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

JeffDowntown said:
This coordination has Eng's management written all over it. Historically these would have been separate shut downs.

MassDOT: Sorry we have to shut the Worcester line for the bridge replacements. Eng: CR folks -- what work can you complete during this forced shutdown? Get it done.
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The MBTA falls within MassDOT so, wouldn't MassDOT be responsible for coordinating with it's own internal agencies and god forbid the cities and towns it serves? The endless bottlenecking and alternative route bottlenecking and alternative mode bottlenecking would feel purposeful except that these agencies are so stuffed with nepo hires that it's obviously a lack of ability.
 
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Tsquare2001 said:
The MBTA falls within MassDOT so, wouldn't MassDOT be responsible for coordinating with it's own internal agencies and god forbid the cities and towns it serves? The endless bottlenecking and alternative route bottlenecking and alternative mode bottlenecking would feel purposeful except that these agencies are so stuffed with nepo hires that it's obviously a lack of ability.
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Yes, it SHOULD be a normal course of business. But historically coordination has been very poor.

Dotted lines on org charts do not mean people actually talk to each other.
 
www.wcvb.com

14-year-old girl struck, killed by MBTA commuter train

A teenager was struck and killed Thursday night by a commuter rail train in Worcester.
www.wcvb.com www.wcvb.com
MBTA police said a group of teens were trespassing on the tracks of the Framingham-Worcester line around 8 p.m. near Sunderland Road and Atlas Street in the Grafton Hill section of Worcester when the incident happened.
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www.nbcboston.com

Teen driver hurt in car, train collision in Hingham, police say

A teenage driver was hurt when they drove a car onto MBTA Commuter Rail tracks and collided with a train in Hingham, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, T officials said.
www.nbcboston.com www.nbcboston.com
The driver, who is 17, is expected to survive the crash after being taken to a local hospital, according to the the MBTA Transit Police. No one on the train was hurt.

The driver, who hasn't been publicly identified, had driven around working safety devices on Summer Street and hit the side of the train, police said. They didn't share why the driver is suspected to have driven around the devices.
[...]
The MBTA Commuter Rail said in a post on X that Greenbush Line passengers would be accommodated by shuttle buses between East Weymouth and Greenbush due to the police activity.
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www.telegram.com

After girl's death, Worcester urged to seek money for fencing near railroad tracks

City manager directed to apply with MBTA.
www.telegram.com
Following the death of a 14-year-old girl who was struck and killed by a commuter train on June 26, the City Council is urging City Manager Eric D. Batista to apply with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for fencing to be placed along all major railroad crossings throughout the city.
Councilor-at-Large Kathleen M. Toomey, who wrote the order, said that if the city were to be approved for the fencing, the expenses would be covered by the MBTA, not the city.
An amendment to Toomey's order also urged the MBTA to conduct a railroad safety education program in city schools.
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There aren't any grade crossings in Worcester on the Commuter Rail, so I'm not really sure where they want this fencing to go.
 
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themissinglink said:
There aren't any grade crossings in Worcester on the Commuter Rail
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Maybe they are just trying to get all crossings, including the P&W + CSX crossings? I have no real explanation besides that, and even they don’t have many crossings,
 
CheapLeak said:
Maybe they are just trying to get all crossings, including the P&W + CSX crossings? I have no real explanation besides that, and even they don’t have many crossings,
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P&W is the only one who has crossings in City of Worcester. And most of them are 10 MPH because of yard limit approaches.

I suspect this councillor isn't the sharpest tack assuming free MBTA money will solve the problem effortlessly.
 
It's surprising that there haven't been any official proposals for infill stations at Newton Corner or Montvale. Building infill stations in dense, underserved, inside-128 neighborhoods should be a higher priority.
 
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themissinglink said:
It's surprising that there haven't been any official proposals for infill stations at Newton Corner or Montvale. Building infill stations in dense, underserved, inside-128 neighborhoods should be a higher priority.
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There's an ongoing long-term planning study going on at MassDOT for Newton Corner that's supposed to be looking at it, though the main thrust of the study is just improving that horrible Pike interchange and its effects on the neighborhood. The public meetings so far have gotten a number of comments about the need for one, so hopefully they keep prodding around it.

Woburn and Stoneham kind of have to get their advocacy in gear for Montvale to get on the board. Right now there's nary a peep from either town about getting better transit access to their respective downtowns, including for bus improvements. The T isn't going to hold the pom-poms for them, so they really need to get loud about it.
 
www.boston25news.com

Town of Abington calling on MBTA to help address safety issues at railroad crossings

In one recent incident, all seven crossings in town failed at once, forcing police officers to reroute traffic for an extended period of time, the town said.
www.boston25news.com www.boston25news.com
The Town of Abington is requesting that the MBTA address safety concerns regarding the train crossings in the town.

Abingtons said in a statement Wednesday that there have been 35 incidents involving malfunctioning crossing gates, including “gates that failed to lower when trains approached and gates that remained down long after trains passed.”
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www.wbur.org

Wire sets fire to MBTA signal hut, disrupting commuter rail service

Commuter rail operator Keolis said the schedule adjustments on the Franklin/Foxboro and Providence/Stoughton lines are temporary and could change over the course of what could be several weeks of repairs.
www.wbur.org www.wbur.org
The downed catenary wire ignited a key signal bungalow at Read Interlocking where the Franklin/Foxboro Line splits off from the mainline near Hyde Park Station. Amtrak maintenance crews are working closely with the MBTA and Keolis to assess the damage and make necessary repairs," Keolis said Sunday.

Starting Monday, all inbound Franklin/Foxboro Line trains will bypass Forest Hills, Ruggles and Back Bay stations. Passengers who typically get off there are advised to either transfer to an inbound Providence Line train at Readville, or remain on the train until it arrives at South Station and then either transfer to an outbound train or take MBTA subway service.

After 9 a.m. each day, all inbound Franklin/Foxboro Line trains from Forge Park will originate at Franklin Station and Forge Park passengers are advised to arrive early to take a shuttle bus to Franklin Station. And the 6:58 a.m. Foxboro Line train to South Station will now start its trip from Walpole Station.
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IMG_7671.jpeg

Very blurry from a scuffed train window on my way home but it looks like there's full depth track construction going on at Widett Circle which i can only assume is for future BEMU storage and layover. This is just before (south of) the Amtrak maintenance shed
 
HelloBostonHi said:
Construction is apparently starting on the new Foxboro station, proving that when we actually want to get something done we don't have to spend years planning for it:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1953834467455389980
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Nope. See 2 posts up. It's related to a signal bungalow at Readville that got fried when a live overhead wire came down on it. The service disruptions are to open work windows for making repairs.
 
There are a few things that didn't make any sense about this: why the bustitution from Forge Park to Franklin, and why after 9am? I don't see what that has to do with either project. How much will be done at Foxboro before the repairs are made? Apparently they already had a contractor lined up. Why not finish the double-tracking between Walpole and Franklin while they're at it?

Here is the PDF schedule for this week, and here it is for next week.
 
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