Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Study

APPENDIX D. SERVICE PLAN

Alternatives Analysis Report – March 2015 New Hampshire Department of Transportation | Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Study Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Service Plan

Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Service Plan

Introduction The Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Service Plan is a component of the Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Study, a New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) study that is evaluating alternatives for extension of MBTA Commuter Rail service to the Plaistow, New Hampshire area. The study is being conducted in partnership with the Towns of Plaistow and Atkinson and the Rockingham Planning Commission and includes construction of a new train station and layover facility. The Plaistow Service Plan builds on existing MBTA service that currently terminates in Haverhill, Massachusetts and is necessary to understand the implications of extended Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) commuter rail service on existing MBTA schedules, equipment, and other partner railroad’s operations.

Methodology The Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Service Plan assumes that all existing MBTA Commuter Rail service that currently terminates at Haverhill Station would be extended north to a new Plaistow area station upon opening of the station. Plaistow Station will act as the new terminal for Haverhill Line trains, with the station capable of handling a single train set at a time along an exclusive station track. It is also assumed that an exclusive station track and layover facility will be built in close proximity to the train station, allowing all train sets operating on the line to layover near the terminal.

It is assumed that the Plaistow Station will be located south of Main Street in Plaistow, New Hampshire. For the purposes of developing the Service Plan, the Plaistow Main Street site is the northern most alternative site under consideration, allowing evaluation of the maximum impact to MBTA schedules and operations. Further refinement may be required upon selection of the preferred station and layover sites.

A Train Performance Calculator (TPC) was used to estimate train speed between Haverhill Station and Plaistow Station. A TPC program determines train trip times based on existing MBTA rolling stock performance ability, condition of the track, and track geometry. A total of ten minutes, including a minute of pad time, was determined by the TPC model for the travel time from Haverhill Station to Plaistow Main Street.

Schedule Development The goal in developing a new timetable for MBTA Haverhill Line operations was to minimize the impact to existing MBTA service while providing service to Plaistow, New Hampshire. Additionally, the Service Plan sought to minimize non-revenue train movements or train trips whose primary purpose is for train positioning, typically evidenced by off-peak (non-peak direction) trains that carry few passengers that would be possible with larger capacity layover facilities envisioned in Plaistow.

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New Hampshire Department of Transportation | Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Study Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Service Plan

The August 2014 MBTA Commuter Rail schedule for the Haverhill Line was used as the basis to survey MBTA operations. Currently, passengers on Trains 203 and 213 are bussed between Bradford and Haverhill stations and Trains 212 and 222 are bussed between Haverhill and Bradford stations due to restrictions on the Merrimack River Bridge between Haverhill and Bradford Stations; the Plaistow Extension Service Plan assumes that the Merrimack River Bridge will be repaired and trains will operate normally upon completion of Plaistow Station. Additionally, trains 203 and 213 provide for extra travel time between Lawrence and Bradford that is assumed to be eliminated in the Plaistow Service Plan.

The service plan assumes trains will take ten minutes to travel from Haverhill to Plaistow, need at least 10 minutes of layover time in Plaistow, and take another ten minutes to travel from Plaistow back to Haverhill. Thus, the new service plan will increase Haverhill Line operations by approximately 20 minutes per round trip because the MBTA already allots at least ten minutes for train layover at Haverhill Station. Currently, all but seven trains have sufficient layover time at Haverhill Station to accommodate operations at Plaistow Station without having to change schedules.

Results This proposed Service Plan would allow the majority of Haverhill Line services to maintain existing schedules, with trains beginning or ending runs ten minutes earlier than existing operations. A full Haverhill/Plaistow Line schedule is found in Appendix A, with the new MBTA and existing Amtrak service operations profiled.

Five train operations will have to be modified in order to accommodate scheduled stops at Plaistow Station. Four southbound (Plaistow to North Station) changes due to existing turn times in Haverhill that do not allow for the added 20 minute trip time. The single northbound schedule change (North Station to Plaistow) accommodates a late arriving train in Plaistow. The necessary changes are not expected to impact other equipment operations at North Station. Also, trains in the Plaistow terminal tracks do not present conflicts as train operations are not frequent enough to conflict with other movements. Changes are summarized in Table 1 and Table 2 and are necessary due to short layover times currently at Haverhill Station.

Additionally, two non-revenue operations will be eliminated through the Plaistow Extension Service Plan due to increased capacity of the train layover facilities in the Plaistow area. The MBTA currently runs a deadhead train from Haverhill to North Station and then to the Commuter Rail Maintenance Facility (CRMF) in Somerville at 1:25 AM and deadheads a train northbound to Haverhill at 4:00 AM. This train movement will be eliminated because train layover facilities will be constructed in Plaistow to store six train sets; currently only four train sets can layover in Bradford. With adequate layover space in Plaistow, trains will be able to terminate near the last station stop and reduce employee time and fuel useage.

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New Hampshire Department of Transportation | Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Study Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Service Plan

Table 1.1: Modified Southbound Train Movements

Current Current Future Future Departure Arrival North Departure Arrival North Train Haverhill Station Plaistow Station Notes 210 8:55 AM 10:24 AM 9:05 AM 10:24 AM Train shuts down in North Station until 1:58 PM 212 9:44 AM 11:09 AM 9:41 AM 11:09 AM Elimination of Haverhill to Bradford Bus allows better schedule 218 2:40 PM 3:49 PM 2:40 PM 3:59 PM Allows for the 5:10 Lowell Line to depart at the same time 220 4:30 PM 5:40 PM 4:28 PM 5:40 PM Arrival at 5:40 allows for the departure of the 5:50 PM Lowell Line train 222 6:04 PM 7:25 PM 6:12 PM 7:25 PM Elimination of Haverhill to Bradford Bus allows better schedule 226 10:15 PM 11:23 PM 10:10 PM 11:28 PM Terminates at the Commuter Rail Maintenance Facility (CRMF) in Somerville

Table 1.2: Modified Northbound Train Movement

Current Future Departure Current Arrival Departure Future Arrival Train North Station Haverhill North Station Plaistow Notes 205 10:30 AM 11:38 AM 10:22 AM 11:40 AM Terminates at the CRMF in Somerville

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New Hampshire Department of Transportation | Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Study Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Service Plan

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New Hampshire Department of Transportation | Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Study Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Service Plan

Appendix

Table A1. Plaistow/Haverhill Line Proposed Commuter Rail Schedule – Weekday Inbound Non- 1:25 AM 2:35 AM Plaistow because Revenue Eliminate Set S will be able to Operation Operation Layover in F F F F F F F F F PM Set I Set S 10:10 11:04 10:20 10:59 11:28 11:17 at the CRMF 10:23 10:45 10:34 10:39 10:53 226 11:07 11:09 11:11 11:13 Terminate Terminate F F F F F F F F F PM 226 10:29 11:04 224 9:13 10:59 9:08 10:54 9:01 10:47 9:26 11:12 09:18F 09:16F 11:02 09:20F09:22F 11:06 11:08 08:32F 10:18 F to Bus 7:00 7:04 06:50F 8:54 10:40 06:25 06:44F 08:48F 10:34 222 PM 222 Haverhill Bradford Proposed Proposed Eliminates F F F F PM VIA VIA 4:28 6:12 8:19 time 4:38 6:22 8:29 10:15 5:40 7:25 9:37 11:23 4:52 6:36 08:43F LOW LOW Set Q Set B Set S Set I Lowell 05:03 04:41 04:57 05:19 220 Line to to Line the 5:50 depart at the same Allows forAllows Proposed Proposed VIA LOW 05:11F 04:55F 04:33F 220 PM 220 F F F F F PM 2:40 time 3:35 2:50 4:30 3:59 5:32 3:043:09 4:44 04:49F 3:29 3:40 3:22 3:48 Set N Set Q Lowell 03:15 218 02:53 03:38 03:42 03:44 Line to to Line the 5:10 depart at the same Allows forAllows 03:28F 03:32F 03:34F 03:05F 02:43F 218 PM 218 0.1333333 F F F F F F 214AM 12:52 12:54 12:03 F to Bus 9:54 212 AM 212 Haverhill Bradford Proposed Proposed Eliminates 9:05 9:41 11:50 1:58 9:159:18 9:28 9:519:349:39 10:14 12:00 10:19 10:25F 12:14 2:40 12:19 12:25 2:54 2:59 9:47 10:32F9:54 12:32 10:39 12:39 3:19 10:00 10:45 12:45 3:25 10:24 11:09 1:09 3:49 10:0310:05 10:48F10:07 10:5010:09 12:48 10:52F 10:13 10:54F 12:50 10:58 3:30 12:58 3:38 Set B Set U Set S Set N North 210 AM 210 Station Station Time untilTime Proposed Proposed Shutdown Shutdown F F AM 9:50 9:53 9:44 9:55 9:57 9:59 10:03 210 09:37 AM 8:12 208 Layover Bradford Bradford AM VIA VIA 7:22 8:07 LOW LOW 206 Layover Bradford Bradford AM 204 Layover Bradford Bradford AM 6:036:11 6:35 6:43 7:126:28 7:57 7:00 09:29 Set J Set K Set L Set M Set B 202 Layover Bradford Bradford F F F AM run 5:05 5:38 6:10 6:46 7:30 9:05 5:50 6:25 6:57 6:14 6:50 7:25 7:48 8:39 10:14 4:555:08 5:285:195:24 5:41 6:00 5:52 5:57 6:13 6:36 6:24 6:29 6:49 7:20 5:44 7:00 7:06 7:33 6:19 7:445:55 7:51 9:08 5:57 6:51 9:19 5:59 6:30 9:24 6:02 6:32 6:34 7:03 6:38 7:05 7:07 7:11 Set I Set S at the 200 Future Future 05:30 05:37 05:53 CRMF; begins normal Layover Plaistow Proposed Proposed Terminate

Anderson/ Woburn Anderson/ Haverhill Greenwood Wakefield North Station North Weekday Inbound Weekday Set Equipment Number Train Depart Plaistow Bradford Lawrence Andover Ballardvale Wilmington North Wilmington Reading Highlands Melrose Melrose Cedar Park Wyoming Hill Malden Center

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New Hampshire Department of Transportation | Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Study Plaistow Commuter Rail Extension Service Plan

Table A2. Plaistow/Haverhill Line Proposed Commuter Rail Schedule – Weekday Outbound F AM 227 Future Future 12:25 F 12:45 12:23 F 12:29 F 12:51 F 12:57 F 01:03 F Layover Plaistow F PM 225 10:48 F 10:54 F 11:17 F Layover Plaistow PM 8:55 10:50 F 8:57 10:52 12:27 9:16 11:11 F 9:04 10:59 12:33 8:50 10:45 12:20 9:10 11:05 12:39 223 08:53 F 08:59 F PM VIA 7:19 7:23 LOW 221 PM 219 Layover Plaistow PM 5:50 6:35 5:53 6:37 5:48 6:33 5:55 6:40 217 Layover Plaistow PM 215 Layover Plaistow

PM time 4:45 5:065:15 5:49 5:58 6:13 6:21 6:56 7:04 7:34 9:24 213 Account Account for extra between Bradford Bradford Proposed Proposed Change to to Change 3:50 5:23 6:06 6:28 7:11 7:41 9:30 11:23 F 211PM 03:13 F 03:15 F 03:19 F 03:35 F 03:43 F PM 1:27 3:17 4:47 2:06 3:56 5:29 6:12 6:34 7:17 7:47 9:36 11:29 209 01:23 F 01:25 F 01:29 F 01:45 F 01:53 F 02:00 F AM 10:46 1:32 3:22 4:5311:27 5:35 2:15 6:00 4:05 6:43 5:49 6:22 6:44 7:27 7:56 9:45 11:38 1:12 10:32 1:20 3:10 4:41 5:25 5:45 6:30 11:30 2:18 4:08 5:52 6:25 6:47 7:30 7:59 9:48 11:41 1:15 10:22 1:10 3:00 4:30 5:15 5:35 6:20 6:55 8:40 10:35 12:10 10:50 1:38 3:28 4:59 5:42 6:06 6:49 11:40 2:28 4:18 6:02 6:35 6:57 7:40 8:09 9:58 11:51 1:25 Set S Set N Set Q Set B Set L Set M Set J Set S Set I Set K Set S 10:35 F 10:37 F 10:39 F 10:41 F 10:57 F 11:05 F 11:12 F 11:18 F 205 Proposed Proposed 10:40 10:43F 205AM 11:13F 11:20F 11:26F 10:45F 10:47F 10:49F 11:05F

AM time 08:51 F 08:14 F 08:19 F 08:21 F 08:23 F 08:43 F 203 Account Account for extra between Lawrence Proposed Proposed Change to to Change 8:45 9:16 11:38 7:35 8:04 10:30 7:58 8:28 10:52 8:428:55 9:13 9:26 11:35 8:05 8:36 10:58 8:12 7:45 8:20F 8:27F8:33F 08:58 F 09:04 F Set B Set U Set S 07:49F 07:51F 07:53F 201 AM 201 Set I 5:00AM 4:00 AM 4:00 Deadhead

Weekday Outbound Weekday Set Equipment Number Train Station North Wyoming Hill Melrose Cedar Park Highlands Melrose Greenwood Wakefield Ballardvale Andover Lawrence Bradford Haverhill Plaistow Reading Anderson/ Woburn Anderson/ Wilmington Wilmington North Malden Center

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