MBTA Commuter Rail (Operations, Keolis, & Short Term)

40mph seems awful slow?
Is there a way to get flow speed up to 60mph - flow of traffic speed?
 
Would the speed through Bellingham and Milford be slower than the current 40 MPH speed limit between Forge Park and the Franklin Junction?

The never-released MPO study has all that traffic modeling, so unfortunately the speed figures aren't public.

My guess is speed would be comparable to the current S-curve-a-thon between the Junction and FP, because the ROW geometry is similarly loopy through Bellingham before straightening out on the last 2 miles to Milford. Bellingham Jct. is a particularly nasty spot with two hard right-angle turns (the midsection between turns is actually a small surviving segment of the Needham/Millis Line where it once bisected the Milford Branch here). Unless they somehow are able to relocate the tracks onto the front lawns of the industrial businesses on Depot St. for about two-thirds of a mile to straighten that mess out you're probably looking at an excruciating crawl in/out of the adjacent Bellingham station on 126. You're probably looking at an 80-minute trip, which is nearing the limits of tolerability for the Purple Line. To work well you might have to let Foxboro handle more of the local stops and do some judicious skip-stopping to make up time. Unfortunately EMU acceleration can't do all that much for crap ROW geometry, so the only electric time-savings are going to get racked up on the mainline and won't be consequential enough to pull Milford in under a buck-fifteen.

It really is a mystery that the MPO never released the study, which was allegedly fully complete. That was the first attempt to put numbers to those catchments, so we have no idea if the demand numbers they did crunch look good or bad (other than they probably wouldn't be hiding the results if those numbers looked good). This is an extension that could swing either way on ridership, on ops (either a service increaser for the layover or an icky proposition of over-long travel times), and on cost (active line with mostly industrial abutters, but wetlands permitting even for in-situ upgrades may run up costs). And end up looking either like an obvious choice or a hard pass depending on how those variables break. But we have no clue how any of those key variables broke. Oh well...as before, the branch ain't going anywhere if we want to take a second look. Grafton & Upton RR takes over the Franklin-Milford freight franchise from CSX next year and sees big growth opportunities at all those industrial parks by 495, so the branch will get some love from the local shortline in the meantime.


RIDOT stated in its most recent 10-year-term State Rail Plan that it wants to do a new Boston-Woonsocket via Franklin study jointly with MassDOT. And they probably should get that done sooner than later because of the whole question over where to relocate Franklin layover, and the service increase considerations therein. That route would probably be a lot faster; NYNH&H used to cover Franklin-Blackstone in 12 minutes with no intermediate stops in between, and had a similar Boston-Franklin schedule in 1955 as today (after correcting for skip-stops, which the New Haven did regularly and the T does rarely). If Forge Park is going to be replaced on the main and Millerville added at about the two-thirds mark as an intermediate stop in lieu of doing anything new at Blackstone, add 3 minutes to the total. Then add another 3+ mins. for the slow 'hook' from Blackstone Jct. to Woonsocket Union Station, which has to traverse a lot of switches while on a banking curve so won't be anyone's idea of a speedway. 75-78 minutes sounds like it's doable...not much different from Milford, but viability may end up in a better place at the higher population terminus fed by more bus routes at the extension stops and the layover cost-sharing with RIDOT intrastate. Hopefully by then we have both studies to compare/contrast.
 
New late night weekday service to Scituate started today!

Last two outbound trains were changed from 8:25 pm to 8:52 pm & 10:00 pm to 11:20 pm respectively. Pretty big gap in service levels after the 6:38 pm departure. That's well over 2 hours for EACH train past peak commuting times.

Heck with all this RER talk about trains every 15 minutes, I would settle for a train every hour! Every 30 minutes would be pure heaven. :) Help @transitmatters!
 
The never-released MPO study has all that traffic modeling, so unfortunately the speed figures aren't public.

My guess is speed would be comparable to the current S-curve-a-thon between the Junction and FP, because the ROW geometry is similarly loopy through Bellingham before straightening out on the last 2 miles to Milford. Bellingham Jct. is a particularly nasty spot with two hard right-angle turns (the midsection between turns is actually a small surviving segment of the Needham/Millis Line where it once bisected the Milford Branch here). Unless they somehow are able to relocate the tracks onto the front lawns of the industrial businesses on Depot St. for about two-thirds of a mile to straighten that mess out you're probably looking at an excruciating crawl in/out of the adjacent Bellingham station on 126. You're probably looking at an 80-minute trip, which is nearing the limits of tolerability for the Purple Line. To work well you might have to let Foxboro handle more of the local stops and do some judicious skip-stopping to make up time. Unfortunately EMU acceleration can't do all that much for crap ROW geometry, so the only electric time-savings are going to get racked up on the mainline and won't be consequential enough to pull Milford in under a buck-fifteen.

It really is a mystery that the MPO never released the study, which was allegedly fully complete. That was the first attempt to put numbers to those catchments, so we have no idea if the demand numbers they did crunch look good or bad (other than they probably wouldn't be hiding the results if those numbers looked good). This is an extension that could swing either way on ridership, on ops (either a service increaser for the layover or an icky proposition of over-long travel times), and on cost (active line with mostly industrial abutters, but wetlands permitting even for in-situ upgrades may run up costs). And end up looking either like an obvious choice or a hard pass depending on how those variables break. But we have no clue how any of those key variables broke. Oh well...as before, the branch ain't going anywhere if we want to take a second look. Grafton & Upton RR takes over the Franklin-Milford freight franchise from CSX next year and sees big growth opportunities at all those industrial parks by 495, so the branch will get some love from the local shortline in the meantime.


RIDOT stated in its most recent 10-year-term State Rail Plan that it wants to do a new Boston-Woonsocket via Franklin study jointly with MassDOT. And they probably should get that done sooner than later because of the whole question over where to relocate Franklin layover, and the service increase considerations therein. That route would probably be a lot faster; NYNH&H used to cover Franklin-Blackstone in 12 minutes with no intermediate stops in between, and had a similar Boston-Franklin schedule in 1955 as today (after correcting for skip-stops, which the New Haven did regularly and the T does rarely). If Forge Park is going to be replaced on the main and Millerville added at about the two-thirds mark as an intermediate stop in lieu of doing anything new at Blackstone, add 3 minutes to the total. Then add another 3+ mins. for the slow 'hook' from Blackstone Jct. to Woonsocket Union Station, which has to traverse a lot of switches while on a banking curve so won't be anyone's idea of a speedway. 75-78 minutes sounds like it's doable...not much different from Milford, but viability may end up in a better place at the higher population terminus fed by more bus routes at the extension stops and the layover cost-sharing with RIDOT intrastate. Hopefully by then we have both studies to compare/contrast.

What is the name of the study you're referring to? Is it not published here?
 
What is the name of the study you're referring to? Is it not published here?

Not published there or anywhere. Title would be "Milford-Hopedale Commuter Rail Feasibility Study" or some boilerplate like that, since they gamed out Milford terminus vs. a Hopedale terminus. Study was fully funded with work commencing in July 2011. Supposed to have been published by end of calendar year 2012, but was never heard from again. A total mystery, as there were enough interested parties locally that even a substantially complete work well short of full completion would've been of considerable use & benefit to release for pegging transit demand from those towns.
 
The MBTA has closed the Newtonville stop because the stairs leading to the stop is apparently in real bad shape.

Oh and a guy on a bike got killed getting run over by a train near Beverly Depot today.
 
Not published there or anywhere. Title would be "Milford-Hopedale Commuter Rail Feasibility Study" or some boilerplate like that, since they gamed out Milford terminus vs. a Hopedale terminus. Study was fully funded with work commencing in July 2011. Supposed to have been published by end of calendar year 2012, but was never heard from again. A total mystery, as there were enough interested parties locally that even a substantially complete work well short of full completion would've been of considerable use & benefit to release for pegging transit demand from those towns.

I'm curious as to whether the study recommended a Milford terminus or a Hopedale terminus. I always thought that it would be particularly challenging to build a Milford station (if the terminus of the line was in Hopedale) due to the track configuration and nearby wetlands at the junction with the Grafton and Upton by Depot Street.
 
I'm curious as to whether the study recommended a Milford terminus or a Hopedale terminus. I always thought that it would be particularly challenging to build a Milford station (if the terminus of the line was in Hopedale) due to the track configuration and nearby wetlands at the junction with the Grafton and Upton by Depot Street.
Hopedale was a late tack-on to the study per request of the town, which has been trying for years to get mixed-use redev at the old Draper Mills site, and Grafton & Upton RR, which at the time had just reopened its once dormant mainline to Hopedale and was trying to woo some public-private partnerships. They are indeed building a (tight) southbound wye at Milford Jct. as they work towards the reopening of that section of their track; the power company gave them an assist on the permitting since they own the land. But if you trace the dizzying curves from Milford Jct. to Draper Mills you can see that Hopedale would probably be a huge longshot for commuter rail. It makes the Franklin Jct.-Forge Park meander look like a racetrack for how many times it tightly corkscrews on itself. Very high number of grade crossings, too. I doubt you'd crack 25 MPH on that 2-mile diversion, so a schedule that already projected well on the long side would've gotten nearly intolerable if sent to Hopedale. Nice enthusiasm and all from a town I never would've pegged for being transit YIMBY's, but Milford's a much cleaner trajectory than Hopedale and bigger catchment to boot.


Oh course, how big a catchment we'll never know if the study remains AWOL. Milford Branch hasn't had passenger service across its length since the mid-Depression, and save for a passing-glance MBTA workup done in the mid-90's as part of a look-back on the first decade of Forge Park service (also not available anywhere online, though that one apparently does exist on paper) those communities have never really been surveyed for transit.
 
Isn't there a staircase at the other end?
I suspect there is an egress requirement that involves having two paths of egress, or more specifically the entire platform has to be within a certain distance of an egress point or a "area of refuge" (like Boston landing). One staircase likely doesn't meet those codes so it's technically not safe to be used. There are very specific codes that state how far you can be from an exit, how long it should take to walk to an area of refuge, distance to public right of ways, etc. Little bit over the top regulations in my opinion.
 
I suspect there is an egress requirement that involves having two paths of egress, or more specifically the entire platform has to be within a certain distance of an egress point or a "area of refuge" (like Boston landing). One staircase likely doesn't meet those codes so it's technically not safe to be used. There are very specific codes that state how far you can be from an exit, how long it should take to walk to an area of refuge, distance to public right of ways, etc. Little bit over the top regulations in my opinion.
A lot of our exit and fire code is driven by catastrophe. See Cocoanut Grove fire for an example.
 
I suspect there is an egress requirement that involves having two paths of egress, or more specifically the entire platform has to be within a certain distance of an egress point or a "area of refuge" (like Boston landing). One staircase likely doesn't meet those codes so it's technically not safe to be used. There are very specific codes that state how far you can be from an exit, how long it should take to walk to an area of refuge, distance to public right of ways, etc. Little bit over the top regulations in my opinion.

MBTA website says the East Entrance will be reopened tomorrow. The West entrance is staying closed. Figure they closed both out of caution.
 
For a while I lived equidistant from the Auburndale and West Newton train stops, just 2 miles north, so I got pretty familiar with the steps at both locations*. Even on perfectly dry days, their surface struck me as ridiculously slippery--just no granular grit whatsoever to help footwear stick to them. I can't imagine how slippery they'd be during precipitation. I'm surprised people don't slip/trip on them on a daily basis.

*(per Google maps, the stations are just 1 mile a part--way too close, in my estimation, given their suburban context, but I know there are probably other such precedents in the CR system. One day I was on a train, preparing to get off at Aurburndale, and a guy said to me, visibly flustered, "what do I do?! I just missed my stop at West Newton!" To which I of course replied: "get off here at Auburndale and walk; it doesn't matter." His reply: "that's what another guy told me. OK...")
 
per Google maps, the stations are just 1 mile a part--way too close, in my estimation, given their suburban context, but I know there are probably other such precedents in the CR system. One day I was on a train, preparing to get off at Aurburndale, and a guy said to me, visibly flustered, "what do I do?! I just missed my stop at West Newton!" To which I of course replied: "get off here at Auburndale and walk; it doesn't matter." His reply: "that's what another guy told me. OK...")

Newton would be far better served by one full-service CR station than three incredibly limited service CR stations. Of course, this is a false dichotomy. I do wish there was a little more creativity from the MBTA, though.

All three Newton stops are in need of (and in the early stages of undergoing) complete rebuilds. So, if we just take the ROW through Newton, we are essentially working with a clean slate of where the rebuilt stations could go. Oddly enough, Newton Corner would be the best location to put a Commuter Rail station, yet it is the one village the ROW passes through without having a stop. Newton Corner wins on both density and system connectivity.
 
Newton would be far better served by one full-service CR station than three incredibly limited service CR stations.

It would be better if they had, say, separate service running from Riverside that absorbed those stops.
There's no reverse commute opportunities near those stops, so it's OK if it skips those during rush hour in the reverse direction if service levels are maintained. I imagine it helps keep the trains OTP better than it would be otherwise.
 
It would be better if they had, say, separate service running from Riverside that absorbed those stops.

Of course. Hence why I mentioned that it was a false dichotomy.

There's no reverse commute opportunities near those stops, so it's OK if it skips those during rush hour in the reverse direction if service levels are maintained. I imagine it helps keep the trains OTP better than it would be otherwise.

This is untrue for Newton Corner. I'm a daily reverse 502 bus rider. There is already significant ridership to/from Newton Corner in the reverse peak direction. And that demand is far less than what would exist on a traffic-free rail service. Newton Corner not having a stop while the other villages do is nonsensical.
 
There's also non-zero reverse commute demand from Newton to a few of the Metro West stops, particularly Framingham and Natick to the MWRTA shuttles. Driving is generally quite a bit quicker once you add in the shuttle time, but it's not so ridiculous or so long that it wouldn't be an option. I know in the 2014-15 range they managed to schedule a single outbound stop in the commuting time frame (around 8am) that I took several times when my wife needed the car or it was otherwise unavailable, and it was quite useful to have available.
 
Good use of a few million dollars

The MBTA kicked off the first day of Foxboro service with Patriots cheerleaders, the Patriots’ mascot Pat, and free Dunkin Donuts coffee.
The launch came after an extensive advertising campaign and media coverage.

Still, ridership was low on the first day.

Jody Gallery, a field manager for the MBTA, said she counted eight people on the first train to Boston, which left at 5:47 a.m. Ridership jumped to 37 on the 7:29 a.m. commute and went back down to six on the 10:27.

A spokesman for the MBTA said there are no ridership projections for the first week of service.
 
Newton Corner not having a stop while the other villages do is nonsensical.

I think the reason there's no stop is because the Exit 17 area is a traffic and pedestrian nightmare. And yes, unlike the existing Newton stops there are some employers in the direct area where a stop would be.
 

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