General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

[Koopzilla24]

In terms of pure minutes, it is too bad we won't see repairs come to the JFK/UMass to Braintree until next September.

With what they said in the meeting about scheduling repairs to coordinate with surrounding roadworks and availability of alternative transportation, I bet they’re putting off the Braintree Branch for that long so that SCR will be active and bringing more frequent commuter rail service to Braintree and Quincy. The two could be potentially getting service equal or better than Salem/Beverly if they temporarily have all Old Colony lines stop.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

With what they said in the meeting about scheduling repairs to coordinate with surrounding roadworks and availability of alternative transportation, I bet they’re putting off the Braintree Branch for that long so that SCR will be active and bringing more frequent commuter rail service to Braintree and Quincy. The two could be potentially getting service equal or better than Salem/Beverly if they temporarily have all Old Colony lines stop.

South Coast Rail's completion deadlines keep slipping with wide uncertainty as to whether it'll actually launch in Summer 2024, so it's not reliable at all to plan anything around on other modes. The latest rumor on RR.net is that the Franklin Line Double Tracking project is being paused until further notice so its track gangs can be reassigned to SCR to staunch the bleeding there on construction delays. It's incredibly unlikely that any Red Line work schedules are being drawn up with dependencies on SCR. It's simply too iffy at this stage.

Plus it's not going to increase service any on the mainline. There'll be a light redistribution of slots, but it's functionally useless for providing more backstop service inside 128.

 

[BostonBoy]

South Coast Rail's completion deadlines keep slipping with wide uncertainty as to whether it'll actually launch in Summer 2024, so it's not reliable at all to plan anything around on other modes. The latest rumor on RR.net is that the Franklin Line Double Tracking project is being paused until further notice so its track gangs can be reassigned to SCR to staunch the bleeding there on construction delays. It's incredibly unlikely that any Red Line work schedules are being drawn up with dependencies on SCR. It's simply too iffy at this stage.

Plus it's not going to increase service any on the mainline. There'll be a light redistribution of slots, but it's functionally useless for providing more backstop service inside 128.

The rail work is mostly completed on the South Coast Rail project. Delta Corp is De- Stressing welded rail and removing joints. Most of the remaining work is related to signals, stations and punch lists such as drainage, interlocking work such as switch heaters etc. Also, Crossings are being improved with pre cast concrete as opposed to asphalt between the rails. Padelford and Malbone Streets are done. Myricks Street in Berkeley is being installed this weekend. This is on the New Bedford Line.

 

[737900er]

With what they said in the meeting about scheduling repairs to coordinate with surrounding roadworks and availability of alternative transportation, I bet they’re putting off the Braintree Branch for that long so that SCR will be active and bringing more frequent commuter rail service to Braintree and Quincy. The two could be potentially getting service equal or better than Salem/Beverly if they temporarily have all Old Colony lines stop.

Haven't they been busing the Old Colony lines while they do work on the Braintree Line in recent closures?

 

[Delvin4519]

Haven't they been busing the Old Colony lines while they do work on the Braintree Line in recent closures?

Aren't most of the slowzones on the northbound track further away from the CR tracks? It's 27 minutes southbound from Andrew to Braintree, but 31 minutes northbound from Braintree to Andrew.

 

[737900er]

Good headways require the slow zones to be fixed, as I know you understand.

Have they actually reduced headways from speed restrictions being lifted? I was looking at the Red Line data on TransitMatters and it doesn't seem like there's been any decrease in headways despite significant restrictions being lifted on the southern portions of both the Ashmont and Braintree lines.

 

[Teban54]

Have they actually reduced headways from speed restrictions being lifted? I was looking at the Red Line data on TransitMatters and it doesn't seem like there's been any decrease in headways despite significant restrictions being lifted on the southern portions of both the Ashmont and Braintree lines.

The lifting of speed restrictions is still very recent, so I suspect there will be corresponding schedule changes in the upcoming Winter 2024 schedule.

 

[bakgwailo]

The lifting of speed restrictions is still very recent, so I suspect there will be corresponding schedule changes in the upcoming Winter 2024 schedule.

Have they hired enough dispatchers, though, to be able to increase headways. Afaik that has been the real limiting factor on the Red, at least.

 

[#bancars]

New escalator at the renovated Kendall headhouse already out of service (11.11.23):

 

[jklo]

New escalator at the renovated Kendall headhouse already out of service (11.11.23):

As stupid as it sounds... They turned it off to save electricity costs perhaps and someone forgot to turn it back on?

 

[nbcoram]

I picked this stretch because it is historically the lowest ridership two week stretch on the Red Line every year. I examined the data before posting my comment. Would you like a source?

Ahh, all good. I'm surprised it isn't sometime during the summer, to be honest, with the majority of the Harvard and MIT student bodies out and people tending to go away.

 

[W-4]

As stupid as it sounds... They turned it off to save electricity costs perhaps and someone forgot to turn it back on?

Then why would they block it off? They could just leave them turned off like normal stairs.

 

[jklo]

Then why would they block it off? They could just leave them turned off like normal stairs.

Legal reasons?

 

[reno]

A non moving escalator doesn't meet code for step height.

 

[HenryAlan]

Ahh, all good. I'm surprised it isn't sometime during the summer, to be honest, with the majority of the Harvard and MIT student bodies out and people tending to go away.

Well, those students are probably also not around during that end of year window. Plus, people do travel in the summer, but spread across 10 weeks. Lots of people also travel during the holidays. I'm not surprised by the data.

 

[Aprehensive_Words]

Healey Makes Tibbits-Nutt Permanent MassDOT Secretary

One of the state's top transportation experts is now Massachusetts' top transportation official, a move one advocate praised as "an inspired choice."

bankerandtradesman.com

Looks like a lot of people are very happy about this.

Tibbits-Nutt had entered the administration as MassDOT undersecretary, but was elevated to the senior role when then-Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca was forced out this summer. At the time, several observers had judged the permanent secretary role was Tibbits-Nutt's to lose.

 

[beck4537]

All aboard? Amtrak joins push to relocate USPS and expand South Station. - The Boston Globe

The $2 billion-plus South Station expansion, which would add up to 10 tracks to the existing 13, has been sidelined in part because the postal service showed no sign of budging.

www.bostonglobe.com

 

[stefal]

Healey Makes Tibbits-Nutt Permanent MassDOT Secretary

One of the state's top transportation experts is now Massachusetts' top transportation official, a move one advocate praised as "an inspired choice."

bankerandtradesman.com

Looks like a lot of people are very happy about this.

Not discrediting her, but there's a good amount of fluff in this writing, I have to say... The former secretary was not "forced out," and as far as we are aware, there was nothing going wrong or sour with Fiandaca's leadership (with Tibbits-Nutt as their deputy, I should note...) and a lot of things under Tibbits-Nutt's "watch" the past two months couldn't really have been impacted by any changes she made recently - really just keeping the wheels moving was all that was needed.

She has a great resume/background, and she's a good choice, just strange to see accolades falling on someone so soon.

 

[Equilibria]

Not discrediting her, but there's a good amount of fluff in this writing, I have to say... The former secretary was not "forced out," and as far as we are aware, there was nothing going wrong or sour with Fiandaca's leadership (with Tibbits-Nutt as their deputy, I should note...) and a lot of things under Tibbits-Nutt's "watch" the past two months couldn't really have been impacted by any changes she made recently - really just keeping the wheels moving was all that was needed.

She has a great resume/background, and she's a good choice, just strange to see accolades falling on someone so soon.

Agreed. There is no indication the prior Secretary was "forced out". It is true, however, that Tibbits-Nutt's accolades have to do both with her performance as Undersecretary and with her service on the FMCB and Board of Directors under the last administration. She's not in any sense new to the agency.

 

[ritchiew]

The former secretary was not "forced out," and as far as we are aware, there was nothing going wrong or sour with Fiandaca's leadership

That's fair to say we don't know that she was "forced out." But she did suddenly quit after less than eight months on the job. I think she was the shortest serving Transportation Secretary ever. There was absolutely zero explanation at the time and no one has said anything since, as far as I know. She left in basically the most suspicious way possible. An article like should should be more careful, but it does seem like maybe she was forced out.