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Strike averted, hopefully.

Kind of surprising that the Downeaster is one of the routes the diesel/catenary hybrid trainset is specced for. Are they assuming the T is going to electrify the Lowell and Haverhill lines?

One issue with the Boston-Sherbrooke-Montreal proposal is that it can't use the planned preclearance facility at Gare Centrale, because it has additional station stops in Canada. Which means it would also have to be timed to hit the border crossing at a reasonable hour and not at 3am.

Timing would be tricky. The Maple Leaf leaves NYP at 7:15am and arrives at ALB at 9:50. The Late For Sure Limited takes 5:20 BOS-ALB, so a Maple Leaf Boston section would have to leave BOS at 4:40am. Or they could push the whole thing back a couple hours, which would have it arrive at TOR around...

So here's a new one: an outfit called "Fondation Trains de nuit" in Quebec is pushing for rail service from Montréal to Sherbrooke and continuing overnight to Boston. The article says they're negotiating with Genesee and Wyoming, so that sounds like it would go over the Saint Lawrence and...

So, wait, are you going under Boylston/Essex St from Boylston station, or reusing the abandoned Tremont St tunnel and looping around under Marginal St? If the latter, Essex St doesn't figure in at all, the tricky part is getting into the Transitway alignment under Atlantic Ave. I-93 northbound...

There's a preserved RDC at the Bedford end of the Minuteman Bikeway, but I'm pretty sure it's not one that historically ran that route.

I have been told that the Community Path ROW will still be needed for construction access for a couple months after the Medford Branch opens. Maybe they'll be able to get whatever work is involved there done during the shutdown, but I'm not holding my breath.

The biggest difference between Scheme Z and what was built is under Scheme Z, all traffic between the Central Artery tunnel and Storrow Drive crossed the river and looped back around. That was replaced by the two tunnels that run under the North Station tracks.

Go look up the Inner Belt and Southwest Corridor proposals for an example of what can happen when a state transportation agency has the power to stomp all over local communities (though they were thwarted in this case).

If you're pushing for a rail-with-trail along the Fitchburg, keep going to South Acton to hook up with the ARRT. Dare to dream big. :) Might even be doable; looks like there's 20ish feet of ROW on either side of the tracks.

I don't get how this can be so much cheaper. You still have to get rid of the spoil and install lining.

This sounds like the voice of experience.

I would be astonished if they don't do that, on every train. Particularly the long-distance trains, where a seat might turn over several times in one trip.

What's worse is trying to turn left from Alewife Brook Parkway onto Broadway, in either direction, where there is inexplicably no exclusive phase. If you don't floor it the second the light turns green you're just going to sit there for the entire cycle.

The former Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital is in the way of connecting those two tracks. I dug up this post from F-line explaining the history. It's not stated, but I'm pretty sure Tracks 11 and 12 can only work if a third drawbridge is built (which is planned, along with replacing the other two).

Doubtful. The Medford branch is supposed to open at the end of the summer, and the Community Path probably won't open for some time after that, as they'll continue to need it to access the ROW.

Yeah, I don't how a project as major as electrification could possibly be justified for an event that only lasts a month.

Yeah, if "rebuild the McGrath Highway bridge" becomes part of the equation, a whole lot of things suddenly become easier.

The problem with the North Washington St alignment is that's the freight connection for the Lowell Line.