Amtrak announces Phoenix return … Boston subway faces flood threat … Most Bay Area RT returning

Amtrak Sunset Limited
Amtrak has announced that it will be returning to Phoenix – currently the largest U.S. city without passenger rail service. © Amtrak

Amtrak plan to return passenger service to Phoenix
Amtrak has announced that it will be returning to Phoenix – currently the largest U.S. city without passenger rail service. Funding for the new service, which will link Phoenix and Tucson with LA, is included in the bipartisan infrastructure bill working its way through Congress. The new service will use diesel multiple unit trainsets – self-propelled rail cars that do not require a separate locomotive – and will relieve congestion on Interstate 10, dramatically reducing carbon emissions. Trains are expected to begin running in around three years. Phoenix has been without regular service since 1996. [forbes.com]

Boston’s subway system faces severe flood threat
The Boston area’s subway system faces a severe threat from rising seas over the next 50 years that could cause flooding and cut critical links around the city, according to a new study. The report, written by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tulane University, emphasizes the need to take sweeping action to fortify the system’s coastal infrastructure. The study, to be published next month in the journal Transportation Research, uses sea level rise projections to determine what segments of the system’s four major subway lines might be most affected by floodwaters from a major storm. [apnews.com]

Most BART service returning to Bay Area
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) will return to near-regular service levels beginning Aug. 2, 2021. The new schedule is very similar to the one before the pandemic, but with some targeted service expansions. The schedule change includes increased frequencies and extends closing times to midnight Mondays through Saturdays, and expands peak service to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) from four to eight trips per hour. For the time being, Sunday service will continue to end at 9:00 p.m. [masstransitmag.com]

Hartford Line returns to full train service
The Hartford Line is back to full steam, as ridership – battered in the pandemic – is recovering at a quickening pace with worries about COVID-19 appearing to be on the wane. About half of the monthly ridership has returned to the train line, which links Springfield and New Haven with daily commuter rail service. As of this week, the trains have returned to a full weekday schedule of 32 trains, up from 22 trains a day a year ago, according to the Connecticut Department of Transportation. [masstransitmag.com]

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