Because colloquially, "third-world" just means terrible to most people. The fact that the actual third world tends to have better passenger rail coverage than most of the USA is a damning indictment on the state of passenger rail in this country.
Yes. India is electrifying its entire rail network. Massachusetts (and the rest of the US) isn't anywhere near accomplishing that.
I'd argue we have the most extensive highway system, not the "best" highway system. We've built it out so incredibly extensively and made it the primary thing to use for transportation in most places without really considering how the upkeep of them would be funded resulting in a state of disrepair putting a large quantity of the system in the same realm as a so-called "third world country." They were considered evil by the majority of citizens before their existence and then were subsidized and propagandized to the point of the majority thinking they're the greatest thing.
These two cities are the 9th and 10th largest cities in the state and have in particular been largely neglected for decades of economic development. I see this as partially a topic of justice for these communities to get the return of rail service to the economic hub of the state. The parking is largely the result of the mistake of downtown freeway development demolishing where the railway used to interface with downtown. The parking lot already exists and I'd imagine it'd be redeveloped in the coming years with the establishment of better service to the city because for some reason there isn't a lot of future thinking in the US, only deciding what to do based on the current environment.
In the case of the travel times, they're expected to be 90min from the termini to South Station, which is comparable to the Fitchburg Line and Worcester Local, and those trains still saw about 400 and 1300 (I know express ridership is probably the majority of this) riders daily back in 2018 when schedules weren't as clockface. These new branches will uniquely have direct access to jobs in Dorchester and Brockton which could be a draw for individuals. This makes the line's short-term configuration potentially even more useful to riders as this travel time would be less than the end-to-end 90 minutes. The lack of trips is concerning but seemingly a constraint of available equipment and the obvious Quincy single tracking.
Very few people in the US are condemning the highway system as a whole, just relooking at some problematic segments from the highway building feeding frenzy of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, especially in some key urban locations. Even Dwight D. Eisenhower, the chief initiator and proponent of the Interstate Highway System, was appalled when he was shown plans for proposed Interstate highways slicing through the hearts of major cities.
The main concern about SCR Phase 1 is that if its ridership tanks - possibly even lower than projections when the project started, and there's a significant chance it might - it may kill the much-needed Phase 2 outright. Politically speaking, when a project is not doing well (especially one that's not seen as crucial or a priority), people generally don't pour even more money into it.
The complete obliteration of all competing economies by a half decade of apocalyptic war is what created America's post-war economic boom. It wasn't Ford and GM doing some kind of wonderful alchemy.
I took the project page wording to mean there would be 3 bi-directional peak round trips per branch with some short turning at M/L to reach 26 total round trips. They bought additional equipment specifically to be ready in time for increased trains on the line with SCR which suggests an increase in service. As-is the line runs only 14 round trips per day. 26 would almost be a doubling of service so I think 30min frequencies will be coming to Brockton rather than 120+min. Not sure what the off-peak frequency part means though. 3 morning plus 3 evening peak each branch for a total of 12 round trips. Plus the 3 each(?) off-peak midday and 3 evening are another 12 for 24 round trips. Add a couple short turns and you hit 26 and the numbers they mentioned. With the capacity restrictions on the shared section I think the losers here would be Greenbush and Kingston getting a service reduction.
Top priorities IMO are: Expand South Station (eliminate the USPS bldg and expand the SS trackage), and double track the Old Colony line through Boston and Quincy.
And if at all possible give SS a few underground tracks to at least give a starting point for NSRL, yes it would be more expensive now but I suspect we would really regret it later on.
That would be pointless. SS Under is pretty much the single most expensive component for NSRL. You have to build mile-long lead tunnels to get down there. And if you're going to be TBM'ing the TBM has to have an exit chute otherwise it's going to stay embedded down there forever blocking any future tunneling progress.
The South Station bottleneck, beyond the obvious limited track space, primarily the result of the very antiquated interlocking which is officially undergoing fully funded modernization and expected to complete in 2028. I think the current system is only capable of managing a few trains in the interlocking at a time, this restricts how quickly a train can be turned around. The station moves about 20tph currently at peak. With better signaling and more efficient turnaround times transitmatters estimates the station can handle 26-30tph which I think is a little optimistic given similar sized stations like Glasgow Central only handle about 24tph in their terminal station that has 2 more tracks.
NSRL would be cheaper than SSX and allow more trains
The current grant should shrink BOS-SPG travel times down to about 2:05 by uprating the track speed. On a Friday afternoon that's par or slightly better than the increasingly horrible car commute.