroad with siding. Current plans are to move that siding to a stretch of rail in Vermont. LTK (Bill Lipfert) The railroad currently plans to coordinate with the Vermont system. Looking at the potential service for passenger rail, we don t see the change in siding as having an effect. Windham Regional Commission (Matt Mann) Pertaining to potential stops, at Bellows Falls trains must currently go at a slow speed through the Bellows Falls tunnel. It makes sense to have a stop at Bellows Falls since the trains will already be going at a slow speed. Has this stop been included? HDR (Matthew Moran) The draft build alternative has all trains stopping at all of the existing Vermonter Amtrak stops, including the one at Bellows Falls. MassDOT (Tim Doherty) It would be helpful for the phasing to be shown incrementally. Interagency Scoping Meeting 5 March 20, 2014

6 HDR (Ron O Blenis) We still have a ways to go, including another stakeholders meeting where we can discuss implementation. We still need input on a lot of policy-type implementation. CTDOT (Jon Foster) We still need to look at how the shuttles will fit in regards to service in Connecticut. All of that will be incremental. HDR (Ron O Blenis) When the time comes to make this part clear, we will address the issue. We currently aren t that far away from that point. If anyone has any thoughts, feel free to let us know. MassDOT (Tim Doherty) Does it make sense to stop at Montpelier and Waterbury, considering those stops are less than 20 miles apart? We will need to make a policy decision. HDR (Ron O Blenis) Yes we will, Vermont will need to look at that as well. MassDOT (Tim Doherty) For the capital costs, does this include the cost of the bridge over the Connecticut River in Connecticut? HDR (Ron O Blenis) No, the capital costs do not include any improvements on the New Haven to Springfield segment. NECR (Charles Hunter) The last cost estimate I saw from Amtrak was approximately $50 million. ACOE (Alan Anacheka-Nasemann) Is there any comparative estimate of wetlands impact? AECOM (Jay Doyle) During the alternative analysis we did a comparison of wetland impact. The results are summarized in the Alternative Analysis Report. Alternative 1 has the least impact as it does the least amount of double tracking and includes the fewest miles of new sidings. Alternative 2 and Alternative 3 have the same level of impact as both alternatives include the same amount of double tracking and siding. NECR (Charles Hunter) Did CSX participate in this meeting? CSX (Joe Lisska) Yes, Gina Clark and I are here. We have nothing to share candidly right now. We were interested in hearing about the projects in the Springfield area. Meeting Concluded Interagency Scoping Meeting 6 March 20, 2014