Search results

I guess they like complaining about traffic, then...maybe they'll reconsider a few years down the road. It would be nice if the T could offer a somewhat improved service by then--I'll bet there would be more enthusiasm about it if it did.

Ha, clearly SOMEBODY has never been to Amherst and Northampton! Northampton is TINY, and you can walk absolutely anywhere. Amherst is tiny too, but it has the added benefit of free buses. Now, I agree that commuter rail sucks in its current form (locomotives?!), but so long as there is...

Re: Driven By Customer 'Service' Parte Dos Do many people in Roxbury or Dorchester actually own their houses, or do most rent? I can see how higher property values would kick out some renters, but wouldn't it be good for any homeowners?

If there's enough room for a four-lane highway, why not use that space to quadruple-track and electrify the portion between Porter and North Station? That would make Green Line operations along the corridor much simpler, and extend service beyond Union Station to Porter, with its Red Line...

Whoa, who says people in the sticks HAVE to drive? I mean, they have to drive nowadays, but (as a resident of Western Massachusetts), I can safely say that we'd be much more partial to MBTA spending if we could get some respectable fixed-guideway transit around here. Springfield to Northampton...

Clearly you're not paying attention to the well-established economic, environmental, urban planning, and industrial cases for HSR (well, for rail projects in general). Shall we go over them again? Creates millions of jobs in construction and subsequent commercial development Improves mobility...

You know what I always wonder about HSR critics? They must be the only people in the world who, when listing examples of the technology they oppose, inevitably come up with a list of incredible, nation-building success stories. HSR doesn't just work in other countries, it's AMAZING in other...

I don't know how lucky Amherst will be in the future, but I know that commuter rail will be coming to Northampton and further north, terminating in Greenfield or Brattleboro. If anything, this Northampton commuter rail project might be done before the T extends service to Springfield...but I...

Re: Fall River/New Bedford Commuter Rail Not sure what the figures look like now, but the 2003 PMT says that the T could electrify the entire commuter rail system for $2 billion. So $1.4 billion would cover 70% of the network--totally worth it in my book.

Re: Fairmont Line Upgrade Or hey, even EMUs. We already use them on the subways, so why not start building overhead wires on the Commuter Rail too? Very simple to do, and can improve both acceleration and top speed. EMUs in Japan--non bullet trains, by the way--are set to run at 160 km/h, or...

Agreed. If you want a really good ride, try Japan.

The point isn't to be able to ride a high-speed train from coast to coast, but instead from a major city to nearby major cities. Not all parts of the map have the same priority, but in general, the routes connect major cities. The fact that they also connect one coast to the other is...

Plenty: I think the biggest problem with the current national rail system is that it's laughably sparse. We might not be as densely populated as, say, Germany or Japan, but really, we're hardly as spread out as Amtrak would have you believe. Here's my proposal for Massachusetts: Really...

I never mentioned laying a "1 mile tunnel," I'm talking about building on an existing ROW--one which, I might add, already has track down (although it would need a bit of upgrading). Something like this: The yellow follows a ROW with track down, and the light green follows a ROW with no track...

True, street running is unpopular--but if it were rail being built, maybe it could be done in segments. The first segment could be, say, Airport (Blue Line) to Kendall, since that uses an existing ROW. With that first step done, work could begin on tunnels into Boston and a tunnel to Logan...

I doubt light rail would cost THAT much...according to the 2003 PMT, electrifying the entire commuter rail system would only cost 2 billion--even less than the Urban Ring. Considering how much the commuter rail is used now, I'd say it's a worthy investment.

Re: Fall River/New Bedford Commuter Rail Not to argue against your post (a damn good one, for the record), but most Japanese railways operate on a profit, but that's mainly because they already have such great coverage and service, plus they also make money on the side with other businesses...

Wouldn't fly; trains can't handle hills. Existing rail lines, plus the odd modification (tunneling to avoid a winding mountain pass), are already at a good grade. On top of this, few interstates run through the town or city centers, something which most railways already do.

Re: T construction news So their intentions are good, but why wait? Isn't it already pretty dense? And besides, surely more people will want to live and develop there if there's already a subway, right? Doing it the other way around is crazy--it'll take far longer, and the constant small...

Re: Silver Line Phase III This is a pretty valid point; it seems like people are eager to do the sensible, reasonable thing (electrification, in this case) until it affects them directly. But I'm not sure your logic works here--people probably object to trackless trolleys because they aren't...