Regional Rail (RUR) & North-South Rail Link (NSRL)

JumboBuc said:
It was a student class project.
Click to expand...
Whether it was or wasn't, the study was upselled by an absurd degree by a sitting local Congressman last June who teased with snippets from the report in a wall-to-wall local press junket...and then the whole thing dropped completely off the face of the earth. Moulton himself hasn't made any statement whatsoever about NSRL since that June '24 media blitz...not even when his own state's delegation member Steve Lynch slagged off on NSRL publicly last November. Wouldn't that have been a perfect time to show the full math as a rebuttal? We got nothing instead...from Harvard or Moulton...for a full year now. What's going on here?
 
RandomWalk said:
It will resurface magically when he decides to challenge Markey.
Click to expand...
Markey is probably the #2 most full-throated backer of NSRL in the MA delegation, and a lot more year-in/year-out consistent about it than Moulton...who is louder and more passionate about it when he speaks but also has a very nasty habit of disappearing from local advocacy for years on end when he gets the itch to seek attention for himself nationally. If I were Markey I'd be cutting this off at the pass by asking Harvard himself to release the study. We really need it because the crux of it was a grand debunking of Baker's 2019 Reassessment tank job on the costs and steep underselling of NSRL's benefits, and the preview stats circulated by Moulton's office last June had some eye-watering numbers. To have the study's full conclusions published and out in the open is a crucial conversation-starter on how to move forward. We of course don't have any of that for grist the longer it stays vaporware.

I mean, did Moulton jump the gun last year with his flashy press junket and the study really wasn't in a finished-enough state for preview? Was it buried for triangulation purposes when the election results came in? Is any work still being done on it? What happened to it???
 
jklo said:
Trump winning is a good excuse to bury it for the time being. Obvs going to need the Feds to pay for it.
Click to expand...
How does a hostile federal government right now turf a conversation that's going to last way beyond 2028 and probably well into the 2030's? We're at planning square-one, not shovel-ready. If we don't start having the conversation, it's never going to advance from square-one. And besides, we're still talking about Regional Rail and transit decarbonization despite overt threats to zero-out our fed transit funding. Massachusetts ain't running scared. It isn't wrongthought to have a spirited conversation, and this study was supposed to form the basis of that conversation.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
How does a hostile federal government right now turf a conversation that's going to last way beyond 2028 and probably well into the 2030's? We're at planning square-one, not shovel-ready. If we don't start having the conversation, it's never going to advance from square-one. And besides, we're still talking about Regional Rail and transit decarbonization despite overt threats to zero-out our fed transit funding. Massachusetts ain't running scared. It isn't wrongthought to have a spirited conversation, and this study was supposed to form the basis of that conversation.
Click to expand...
You could prob email the Kennedy school and inquire. If it’s not released I doubt they’d release it but worth a shot
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
I mean, did Moulton jump the gun last year with his flashy press junket and the study really wasn't in a finished-enough state for preview? Was it buried for triangulation purposes when the election results came in? Is any work still being done on it? What happened to it???
Click to expand...
Yes, Moulton did TOTALLY overstate the value of his “study” but he’s a textbook “did you know I went to Harvard???” character who will brandish his Crimson Connections at any chance he gets. That’s on brand for him.

The reason this “study” hasn’t been released is that it was a student class project and nothing more. MPP students at the Kennedy School (that is, 20-somethings with an interest in government / consulting) work with a public sector “client” to dig into a topic as part of their coursework. What Moulton was touting was the product of the 20-something MPP students who worked with his staffers (as the “client”) to research / advocate for NSRL. The product wasn’t a professional or expert study, it was a student assignment written by lay-people and nothing more. It doesn’t deserve public release or scrutiny, and everyone involved knows that.
 
FK4 said:
You could prob email the Kennedy school and inquire. If it’s not released I doubt they’d release it but worth a shot
Click to expand...
So, I did just that.

Dear Kyle

Thanks for reaching out. The background is that we did a cost study in 2017. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3028863


Then in spring 2024 my students drafted an updated version, that was a cost-benefit study. The paper examined the costs (updating the prior analysis using FTA data) and potential benefits, also looking at some alternatives. However, the draft was released before we were finished and I have been on sabbatical this past year. I have a team working on it now and hope to publish it by the end of the semester.



I will absolutely let you know when it’s ready.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I dont remember where I got these from but a few more renders of mbta electrified regional rail trains.

IMG_4057.jpeg

IMG_4058.jpeg
 
Interesting, I definitely didnt get them from there, it was a pdf, but cool to know where they originated.

Edit: I realized in apple photos it shows the time and date a picture was saved, so I knew where to look in my internet history. Its from this grand junction transit study from the cambridge redevelopment authority. Thats funny theyre using cities skylines mods for studies, but I guess if it works it works.

 
Last edited:
mass.streetsblog.org

MBTA Projects Get A $850 Million Boost From Fair Share Funds - Streetsblog Massachusetts

The new funding will pay for backlogged "state of good repair" projects, accessibility improvements, and new maintenance facilities for electric buses and trains.
mass.streetsblog.org mass.streetsblog.org
This week, MassDOT's Board of Directors approved an $850 million transfer from the Commonwealth Transportation Fund to the MBTA to finance new regional rail equipment and facilities, Green Line accessibility improvements, and a new battery-electric bus garage at the Arborway.
The funding will come from the state's new "Fair Share" tax surcharge on high-income households. The Legislature's 2026 budget sent $550 million in Fair Share funding to the Commonwealth Transportation Fund (CTF), which helps finance MBTA operations and also pays down the state's transportation debts.
[...]
The new funding will also pay for the T's first new facilities at its Widett Circle property in South Boston, which the state spent a quarter-billion dollars to acquire back in 2022.
The T is planning for "the design and construction of a 6-track electrified layover facility for storage and operation of the Fairmount Line," said Malia. Those new facilities are a necessary component of the T's plans to start running battery-powered trains on the Fairmount Line by the end of 2027.
Click to expand...
 
as02143 said:
After all these transportation and education funding wins, I don't get why we don't bring back more of these wealth taxes - like inheritance taxes on anything above a million dollars needs to go up too!
Click to expand...
#bancars said:
Estate taxes after a certain wealth threshold should be 100%, imo.
Click to expand...
Good thing that the wealthy are known for their pliability when it comes to the government taking their wealth. And their unwillingness to pay clever accountants to avoid new taxes. And their oh-so-famous loyalty to the jurisdiction in which their wealth might be confiscated.

And, of course, we definitely want to encourage the wealthy to spend their money, instead of keeping it in liquid financial instruments like stock and bonds. There's no negative consequences to any of that, its foolish not to do yesterday.
 
DominusNovus said:
And, of course, we definitely want to encourage the wealthy to spend their money, instead of keeping it in liquid financial instruments like stock and bonds. There's no negative consequences to any of that, its foolish not to do yesterday.
Click to expand...
This, but unironically.
 
#bancars said:
Estate taxes after a certain wealth threshold should be 100%, imo.
Click to expand...
The threshold would have to be so high as to only apply to such a small number of people it's not worth it. If it's too low, say goodbye to closely-held businesses; that would just entrench the power of public companies when kids are forced to sell when their parents die. Companies like Market Basket or Polar Beverages would get gobbled up.
Even for a public company, if someone like Bezos, Gates, or Musk were to die and their heirs had to liquidate the vast majority of their holdings in one trade it could create significant market volatility.
Eliminating stepped-up basis would do more to collect revenue and decrease wealth concentration in the short term.
 
Last edited:
DominusNovus said:
And, of course, we definitely want to encourage the wealthy to spend their money, instead of keeping it in liquid financial instruments like stock and bonds.
Click to expand...
That's the very reason for a wealth tax. If they spend, they are lowering what is subject to taxation. We want them to spend, both for consumption and business investment. We do not want them to keep it in existing instruments.
 
HenryAlan said:
That's the very reason for a wealth tax. If they spend, they are lowering what is subject to taxation. We want them to spend, both for consumption and business investment. We do not want them to keep it in existing instruments.
Click to expand...
Almost all of the wealth of the wealthy is invested in businesses in some fashion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top