Someone on ArchBoston suggested this and initially I dismissed it. But then I went off to look at Google Maps, dig through a bunch of intercity bus schedules and do some back-of-the-napkin math. And… it’s still a bit of a stretch, but when you look at the details it actually doesn’t look quite so unreasonable.
This would be a connecting service with a cross platform transfer at Providence to a Northeast Regional and/or Acela service. Amtrak stops would be something like this:
- Providence, RI
- Worcester, MA
- Nashua, NH
- Manchester Airport, NH
- Manchester, NH
- Concord, NH
There are additional locations that could receive part-time service, such as Woonsocket. But I think it’ll be important to have speedy Amtrak service, so my first thought would be to relegate those stops to commuter rail, or state-level intercity rail. (Unfortunately, the layout of the tracks means this route misses downtown Lowell by just 3 miles.) If conventional rail service to the White Mountains is ever restored, this service could also be extended further north.
Concord-Worcester-Providence is roughly 120 miles. Assuming all the tracks were upgraded, perhaps we could estimate an average speed of 45 mph, once we take curves and stops into consideration (which is also consistent with the Downeaster’s average speed Portland to Boston). That would lead to an end-to-end travel time of 2h40m.
A journey from Providence to New York takes between 3h and 3h30m, depending on how many stops you make. Let’s assume 10m for a cross-platform transfer at Providence (citing precedent for the current Valley Flyer transfer at New Haven). That would put a Concord-NYC journey at roughly 6 hours. (Assuming Amtrak can guarantee priority for its trains against freight — in theory, a solvable problem with the right political support.)
There are no intercity buses direct from Concord (or Manchester) to NYC that I could find. (Though there is direct service from Hanover/Lebanon and from Portsmouth.) The best I can find is to take a Greyhound bus to Boston, have a ~1 hour layover, and then take the bus to New York. Total travel time is just over 7 hours, including that layover.
So… that’s actually not too bad as a starting point. For NH-NYC riders, an Amtrak journey could potentially be competitive. (Worcester-NYC is currently advertised on Peter Pan as 3h30m, so it’s probably less competitive there — though, again, if Amtrak can guarantee priority for its trains, it’s possible that the reliability of a rail schedule might be preferable to the traffic-dependent delays of a busy.)
But beyond the NH-NYC journey, there’s a whole universe of other journeys that open up. Of course, you have your local commuters within the corridor — NH to Worcester, for example, and Worcester-Providence; I wouldn’t expect these numbers to be astronomical, but I think they’d contribute.
But you’d also provide access to points throughout Connecticut (New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford). And then on top of that you’d open up access to the rest of the Northeast Corridor — two-seat timed transfer rides from New Hampshire to New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington DC and Virginia.
Add those all together (NH-NYC, local commuters, NH-CT, Worcester-CT, NH-Northeast Corridor)… and you just might have something.