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The technical specs for the GLX claimed 50 mph speeds between Medford/Tufts and Science Park, which implied but didn't explicitly say that the viaduct would support those speeds. The messaging from the T the last few years has been that 25 mph was the plan; it's not clear whether that was always...

Union Station served trains from seven rail lines. Which one of them didn't actually enter Worcester? What other rail line entered Worcester but didn't stop at Union Station? The seven lines were the Boston & Worcester; the Boston & Albany; the Providence & Worcester; the Norwich & Worcester...

Looking at the 2019 NTD profile from here: https://www.transit.dot.gov/ntd/transit-agency-profiles/massachusetts-bay-transportation-authority Commuter rail accounted for 26% of operating expenses, 36% of revenue, and 32.3% of capital expenses (which tends to skew toward major projects). Farebox...

Last call for any guesses! I'll post the remaining answers tonight.

Riverside, you're very close on #2. You've got one incorrect and are missing at least one. WormtownNative, full credit on 3 and 5b, and half credit for 6. The towers were removed in 1926; the modern towers are fiberglass to avoid the vibration issue. Tallguy, correct on all counts (I believe)...

I'm doing research on Worcester Union Station to improve the Wikipedia article before the second platform is completed, so today's quiz takes us to Wormtown. Union Station served trains from seven rail lines. Which one of them didn't actually enter Worcester? What other rail line entered...

It's worth remembering that the stops aren't randomly placed - almost all of them are at significant cross streets where much of their ridership will be walking from. Moving stops to midblock, as was done on the B, is often counterproductive by making longer walks for people coming from both the...

November 2023 accessibility update is out. Just as with the last update, lots of schedules have slipped. Forest Hills design slipped a year to mid-2024 completion Ruggles has actually progressed; it's to be advertised in December with construction beginning April 2024. Newton Highlands has...

Not to detract from the very cool proposal, but it never appears to have been planned beyond Kellogg's sketch. To my great frustration, there's almost no other information available about the proposal other than that single page.

I could see a case for through-routing some New Haven-Springfield-Boston trains and Portland-Boston trains. They seem like they could be a good match on frequency and possible destination pairs. The trick would be ensuring the timed connection at New Haven while also having a good connection in...

Answering this question from the Red/Blue thread. Wonderland to Lynn: As discussed elsewhere, there's a couple different ways to go for this segment. It's a tradeoff between how far you continue along the BRB&L alignment towards Point of Pones (dealing with minor right-of-way encroachment)...

Newton Highlands has them because only a section of the platform is raised (a temporary fix in 2019 when it needed to be used as a terminal), so the train has to be positioned properly or it's not accessible at all.

Rumor has it that Massport wants passengers coming from the rental car center to always have a waiting bus - so they make each bus wait there until the following bus arrives. It certainly seems to match my experience.

South Attleboro is served by four routes: RIPTA 1 and 35, and GATRA 11 and 16. It's the outer terminal for all except the 11. Pawtucket/Central Falls is served by ten RIPTA bus routes, including the 1. At the end of the day, I think the two stations serve different enough markets to coexist...

The station was designed from the beginning to be part of the development: https://www.mbta.com/news/2010-11-15/patrick-murray-administration-city-boston-break-ground-yawkey-station-project

I'm pretty sure the polls for the Orange and Red livery also got skewed by someone sending in thousands of votes.

Red has an advantage on speed and direct access to Kendall, as well as capacity. Both modes would probably top out at around 6-minute headways (if the Red Line also goes to Arlington). The only grade crossings before downtown Waltham are Park Street and Sherman Street (Green only), Brighton...

This is April 1983 weekday boardings (from the inside cover of Boston's Commuter Rail: The First 150 Years). Ridership was substantially lower at that time: about 10,700 northside and 9,400 southside. Saxonville and Topsfield definitely stand out as the strange ones; all the other ones have...

It was considered in the 2010 DEIR, but unfortunately not recommended due to cost. I agree it would be valuable; unfortunately, there's no one powerful advocating for it.

Notice of Project Change released today. Nothing surprising, basically just a summary of the design changes made since the original environmental documentation. https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/2023-09/2023-10-02-red-blue-connector-notice-of-project-change.pdf