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Looks like bustitutions this weekend and next on the Lowell Line are for switching over to the new "High Line" bridge in the Inner Belt: https://www.mbta.com/projects/rail-bridge-replacements/update/high-line-bridge-work-continues-august-16-17-and-23-24

I'm glad to see them getting out of cramped Fellsway, but worried about Lynn getting closed. That's a lot of deadheading - 10 miles to Central Square Lynn, versus 1.6 from Lynn Garage.

There were apparently preliminary discussions about leasing ACS-64 Sprinter locomotives: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/03/21/take-train-mbta-mulling-electric-locomotives/kWekh87ZPI7IKKr3EjmIUJ/story.html I suspect we'll see this pop up again in a few years when the new Airo trainsets...

Looks like it's both.

The 47 and CT2 get absolutely hammered at the Memorial Drive rotary. I suspect ridership on them is very sensitive to subway reliability - even a half-functional subway might be faster than spending 20 minutes at the rotary. Also, I assume you mean >1,000 daily boardings, not >10,000?

The southern entrance is not accessible (and only serves the SB platform) - both surface elevators are at Winter Street near the north end of the station.

I think it's as much a fear of the historic status as any actual barriers presented by it. There will probably be some additional hoops to jump through as far as materials etc, but it's by no means impossible. Part of the reason it's fallen by the wayside may also be the (perceived)* proximity...

But those purple labels are saying the fare gates will be in front of the new bus terminal entrance, which makes exactly zero sense. Either they're placed incorrectly, or the right hand and left hand are truly not speaking to each other.

Automated lane enforcement can only help so much if municipalities aren't building bus lanes (or are removing them). Of the routes mentioned above (1, 22, 23, 32, 66, 111, and SL4), only the SL4 has more than ~20% of its route miles on bus lanes. The 23, 32, and northbound 111 have none at all...

None of the reports from that era explicitly say whether or not if would be. (Everything from the 2008 station siting memo to the 2013 FEIS said seasonal.) From a practical standpoint, it's probably in the $10-20 million range to do. Standard platform and canopy, access walkway and emergency...

I have to wonder how much is simply due to the number of grade crossings, both as collision points and as access points for trespassers and suicidal people. A lot of the lines in Florida and California didn't have much population density until midcentury, so they missed out on the periods...

Looks like changes to 3 platforms versus previous documentation: Hawes IB, St Paul OB, and Dean IB get moved nearside (all matching how they currently are). Unfortunate, but not the end of the world. It only means a loss of TSP benefits at those three signals in one direction; all other TSP...

No easier, for certain. It's a narrower trench, so you probably have to single-track while building the platforms. The 4 miles between Waltham and Hill Crossing would be a long and fragile stretch of single track unless you add new crossovers. The curve doesn't make it easy either. In the...

A State Pier station was looked at in the 2008 station siting: https://www.nae.usace.army.mil/Portals/74/docs/topics/SouthCoastRail/VolIV/Appendix3.1CStation.pdf It was recommended at that time, but only as a seasonal station similar to Battleship Cove. While it's a bit closer to the downtown...

Some neat slides from today's board presentation for the 35th anniversary of the ADA: https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/2025-07/6.%20FINAL%20Board%20Presentation_Honoring%2035th%20anniversary%20of%20the%20ADA.pdf There's still a ways to go, and getting to 100% is going to require...

I fully agree with R-Line style service as a near-term ridership-priming strategy. Unlike converting to LRT, converting a regular bus corridor to BRT can be done piecemeal (by upgrade or by segment) with benefits from each piece.

This just doesn't seem like a good use case for LRT. There are really only three service reasons to use LRT over BRT: Capacity: If buses at high frequency can't handle the loads, LRT might be able to. Around 1000 passengers per hour per direction is the point where buses start having difficulty...

My (extremely subjective) classification was based on how much the municipalities could reasonably add housing now for transit-only or transit-primary lifestyles - and not just based on commuting to Boston, but also locally. Merely dropping an apartment building next to an isolated commuter rail...

Natick Center station opens over the next two weeks. Inbound platform on July 21, outbound on July 28. It's the highest-ridership non-accessible commuter rail stop - and the last with >500 daily riders. https://www.mbta.com/projects/natick-center-station-accessibility-improvements

What benefit would that have over the existing special trains that run directly to the stadium?