Re the Fenway-Kenmore connection: a Park Drive alignment would require a rebuild of Fenway station in order to accommodate the grade change up to street level, and I haven't really sketched that out. That said, I would definitely look to maintain the connection to the Portal at least by way of a single track branching off before the main tracks rise up to street level. The ROW widens a bit around there, so I'm hopeful it could all fit.
Re my near-obsessive quest to Connect All The Lines In General, and more specifically Enable 2-Seat A/B/C Branches-to-Seaport Rides: I'm gonna scratch my silly SL5 Boylston St BRT idea. Instead, gonna do two things.
First, I'm gonna add a dashed line extension branching off the Green Line at the Nubian Branch and following the Magenta Line, showing the possibility of future extension along the route without obligating it. Like I laid out in my proposal for Bay Village, it would certainly be possible to provision for a hook-in back into a Marginal/Hudson Subway to enable Park-Seaport service if needed in the future. If A/B/C <> Seaport ridership continues to choke the Red Line between Park and South Station, the option will be there; I don't believe that connection is transformative enough to prioritize over other solutions, but I'm happy for it to be part of the puzzle.
Second, I'd build a free transfer tunnel between Copley and Back Bay. In the past, IIRC, this has been seen as problematic because of the Mass Pike blocking the way to the Orange Line platform. However, a Green/Magenta extension to Back Bay would site its platform on the other side of the Mass Pike anyway (which also means making adjustments to the fare control zone upstairs in the main concourse), so that's less of a barrier here.
At 1,000 feet, it's definitely a long transfer -- a bit longer than the Blue <> Southbound Orange transfer at State (which I think is about 800 feet) -- but still relatively manageable. (Heck, even today, commuter rail conductors announce the transfer available to Green at Copley when pulling into Back Bay.) If built large enough, the T could probably sell some retail square footage, and potentially could provision future underground connections to nearby buildings such as the John Hancock and the Westin. (We could also look at including a couple of moving sidewalks, which don't actually speed up the journey, as I understand it, but do obviously improve comfort and convenience.)
I'm always nervous about proposing tunneling, but this one should be on the easier side. What's more, it would be very easy to gain public support for, since the idea of a Copley-Back Bay walking transfer already exists in the minds of the public, and would significantly increase convenience.
So, A/B/C <> Seaport journeys would go: A/B/C to Copley, tunnel transfer to Back Bay, Magenta to Seaport. That feels sellable to me.
Re my near-obsessive quest to Connect All The Lines In General, and more specifically Enable 2-Seat A/B/C Branches-to-Seaport Rides: I'm gonna scratch my silly SL5 Boylston St BRT idea. Instead, gonna do two things.
First, I'm gonna add a dashed line extension branching off the Green Line at the Nubian Branch and following the Magenta Line, showing the possibility of future extension along the route without obligating it. Like I laid out in my proposal for Bay Village, it would certainly be possible to provision for a hook-in back into a Marginal/Hudson Subway to enable Park-Seaport service if needed in the future. If A/B/C <> Seaport ridership continues to choke the Red Line between Park and South Station, the option will be there; I don't believe that connection is transformative enough to prioritize over other solutions, but I'm happy for it to be part of the puzzle.
Second, I'd build a free transfer tunnel between Copley and Back Bay. In the past, IIRC, this has been seen as problematic because of the Mass Pike blocking the way to the Orange Line platform. However, a Green/Magenta extension to Back Bay would site its platform on the other side of the Mass Pike anyway (which also means making adjustments to the fare control zone upstairs in the main concourse), so that's less of a barrier here.
At 1,000 feet, it's definitely a long transfer -- a bit longer than the Blue <> Southbound Orange transfer at State (which I think is about 800 feet) -- but still relatively manageable. (Heck, even today, commuter rail conductors announce the transfer available to Green at Copley when pulling into Back Bay.) If built large enough, the T could probably sell some retail square footage, and potentially could provision future underground connections to nearby buildings such as the John Hancock and the Westin. (We could also look at including a couple of moving sidewalks, which don't actually speed up the journey, as I understand it, but do obviously improve comfort and convenience.)
I'm always nervous about proposing tunneling, but this one should be on the easier side. What's more, it would be very easy to gain public support for, since the idea of a Copley-Back Bay walking transfer already exists in the minds of the public, and would significantly increase convenience.
So, A/B/C <> Seaport journeys would go: A/B/C to Copley, tunnel transfer to Back Bay, Magenta to Seaport. That feels sellable to me.