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It’s important to be honest about the tradeoffs here. The question is, would you rather have: 15 minute service to Riverside and basically nonexistent service to anywhere in the MetroWest or Central and Western Mass because those 4 tph are most of the slots. At best something like hourly...

Hot take: I like that, as long as you understand it won’t be at least as fast as Acela. Here is my crazy transit pitch, but reasonable in a world that assumes NSRL is built: Portland - Providence service layered between Amtrak and Commuter Rail. I’ll call this one route of a potential New...

Oh I see! You are arguing specifically for frequent service from an inner belt park and ride for political buy-in. I missed that! If that’s your aim, why not add an infill stop on the Worcester Line in Weston at Recreation Rd (which I’ll call Weston/128 Station here). Here are some advantages...

I don’t follow. How did you come to the conclusion that you can’t you get 15 minute headways to the Newton stops with higher frequencies to Framingham and Worcester? There’s no long-term reason why adding a Riverside branch would increase frequencies to the Newtons. I understand if there was a...

The cons were mostly discussed. What are the pros of routing to Riverside instead of just running more Newton-stopping service to Framingham and/or Worcester?

I’d certainly support MGH donating to this project, but I think it sets a bad precedent. The state is the entity that should be funding adequate transit to a major hospital in the urban core of the largest city. If funding mechanisms need to change to make that happen, so be it, but it’s a...

My understanding is that the limitation for headways is vehicles and personnel. The goal of the Orange Line Transformation was for 4.5-minute headways, so I believe the infrastructure can theoretically support at least that.

Based on what? Infrastructure constraints? Downstream slot availability on the NEC? Demand?

Given that this is reasonable transit pitches, and not crazy transit pitches, I will reiterate what @TheRatmeister said. That’s an unreasonable transit pitch based on cost-benefit. Acela trains will reach top speeds of 165 mph (265 km/h) when new trains enter service, and 186 mph (300 km/h) in...

In my estimation, Boston - DC is the perfect Acela route, while other overlapping services (like the Downeaster and the Northeast Regional) could be extended. That’s how it works on the DC end of the route, at least.

This is great! Thank you so much.

Exactly! “It’s better to bring the Green Line to Regional Rail rather than the reverse.” That being said, and in the interest of this not being a ‘Crazy Transit Pitch’ thread, what does a full-build service pattern without the inclusion of a Northborough Branch look like? The best I came up...

That’s the problem. If you’re going to bump something, it would be the Riverside service, IMO. Which leaves you with two options: Status quo of the Riverside terminus of the D-Branch and no direct transfer between the Green Line and Worcester Line, but plenty of indirect options: 53...

Under the service you’ve provided, wouldn’t GLX to Auburndale provide far better service and connectivity than CRX to Riverside? Rather than 1 tph connecting Green and Common Rail service, you’d only be limited by the number of D-Branch trains per hour. Additionally, it frees up another...

Because the previous iteration of the plan included a Lamartine St extension to Heath St. Look up thread and it’s in all of the renderings before the latest round. Thanks! I don’t really have a horse in this race. I certainly see BTD’s reasoning, though. My gut reaction is that I might like...

Based on this it looks like the newest update no longer includes through-traffic for automobiles on Lamartine St. Is this true? Does anyone have more information?

Landsdowne -> Back Bay is a big culprit here. Anyone who rides the Worcester Line regularly can attest to the fact that it absolutely crawls over that stretch. It's scheduled for 7-10 minutes, which I'm sure some of that has to do with buffers for Keolis to have a better OTP and for extended...

I plan on providing a more in-depth answer if I get a chance later, but I can say that the Green Line system averages 10.0 mph (including dwell time) over the past month and the recent historical maximum was 12.6 mph.

You’ll notice there is no disagreement from me that Lynn makes sense for rapid transit. But I disagree with your assessment that “Arlington stands out as a community more deserving of rapid transit than Quincy.”

It was the policy on the D-Branch, too. I was a regular D-Brancher in the early-to-mid 2000s and I thought that policy ended in 2007, but I certainly believe it if it actually ended in 2006. My memory is fallable, afterall.