Gillette Stadium Transportatio Improvements

F-Line to Dudley said:

MBTA to Run Four Event Trains to March 26 Road to 26 Brazil vs. France Friendly Match | News | MBTA

Official website of the MBTA -- schedules, maps, and fare information for Greater Boston's public transportation system, including subway, commuter rail, bus routes, and boat lines.
www.mbta.com www.mbta.com

T releases its schedule for the Thursday, March 26 Brazil vs. France friendly, which is the service tune-up for the real World Cup transit strategy.

As expected, running that much extra service proves to be a bloodbath for regularly-scheduled southside service because of all the vultured trainsets and an oversaturated Franklin-Fairmount mainline. Sucks bigtime to be a Fairmount, Forge Park, or Foxboro (regular-service schedule) rider that day. 60-90 minute Fairmount frequencies and no Readville Station service after 12:00pm, no regular Foxboro service meaning the inner Franklin Line gets decimated, 5 canceled Forge Park trains. If that's just for the tune-up, it's only going to be worse for the real World Cup where most of the Gillette games are scheduled for weekdays.


EDIT: All this disruption is only for 4 Gillette trains. In the real World Cup it'll be 14 to spread the damage that much more widespread. The gains to event ridership can't possibly come close to offsetting the ridership losses from disruption to other commutes.
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Really robbing Peter to pay Robert kind of moment
 
as02155 said:
Really robbing Peter to pay Robert kind of moment
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More like robbing themselves. The T, even with the steep event tix price markup and likely sellouts, is likely to lose more money running the World Cup schedules than it would running regular commuter schedules because of all the max-length trainsets that will be out-of-commission for 4 hours during the game instead of cycling back and forth a few times in regular revenue service and a couple times in the peak direction. The decimation to Fairmount, Forge Park, and regular Foxboro service is already too severe with just 4 round trips for this friendly (plus no Providence game trains at all since these sets will all be blocking the Framingham Secondary to Mansfield laying over during the game). I can't imagine how apocalyptic it's going to be across the whole of the southside when the game trains surge to 14 RT's for the World Cup. If it's all- 8-car bi-levels for these trains, plus 2 standby trainsets, that's 126 cars or 28% of the total active north + south coach capacity diverted to this one special event. Plus 17% of all active north + south locomotives. Only 1 of the 7 scheduled WC games is on a weekend, all 6 weekday games start between 3:00-6:00pm, and 3 of the weekday games are concurrent with Red Sox home games where the Worcester Line already sees heavier-than-usual loading.

Like, seriously, just don't do it at all if the price is going to be nearly half of Purple Line riders having their rush-hour commutes completely and utterly hosed by canceled trains and far inadequate capacity on the ones that do run. This is going to end up a scandal once the service damage bill becomes apparent and the ensuing customer service fallout happens. Unfortunately Keolis has probably already been given blanket immunity for the mass-canceled trains counting against its performance record, otherwise they would've never agreed to it in the first place.
 
I guess the states instructions will be to pretty please just work from home or your vacation home on the Cape.
 
The current NETransit roster indicates 443 active cars (146 flats and 197 bilevels) with 376 required for peak. There are 96 passenger locomotives available with 66 required for peak. (Why are they renting additional locomotives?) Obviously not 100% of those are available at any given moment, but I have to wonder how much of the cancellations are equipment availability (potentially mitigable by shortening sets on other trains, especially since summer is a lighter-ridership time) versus track capacity versus crew availability.
 
The EGE said:
The current NETransit roster indicates 443 active cars (146 flats and 197 bilevels) with 376 required for peak. There are 96 passenger locomotives available with 66 required for peak. (Why are they renting additional locomotives?) Obviously not 100% of those are available at any given moment, but I have to wonder how much of the cancellations are equipment availability (potentially mitigable by shortening sets on other trains, especially since summer is a lighter-ridership time) versus track capacity versus crew availability.
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Available numbers are lagging the rostered "active" numbers by quite a bit because of deferred inspections and repairs. There are bi-levels that've been parked in Somerville on the Cobble Hill track for months because of various ailments, and per Reddit a new string of them has appeared in Beacon Park over the last week. A bunch of cab cars are also out with nicked-up snowplows from the heavy work they've gotten this winter. Per RR.net, on the loco front the first 3 HSP-46's were sent to Wabtec for the rebuild program last week, not due back until December 2028 (!). That's part of the reason why Keolis is leasing a few F40PH-4C's from Rolling Stock Solutions. The long-sidelined GP40MC's in-repair in Rochester are also taking for-freaking-ever to come back because of long-backordered parts. They're definitely stretched thin overall, and weather-related ailments taxing Boston Engine Terminal's shop over the last 2 months hasn't helped with catching up.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
More like robbing themselves. The T, even with the steep event tix price markup and likely sellouts, is likely to lose more money running the World Cup schedules than it would running regular commuter schedules because of all the max-length trainsets that will be out-of-commission for 4 hours during the game instead of cycling back and forth a few times in regular revenue service and a couple times in the peak direction. The decimation to Fairmount, Forge Park, and regular Foxboro service is already too severe with just 4 round trips for this friendly (plus no Providence game trains at all since these sets will all be blocking the Framingham Secondary to Mansfield laying over during the game). I can't imagine how apocalyptic it's going to be across the whole of the southside when the game trains surge to 14 RT's for the World Cup. If it's all- 8-car bi-levels for these trains, plus 2 standby trainsets, that's 126 cars or 28% of the total active north + south coach capacity diverted to this one special event. Plus 17% of all active north + south locomotives. Only 1 of the 7 scheduled WC games is on a weekend, all 6 weekday games start between 3:00-6:00pm, and 3 of the weekday games are concurrent with Red Sox home games where the Worcester Line already sees heavier-than-usual loading.

Like, seriously, just don't do it at all if the price is going to be nearly half of Purple Line riders having their rush-hour commutes completely and utterly hosed by canceled trains and far inadequate capacity on the ones that do run. This is going to end up a scandal once the service damage bill becomes apparent and the ensuing customer service fallout happens. Unfortunately Keolis has probably already been given blanket immunity for the mass-canceled trains counting against its performance record, otherwise they would've never agreed to it in the first place.
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I haven't seen anything about the actual WC matches in June/July yet, but mentions of Providence trains are inconspicuously absent. Do you think there's chance that there will be no trains from Providence to those matches? If not, that's a huge blow for Providence/RI.
 
JumboBuc said:
That's what the Town wants: either money up front or a real binding committment from an entity that will continue to exist long enough to pay them back. The Kraft Group is such an entity, so if repayment is such a sure thing then why doesn't Kraft just front the cash? It's peanuts to them. But Kraft's also not willing to front the money probably because they know there's a good chance that this purported future funding source will never materialize, and now the Town is calling out that exact point.
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Kraft (finally) put up the money:
www.bostonglobe.com

Kraft Group reaches deal with Foxborough on security funding for World Cup games at Gillette Stadium - The Boston Globe

The town's Select Board had refused to grant an entertainment license needed to host games, holding up the process because of potential security costs the town was expected to incur.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

All this drama could've been avoided months ago, but he thought he could win the game of chicken. In the end he lost and the Town won. Good for them.
 
The first 2 world cup games we're scheduled to host happens to overlap with those at Metlife but is there a chance we work out a deal with NJT to borrow a couple of sets of MLVs then they borrow a couple sets of Rotems when its their turn to run event train service to Meadowlands? Notably, NJT hasn't even published any information yet about their service plans, which are described as a "expanded rail service from NYP and stations across new Jersey" connecting to Secaucus - meadowlands trains, plus that BRT thing they're building.
 
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Lrfox said:
I haven't seen anything about the actual WC matches in June/July yet, but mentions of Providence trains are inconspicuously absent. Do you think there's chance that there will be no trains from Providence to those matches? If not, that's a huge blow for Providence/RI.
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That's exactly the case: no Providence-Foxboro trips at all, the only service offered confirmed being from South Station. Getting the trains out of the way of each other after unloading means that the idle sets are going to have to block the Mansfield direction of the Framingham Secondary, making movements to/from that direction impossible because the running track will be used as a de facto layover yard.

Stlin said:
The first 2 world cup games we're scheduled to host happens to overlap with those at Metlife but is there a chance we work out a deal with NJT to borrow a couple of sets of MLVs then they borrow a couple sets of Rotems when its their turn to run event train service to Meadowlands? Notably, NJT hasn't even published any information yet about their service plans, which are described as a "expanded rail service from NYP and stations across new Jersey" connecting to Secaucus - meadowlands trains, plus that BRT thing they're building.
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Considering that any such equipment lend-lease would've had to have been voted on by each agency's Boards in order to happen at all, the window of opportunity for such a thing has probably long since closed for making a June start. Plus it's not like NJT has extra active equipment laying around either that wouldn't decimate their own commutes if taken out of region. They're probably sitting on their own service bloodletting bad news in advance of the event.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
That's exactly the case: no Providence-Foxboro trips at all, the only service offered confirmed being from South Station. Getting the trains out of the way of each other after unloading means that the idle sets are going to have to block the Mansfield direction of the Framingham Secondary, making movements to/from that direction impossible because the running track will be used as a de facto layover yard.
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I was talking to my boss earlier because I wasn't sure of what I can and can not share, and I can tell you this. I work next to the tracks and I have seen test trains (the new geometry car was attached a few months ago) running between Mansfield and the stadium, including earlier this week. I know that the Elm Street, Chestnut Street, and North Street intersections are going to be upgraded, however I don't know about Spring Street and Leonard Street. I was asked to research the Bird Street intersection to see who owned it because the MBTA wanted to get rid of it. They obviously want to speed up the passenger trains on that part of the line and are using FIFA as an excuse to make these upgrades, but it makes me wonder if there is more to it than that. My boss said he was told that the lack of Providence trains is more finger-pointing, though he doesn't know if it's Rhode Island or someone else.

Maybe they could send an earlier train to Foxborough, have it drop off its passengers, and then run down to Mansfield to pick up passengers connecting from a Providence train to go to the stadium? I don't know if it's pie-in-the-sky, but it looks good on paper.
 
Ryanontherails said:
I was talking to my boss earlier because I wasn't sure of what I can and can not share, and I can tell you this. I work next to the tracks and I have seen test trains (the new geometry car was attached a few months ago) running between Mansfield and the stadium, including earlier this week. I know that the Elm Street, Chestnut Street, and North Street intersections are going to be upgraded, however I don't know about Spring Street and Leonard Street. I was asked to research the Bird Street intersection to see who owned it because the MBTA wanted to get rid of it. They obviously want to speed up the passenger trains on that part of the line and are using FIFA as an excuse to make these upgrades, but it makes me wonder if there is more to it than that. My boss said he was told that the lack of Providence trains is more finger-pointing, though he doesn't know if it's Rhode Island or someone else.
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Those crossings are all un-gated with flashers-only. The T probably doesn't want the railroad insurance hit of running through that many un-gated public crossings in revenue service, especially since all of them have now long been eliminated on the Cape Flyer. The Framingham Secondary is Class 2/30 MPH between Gillette and Mansfield Jct., but they probably go slower than that through the 6 un-gated crossings. Some of those very same crossings got their flashers recently upgraded when the line was rebuilt after the state's purchase from CSX, but it was odd that they opted not to install gates when doing that work. Maybe they're just finally getting around to doing closeouts on that years-ago upgrade project.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Those crossings are all un-gated with flashers-only. The T probably doesn't want the railroad insurance hit of running through that many un-gated public crossings in revenue service, especially since all of them have now long been eliminated on the Cape Flyer. The Framingham Secondary is Class 2/30 MPH between Gillette and Mansfield Jct., but they probably go slower than that through the 6 un-gated crossings. Some of those very same crossings got their flashers recently upgraded when the line was rebuilt after the state's purchase from CSX, but it was odd that they opted not to install gates when doing that work. Maybe they're just finally getting around to doing closeouts on that years-ago upgrade project.
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I was told that the three intersections I mentioned are getting crossing gates. Mechanic Street and Cocasset Street already have them. When I was asked to research the Bird Street crossing, I was told that the MBTA wanted to run 60MPH trains through there. I actually measured the speed of the test trains by timing how long they took to go between two points a known distance from each other, and I calculated them to be roughly 27MPH. I remember seeing old plans showing 60MPH from Walpole to the stadium and 40MPH trains from the stadium to Mansfield, but that was well before the state purchased the line.
 
www.boston25news.com

Boston Legacy FC announces free shuttle from MBTA Mansfield Station to Gillette Stadium

Boston Legacy FC is launching a free home match shuttle service from MBTA Mansfield Station on the Providence/Stoughton Commuter Rail line to Gillette Stadium.
www.boston25news.com www.boston25news.com
Boston Legacy FC is launching a free home match shuttle service from MBTA Mansfield Station on the Providence/Stoughton Commuter Rail line to Gillette Stadium.
The service begins March 28 and will be available for home matches at Gillette Stadium, officials said in a statement on Tuesday.
The first day of the shuttle program coincides with Boston Legacy FC hosting the Utah Royals at 12 p.m. on March 28 as part of the club’s Women in Sports match.
Shuttles will drop off and pick up fans at Lot 2 at Gillette Stadium. From there, fans can make their way across Patriot Place and through Lots 3 and 4 to Gillette Stadium.
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I saw the other day in this presentation that they are "testing of the plan to 'recycle' one set via Mansfield to validate run times". I wonder what this means? Today at around 11:30am I saw a test train going south from the stadium towards Mansfield. Usually the test trains go from Mansfield up to the stadium and back a few times a day, but this one apparently went Boston-Walpole-Foxborough-Mansfield-Boston. I didn't see any trainsets after that, so the ones used today stayed at the stadium.
 
Ryanontherails said:
I saw the other day in this presentation that they are "testing of the plan to 'recycle' one set via Mansfield to validate run times". I wonder what this means? Today at around 11:30am I saw a test train going south from the stadium towards Mansfield. Usually the test trains go from Mansfield up to the stadium and back a few times a day, but this one apparently went Boston-Walpole-Foxborough-Mansfield-Boston. I didn't see any trainsets after that, so the ones used today stayed at the stadium.
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Probably trying to cut down on the total number of sets they use by deadheading the first game-train revenue set back to Boston via a Foxboro-Mansfield-Boston deadhead to send back out a second time as one of the last sets. And then maybe the reverse sequence for the return trips. They may be hard-up on trainsets to spare with the number of locomotives and cab cars that have to be vultured from elsewhere while there's a burgeoning shop dead line of winter-related car/loco ailments to tend to.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Probably trying to cut down on the total number of sets they use by deadheading the first game-train revenue set back to Boston via a Foxboro-Mansfield-Boston deadhead to send back out a second time as one of the last sets. And then maybe the reverse sequence for the return trips. They may be hard-up on trainsets to spare with the number of locomotives and cab cars that have to be vultured from elsewhere while there's a burgeoning shop dead line of winter-related car/loco ailments to tend to.
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According to this article, that's exactly what they're trying to do. Ok, that makes sense.

I don't know if this would work for the World Cup, but I was looking at the schedule for previous event trains, specifically the Morgan Wallen concert that happened on Friday, August 22. On that day, the train from Boston arrived at 3:40pm, the gates opened at 4:30pm, and the concert began at 5:15pm. There was no Providence service. But what was stopping them from doing something like:
  • Arrive at Foxborough at 3:40pm and dropoff passengers.
  • Leave Foxborough (deadhead) at 4:00pm.
  • Arrive at the end of the Framingham Secondary at 4:12pm and wait for the 4:20pm outbound train to leave (there were no Amtrak trains at that hour).
  • Arrive at Mansfield's outbound platform at 4:25pm.
  • Passengers on the regularly-scheduled train from Providence arrive at 4:28pm.
  • Leave Mansfield at 4:40pm (15 minutes turnaround).
  • Arrive at Foxborough at 4:52pm, well before the 5:15pm concert start?
I did notice that current event service takes 45 minutes to get from Foxborough to Mansfield. But if the event trains can average 25mph (roughly how fast the test trains are going), it would take only 12 minutes one way. Are the passenger trains restricted in a way the test trains are not? Of course, the other problem with this is that Boston passengers would've had to wait for the train to go down to Mansfield and back, and Providence passengers would have to wait in Mansfield for the next train. Maybe this belongs in the crazy pitches forum?
 
ritchiew said:
Apparently MBTA plans to charge $75 for train tickets for World Cup games. (I think that's round trip, but the article is actually phrased a little weird.)
www.nytimes.com

Train tickets between Boston and Gillette Stadium to almost quadruple in cost during World Cup

According to sources familiar with the planning, individuals will be charged around or even more than $75 per-person for a return ticket.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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Good! They should be charging near charter prices for this event whose public benefit is illusory.
 
ritchiew said:
Apparently MBTA plans to charge $75 for train tickets for World Cup games. (I think that's round trip, but the article is actually phrased a little weird.)
www.nytimes.com

Train tickets between Boston and Gillette Stadium to almost quadruple in cost during World Cup

According to sources familiar with the planning, individuals will be charged around or even more than $75 per-person for a return ticket.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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That's nuts. Deal with a limited schedule, on a long ride, crammed into the cars, and if you're lucky maybe the disabled and/or elderly will get seating. But if it's like American Football no seats just crammed with a bunch of loud bigoted drunks.

No thanks. I'd rather rent a car with a bunch of friends or use a friend's car and split gas and parking. UGH MBTA
 
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