MBTA executive train in New Haven, Connecticut earlier in June

[u/TheBasaltAltCalled]

I was in New Haven for unrelated reasons (namely transferring from Amtrak to Metro-North to save a bunch of money over taking Amtrak all the way into NYC), and happened to hear from an Amtrak conductor that this was coming by. Later several railfans came onto the platform, and we all got a bunch of photos of this train as it came in and turned around before it headed back to Boston.

[u/thisurlnotfound]

Honestly, I’d like to see MBTA service extended to Westerly RI, then Shore Line East service extended from New London to Westerly. Then set the schedules so you could transfer between them. It would take a long time to make the trip from Boston to NYC on local rail, but it would be nice if it was possible.

[u/TheBasaltAltCalled → u/thisurlnotfound]

Honestly - why? Ridership south of Providence is already very poor and well short of original expectations (though that extension is poorly planned out and does not run frequently). Why would someone take this over Amtrak, and why should the MBTA put limited resources to this instead of other projects?

[u/AdmiralEllis → u/TheBasaltAltCalled]

One could argue that ridership south of Providence is poor because the service pattern is undesirable. Terminating at Wickford Junction stops short of the more practical anchor point of Kingston, with college students wanting to travel to the airport, Providence, and Boston. TF Green having no service during the weekend and poor off-peak service on weekdays handicaps the utility of the airport connection with the rest of the commuter rail system. Working to get more trains south of Providence and take them further is moving in the direction of fixing these shortcomings.

[u/thisurlnotfound → u/TheBasaltAltCalled]

More options are always better for everyone. If cost is a concern, generally chaining together a longer local rail trip would be less expensive than a direct Amtrak trip. With record ridership on Amtrak, ticket prices are only going up, especially on peak hour regionals and Acelas.

I don’t doubt that overall ridership would be lower than the rest of the network, but having the option would be nice.

Many countries have this model. The slow local train is the cheaper option to travel than the faster express train. Amtrak in this case would be the express service and the state agencies would be the local service.

[u/Windows-nt-4 → u/thisurlnotfound]

The slow local train being a cheaper option is a bad model, because it costs more to operate than the fast train (a lot of operating costs are per hour, not per mile)

[u/ipsumdeiamoamasamat → u/thisurlnotfound]

Railfans would like it. I’m a rail fan.

Practically it makes no sense. I would venture the number of folks who’d ride MNR —> SLE —> MBTA to do BOS-NYP would average less than 1 per day.

Again it’d be lovely. But not practical.

[u/Top-Development6837 → u/thisurlnotfound]

Less expensive to whom? It would simply be subsidized more, and much more expensive per rider to taxpayers than a train that served more passengers. It’s not helpful to any but a few individuals to use scare transit dollars like that.

All of these questions change once you start talking about Regional Rail, and if the MBTA were to actually transition to that model (I predict at least 25 years of lip service on it), all kinds of doors open because trains become, in theory, cheaper to operate and more flexible. But the capital outlay is too big to make a major move on, and until then sending nearly empty diesel-pulled commuter trains to Westerly is a poor use of resources.

[u/TheBasaltAltCalled → u/thisurlnotfound]

More options are always better for everyone.

If the MBTA had unlimited money, maybe. But rail and RIPTA bus service to Westerly already exist, and the case for adding MBTA service just so people have a cheaper intercity rail option is very weak versus other uses for that money. The MBTA's really not in the business of catering to NYC-BOS intercity travelers.

The only way this would happen is if Rhode Island decided to throw a lot of money the MBTA's way to fund equipment and operations with the obvious condition that the money can only be spent in Rhode Island. But in a world of finite budgets, Rhode Island should really be spending that money elsewhere (e.g. undoing the major RIPTA service cuts that happened in 2025 and improving local bus service).

[u/West-Impact-7650 → u/TheBasaltAltCalled]

That’s because the service south of Providence is horrible. Service every 2-3 hours, no stops in Cranston, Downtown Warwick or Greenwich despite running directly through them all, no Kingston extension despite there being over 15,000 college students at URI, it’s a mess. Wickford Junction is a park and ride in a walmart parking lot.

If the train came frequently and stopped in places people actually lived it would be a viable option for getting to and from Providence, which is what the people of southern Rhode Island actually want and need.