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For the sake of humoring the T’s planning decisions, what if in order to speed up the circumferential service progress the “Gold Line” is in fact an FRA-spec BEMU/EMU between West Station and Chelsea? In a pros/cons argument, wouldn’t this be more enticing in the short term compared to a light...

She did, but Amtrak is now stepping in to say that they would like to use that space for layovers.

It looks to be an old bridge deck with a tactile pad slapped on it. The tops of wide flange steel beams are typically embedded in a cast-in concrete deck like that for a more robust connection. Plus it’s easier to install formwork that way.

There really needs to be a new type of messaging (or new messenger) to get people excited for this type of project, and transit projects in general. Looking at the sentiment for the BHA bus lanes, for example, and you hear the same old tropes about traffic concerns and that adding travel lanes...

It will happen. We'll see how successful the program is, but I guarantee we will see BEMU's rolling by 2028

Definitely a great argument for preserving Columbia jct as-is. What happens when the regional rail tracks need to be doubled with a new platform at JKF, though? Is there enough room for all of that without taking additional land?

Very intriguing idea! Looking at this more, I think this would work very well with a de-interlined (or redX as previously discussed on this forum) red line. Say you keep the Ashmont branch on the existing alignment to Alewife and send the Braintree branch up the yard leads at Columbia Jct...

Here’s to hoping at least one of those massive boulevards (looking at cattle dr) has a dedicated transit median for bus and later light rail. I agree, though, that massive boulevards should certainly be limited in this new neighborhood. I would think only 1 road going E/W and 1 N/S should have...

To be fair to the healey admin, the north draw project is crucial to north side expansion. That’s not to say the price tag isn’t a hard pill to swallow, but at least they and the congressional representation have worked hard to get that funding secured. With or without a NSRL, that is needed

I think the “grand” scheme of things is that the grand junction will be out of service during construction and necessitate either the Ayer detour or SSMF. The new bridge they referenced is probably the flyover that will be needed to connect the grand junction alignment to the Worcester line over...

Would CSX be willing to give up their access to GJ? Not sure how often it's used by them but the study seemed to indicate that was more of a roadblock than CR ops.

The former Lowe's lot is the site of the currently under construction Quincy bus maintenance facility:

Don't you need contactless payment in order to have all door boarding? I would assume they start out with contactless boarding at the front of the bus for a while and then they activate the rear door terminal

One issue I see past haymarket is the pinch between state st and the blue line tunnel roof. I’m not sure if the grade exceeds 3% but it’s pretty darn close. There’s also the vertical curve right at the pinch which could cause issues for trains. I believe the photo in the linked post is of the...

It should still be possible to use a TBM beneath the roadway portion of the tunnel

This is an interesting idea! And welcome to the forum, it’s always good to hear fresh ideas on topics that have long been discussed on this board. Having said that, I have a few thoughts. 1. It’s possible you’ve already considered this, but the central artery tunnel is too steep for FRA grade...

I believe the issue, as F-Line had previously stated, is that the Type 10s can’t physically fit within the inner loop of Heath St. I believe they can on the outer loop without stretching into the road but I could be wrong.

Here’s a great aerial showing (from R to L) the construction of both the Veteran’s road bridge (since demolished) and the extant rail bridge, followed by the previous rail bridge. You can clearly see the original southbound wye ROW and the junction towards the center of the old rail bridge.

I think the construction of the Veterans Memorial Bridge necessitated the severing of the southbound portion of the original wye, so they had to realign to the current wye configuration. It also looks like there was never a northbound leg of the wye in the current configuration.