Search results

Yes. Well, it depends on what frequency you want, but it's easy to accommodate with a 15-minute peak frequency. Given curves, the Worcester Line is optimistically 130 km/h territory, which means that the stop penalty for a FLIRT with level boarding is on the order of 1 minute. You need 2 minutes...

First, as BussesAin'tTrains says, the map doesn't work; you need to make it public. Second, there's a Swiss slogan, Elektronik vor Beton. Or, as some German activists who are pissed at Munich's S-Bahn second tunnel's cost overruns suggest, Organisation vor Elektronik vor Beton. First, fix the...

Lol at political correctness. The MBTA decided that replacing SL4/5 with a light rail extension of the Green Line would only lead to 130 new daily transit riders, and as a result such extension would be cost-ineffective. That's how interested the local power brokers are in adding transit service...

Sure, but they still have better performance. Electric cars do not need multiple gears, and this gives them much higher acceleration rates. Electric car manufacturers are mostly targeting the green crowd, just like hybrid manufacturers, but there's also a niche for high-performance luxury.

It depends on the construction costs ;). At $250 million/km, a subway from JFK-UMass to Harvard, hitting Dudley and Ruggles and going under Harvard Avenue, would be precious. Could maybe extend to Sullivan, but there's no equivalent of the 1 and 66 buses there. Boston can't currently build...

Re: Fall River/New Bedford Commuter Rail This. Total route length is about 80 km, and cost is now up to $2.3 billion, about $30 million per km. This means that the MBTA is spending about the same amount of money on a slow diesel line that most European countries would spend on greenfield 300...

Re: North-South Rail Link I'm flattered, thanks! That's what I'm thinking, too. The state's going to have to cough up the majority of the funds. A transit-friendlier Congress could keep it down to 50% plus a few extras it won't fund. (I don't think Congress should be funding rolling stock...

That's strange; usually, electric vehicles are better at climbing hills. Usually if a city's kept some trolleybuses it's because of hills, as in San Francisco, and not because they converge on an underground terminal as at Harvard Square.

Vancouver has small community shuttles; the drivers on these minibuses are paid less than on full-size buses.

Not sure if it's been discussed before, but: railstituting the Silver Lie. The MBTA had a study examining it as well as a horde of other ideas, like opening new commuter rail stations or extending various commuter lines one stop farther out, but it sandbagged the Washington Street light rail...

Re: North-South Rail Link The ferries aren't actually all that patronized. It's Europe, not China - the main rail routes are fairly short-distance, and if there are rail ferries on the way, people will just fly. We're the region of Ryanair and EasyJet and Norwegian Air Shuttle, not just the...

Re: North-South Rail Link Okay, then it won't happen, because Amtrak has no reason to care. And if it does offer the NSRL, I will be happy to point out that it's engaging in agency imperialism, of the same kind that led it to propose Gateway (which is of limited use for it - it's much more...

Re: North-South Rail Link I have not. How steep would the slope be? I know there are stations on slopes on the subway in New York, so the maximum slope is more than zero. Access shafts are an issue, yeah. That's why the cost isn't zero. (It's a pretty big problem at Fulton Street in New York...

Re: North-South Rail Link Hi! I saw this thread in blog referrer stats. I wrote something but it got eaten. A few comments: 1. Having just one South Side portal at Back Bay is a nonstarter. Through-running is useful mainly for local service, not longer-range service. In Paris, the RER is more...

Was it a Charlie Card or Charlie Ticket? I never used the Card on the Providence Line, or saw anyone else use it, but maybe we just didn't know it was possible. Or maybe it was too long ago (I lived in Providence 2011-2012).