Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

Not exactly the GLX, but this commuter line goes right by Union Sq stop. Crazy deluge this week.

IMG_4619.jpeg
 
Dr. Rosen Rosen said:
Not exactly the GLX, but this commuter line goes right by Union Sq stop. Crazy deluge this week.

View attachment 41492
Click to expand...
Yeah that's the Fitchburg line. Everyone was wondering why the new Medford line costs so much??? Because it has all new drainage lines to keep it draining properly during 50 year rain events like this one. This area will get new drainage when the Union Square stop is extended to Porter
 
Dr. Rosen Rosen said:
Closed Sept 18 - Oct 12

www.bostonglobe.com

The state is closing the Union Square T stop during a big festival. Somerville is not so happy. - The Boston Globe

Somerville business and political officials expressed concern after learning the Green Line extension branch to Union Square will be shut in September for the second straight year during the popular What the Fluff festival.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
Click to expand...
Just trying to keep the various closures straight, this closure is just for the Union Square branch so they can fix the Squires Bridge. It now mostly coincides with the other green line closure at Haymarket so they can tear down the government center garage. My understanding is that was going to shrink Union Square service to basically nothing anyways.

If they had done this closure as originally planned over the summer, it would have taken 42 days, plus Union Square would be effectively closed again for 30 days for the upcoming garage demolition. With just a bit of pushback, MassDOT was able to cut bridge repairs time almost in half, and schedule it to coincide with other disruptions. That's a big win. Sad they couldn't do that in the first place.
 
ritchiew said:
Just trying to keep the various closures straight, this closure is just for the Union Square branch so they can fix the Squires Bridge. It now mostly coincides with the other green line closure at Haymarket so they can tear down the government center garage. My understanding is that was going to shrink Union Square service to basically nothing anyways.

If they had done this closure as originally planned over the summer, it would have taken 42 days, plus Union Square would be effectively closed again for 30 days for the upcoming garage demolition. With just a bit of pushback, MassDOT was able to cut bridge repairs time almost in half, and schedule it to coincide with other disruptions. That's a big win. Sad they couldn't do that in the first place.
Click to expand...

Still no shuttle bus that the outcry asked for. The MBTA has cut and reduced frequency on the 69, 86, and 83 buses since August 27, 2023, which stop within 1km of Union Sq. So instead of every 27 - 40 min off peak, service is now every 35 - 45 min off peak for the 86 and 69 buses. Plus, the 86, 87, 91 buses inside Union Sq. itself all have different stop locations and go to different subway stops.

The diversions usually mean the 2 split branches of the GLX have trains every 20 - 30 minutes. With only 1 branch, that means the Medford branch would have trains every 10 - 16 minutes.
 
Took the GLX from Medford/Tufts in and out of Boston last week. A few observations:
  • Doesn’t take long after Medford/Tufts for the train to be crowded. Usually by Magoun Square all the seats are taken and Gilman adds more load. This was the case even on Monday & Friday which both tend to be the “work from home” days post-COVID. Really speaks to the significant population density in Somerville and how overdue they were for rapid transit service.
  • East Somerville is still sparsely used; however, definitely an uptick in boardings since the Community Path opened in June. Also noticed during morning inbound folks getting off at East Somerville, presumably to head over to Union Square and other employment places in the area.
  • Lechmere sees a lot of commuters exit southbound from Medford in the morning and northbound to Medford in the evening. No surprise given the Cambridge Crossing transformation on top of the existing offices / labs in the area and the bus service at ground level.
  • Man, the Type 9 LRVs are really nice.
  • During one evening commute ride, had a Medford/Tufts bound train dump us at East Somerville to turn back to Boston. We had to wait for the next outbound Medford train. So they’re using the switch at East Somerville to short turn revenue service trains.
  • Still slow going (10 MPH) over the Lechmere Viaduct. They renewed the rail two years ago during the reconstruction and then replaced the rail back in June. The “breaking in” period should be over by now. What gives? This seems like a permanent condition / something structural where the 113 year old viaduct can’t handle LRVs going more than a snail’s pace. It’s very strange given the performance expectation from the recent overhaul.
Lastly, a question. Under TD Garden where they have the middle tracks to park GL trains, at the portal incline the revenue tracks obviously head up toward the viaduct but the middle tracks remain flat. It seems like the non-revenue service tracks are meant to continue at a flat grade under the portal incline. Is there any intent behind this setup?
 
Took the GLX from Medford/Tufts in and out of Boston last week. A few observations:
  • Doesn’t take long after Medford/Tufts for the train to be crowded. Usually by Magoun Square all the seats are taken and Gilman adds more load. This was the case even on Monday & Friday which both tend to be the “work from home” days post-COVID. Really speaks to the significant population density in Somerville and how overdue they were for rapid transit service.
  • East Somerville is still sparsely used; however, definitely an uptick in boardings since the Community Path opened in June. Also noticed during morning inbound folks getting off at East Somerville, presumably to head over to Union Square and other employment places in the area.
  • Lechmere sees a lot of commuters exit southbound from Medford in the morning and northbound to Medford in the evening. No surprise given the Cambridge Crossing transformation on top of the existing offices / labs in the area and the bus service at ground level.
  • Man, the Type 9 LRVs are really nice.
  • During one evening commute ride, had a Medford/Tufts bound train dump us at East Somerville to turn back to Boston. We had to wait for the next outbound Medford train. So they’re using the switch at East Somerville to short turn revenue service trains.
  • Still slow going (10 MPH) over the Lechmere Viaduct. They renewed the rail two years ago during the reconstruction and then replaced the rail back in June. The “breaking in” period should be over by now. What gives? This seems like a permanent condition / something structural where the 113 year old viaduct can’t handle LRVs going more than a snail’s pace. It’s very strange given the performance expectation from the recent overhaul.
Lastly, a question. Under TD Garden where they have the middle tracks to park GL trains, at the portal incline the revenue tracks obviously head up toward the viaduct but the middle tracks remain flat. It seems like the non-revenue service tracks are meant to continue at a flat grade under the portal incline. Is there any intent behind this setup?
 
WestMedford said:
Lastly, a question. Under TD Garden where they have the middle tracks to park GL trains, at the portal incline the revenue tracks obviously head up toward the viaduct but the middle tracks remain flat. It seems like the non-revenue service tracks are meant to continue at a flat grade under the portal incline. Is there any intent behind this setup?
Click to expand...

Probably just that it's not a great idea for tracks you might park trains on to have an incline. If anything there might be a slight descending grade there, but either way the point's probably to keep any runaway trains at bay. I don't think there was ever any consideration of extending the subway proper past that point.
 
WestMedford said:
Took the GLX from Medford/Tufts in and out of Boston last week. A few observations:
  • Doesn’t take long after Medford/Tufts for the train to be crowded. Usually by Magoun Square all the seats are taken and Gilman adds more load. This was the case even on Monday & Friday which both tend to be the “work from home” days post-COVID. Really speaks to the significant population density in Somerville and how overdue they were for rapid transit service.
  • East Somerville is still sparsely used; however, definitely an uptick in boardings since the Community Path opened in June. Also noticed during morning inbound folks getting off at East Somerville, presumably to head over to Union Square and other employment places in the area.
  • Lechmere sees a lot of commuters exit southbound from Medford in the morning and northbound to Medford in the evening. No surprise given the Cambridge Crossing transformation on top of the existing offices / labs in the area and the bus service at ground level.
  • Man, the Type 9 LRVs are really nice.
  • During one evening commute ride, had a Medford/Tufts bound train dump us at East Somerville to turn back to Boston. We had to wait for the next outbound Medford train. So they’re using the switch at East Somerville to short turn revenue service trains.
  • Still slow going (10 MPH) over the Lechmere Viaduct. They renewed the rail two years ago during the reconstruction and then replaced the rail back in June. The “breaking in” period should be over by now. What gives? This seems like a permanent condition / something structural where the 113 year old viaduct can’t handle LRVs going more than a snail’s pace. It’s very strange given the performance expectation from the recent overhaul.
Lastly, a question. Under TD Garden where they have the middle tracks to park GL trains, at the portal incline the revenue tracks obviously head up toward the viaduct but the middle tracks remain flat. It seems like the non-revenue service tracks are meant to continue at a flat grade under the portal incline. Is there any intent behind this setup?
Click to expand...

The Lechmere viaduct slow zone is probably the most infuriating one on the entire system largely due to the reasons you cited (and I say that as someone who mostly uses the Red Line)!
 
WestMedford said:
Took the GLX from Medford/Tufts in and out of Boston last week. A few observations:
  • Doesn’t take long after Medford/Tufts for the train to be crowded. Usually by Magoun Square all the seats are taken and Gilman adds more load. This was the case even on Monday & Friday which both tend to be the “work from home” days post-COVID. Really speaks to the significant population density in Somerville and how overdue they were for rapid transit service.
  • East Somerville is still sparsely used; however, definitely an uptick in boardings since the Community Path opened in June. Also noticed during morning inbound folks getting off at East Somerville, presumably to head over to Union Square and other employment places in the area.
  • Lechmere sees a lot of commuters exit southbound from Medford in the morning and northbound to Medford in the evening. No surprise given the Cambridge Crossing transformation on top of the existing offices / labs in the area and the bus service at ground level.
  • Man, the Type 9 LRVs are really nice.
  • During one evening commute ride, had a Medford/Tufts bound train dump us at East Somerville to turn back to Boston. We had to wait for the next outbound Medford train. So they’re using the switch at East Somerville to short turn revenue service trains.
  • Still slow going (10 MPH) over the Lechmere Viaduct. They renewed the rail two years ago during the reconstruction and then replaced the rail back in June. The “breaking in” period should be over by now. What gives? This seems like a permanent condition / something structural where the 113 year old viaduct can’t handle LRVs going more than a snail’s pace. It’s very strange given the performance expectation from the recent overhaul.
Lastly, a question. Under TD Garden where they have the middle tracks to park GL trains, at the portal incline the revenue tracks obviously head up toward the viaduct but the middle tracks remain flat. It seems like the non-revenue service tracks are meant to continue at a flat grade under the portal incline. Is there any intent behind this setup?
Click to expand...
Regarding East Somerville, I think there's plans in the future for it to be a lot of TOD for the space across from the bike path. I think having a 2nd entrance either on the Oliveiras or closer down on the bike path. It seems like there's a waste of a walk to go to where the station is right now.
 
WestMedford said:
Took the GLX from Medford/Tufts in and out of Boston last week. A few observations:
  • Doesn’t take long after Medford/Tufts for the train to be crowded. Usually by Magoun Square all the seats are taken and Gilman adds more load. This was the case even on Monday & Friday which both tend to be the “work from home” days post-COVID. Really speaks to the significant population density in Somerville and how overdue they were for rapid transit service.
  • East Somerville is still sparsely used; however, definitely an uptick in boardings since the Community Path opened in June. Also noticed during morning inbound folks getting off at East Somerville, presumably to head over to Union Square and other employment places in the area.
  • Lechmere sees a lot of commuters exit southbound from Medford in the morning and northbound to Medford in the evening. No surprise given the Cambridge Crossing transformation on top of the existing offices / labs in the area and the bus service at ground level.
  • Man, the Type 9 LRVs are really nice.
  • During one evening commute ride, had a Medford/Tufts bound train dump us at East Somerville to turn back to Boston. We had to wait for the next outbound Medford train. So they’re using the switch at East Somerville to short turn revenue service trains.
  • Still slow going (10 MPH) over the Lechmere Viaduct. They renewed the rail two years ago during the reconstruction and then replaced the rail back in June. The “breaking in” period should be over by now. What gives? This seems like a permanent condition / something structural where the 113 year old viaduct can’t handle LRVs going more than a snail’s pace. It’s very strange given the performance expectation from the recent overhaul.
Lastly, a question. Under TD Garden where they have the middle tracks to park GL trains, at the portal incline the revenue tracks obviously head up toward the viaduct but the middle tracks remain flat. It seems like the non-revenue service tracks are meant to continue at a flat grade under the portal incline. Is there any intent behind this setup?
Click to expand...
Regarding East Somerville, I think there's plans in the future for it to be a lot of TOD for the space across from the bike path. I think having a 2nd entrance either on the Oliveiras or closer down on the bike path would be much better. It seems like there's a waste of a walk to go to where the station is right now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top