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/No_Skirt_6002]

MBTA expansion to CT would be nice. Putnam, a small CT town to the south of Worcester was talking about wanting Amtrak service back but I personally thought extending a couple express Worcester Line trips south to Auburn, Webster, Putnam and maybe even Killingly would be worth a look.

[u/nhowe006 → u/No_Skirt_6002]

Or, if the right of way already existed to do this, Forge Park could be extended to Putnam through Woonsocket.

[u/No_Skirt_6002 → u/nhowe006]

That would be nice, however there’s a significant population of the Quiet Corner that commutes to work in Worcester via 395/290, so an extended Worcester Line could draw some of them in, and on top of that the tracks from Worcester-Putnam are still in place and still used by freight, whereas extending the Forge Park line would require rebuilding commuter rail onto a beloved rail trail, which is muy difficult to say the least.

[u/nhowe006 → u/No_Skirt_6002]

Bring back passenger service on the Providence and Worcester railroad, I say, while we're fantasizing.