Crazy Transit Pitches

Apologies if it’s already been said, I’m new here and couldn’t find it, but what are thoughts on the feasibility of transforming the Needham branch into an independent light rail line or shuttle from Needham Heights to Forest Hills? Similar to how the function of the Ashmont-Mattapan Line.

The branch length is about the same as the west surface portion of the GL-D branch and there could be infill stations at Baker St, Millenium Park, Greenfale Ave, and Rt 135. I feel as though this would better serve to connect Needham, WR, and Roslindale to each other and Downtown Boston. Having it be light rail would likely result in faster or similar trip times downtown despite needing to transfer at Forest Hills with the OL improvements and as the current diesel locomotives are kneecapped by the close stop spacing. It could even be renovated as a cross-platform transfer with the OL.

As it’d be a chore and costly for the city to electricity the entire branch (despite it conveniently connected to the NEC), I’d propose CAF Urbos 3 supercapacitor tram technology with overhead pantograph fast charging at the stops along the line. The MBTA already has a standing relationship with CAF and could likely strike a decent deal on this. On top of all that there’s enough space for a maintenance yard and charging facilities in the former Wye (I think) at Needham Junction.

Ideally this would extend north from Needham Heights to reconnect with the D branch between Eliot and Newton Highlands but I doubt anyone would want the greenway removed to allow that to happen.
Roslindale and West Roxbury already strongly rejected a Rail Vision proposal for high-frequency Needham Line CR shuttle with forced transfer at Forest Hills. The loss of the one-seat to Downtown and the Ruggles bus hub was their line-in-the-sand. So no, they'd never accept a dinky out there. It's pretty clearly Orange Line extension or bust.
 
Roslindale and West Roxbury already strongly rejected a Rail Vision proposal for high-frequency Needham Line CR shuttle with forced transfer at Forest Hills. The loss of the one-seat to Downtown and the Ruggles bus hub was their line-in-the-sand. So no, they'd never accept a dinky out there. It's pretty clearly Orange Line extension or bust.

What about two southern branches to the OL. One on the Needham Branch and another that veers off to Readville. They could split before Roslindale Village there’s enough room for a flyunder there (maybe). The Readville Branch could roughly follow Poplar St. cutting across under Metropolitan Ave and serving the golf course (wealthy golfers would like that) and then under Hyde Park Ave or something.
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What about two southern branches to the OL. One on the Needham Branch and another that veers off to Readville. They could split before Roslindale Village there’s enough room for a flyunder there (maybe). The Readville Branch could roughly follow Poplar St. cutting across under Metropolitan Ave and serving the golf course (wealthy golfers would like that) and then under Hyde Park Ave or something.View attachment 32034
The only place the lines would split is Forest Hills, because of the Northeast Corridor serving up a surface ROW to avoid the heinous cost of that much tunneling. And the NEC doesn't have space, because Amtrak has claimed all 4 track berths from FH to Readville as necessary for future frequency expansion. If you're going to tunnel anywhere, it's under the NEC...and I doubt the costs are worth it for that when 15-minute service on the Fairmount Line serves Readville and Hyde Park plenty well.
 
Apologies if it’s already been said, I’m new here and couldn’t find it, but what are thoughts on the feasibility of transforming the Needham branch into an independent light rail line or shuttle from Needham Heights to Forest Hills? Similar to how the function of the Ashmont-Mattapan Line.

The branch length is about the same as the west surface portion of the GL-D branch and there could be infill stations at Baker St, Millenium Park, Greenfale Ave, and Rt 135. I feel as though this would better serve to connect Needham, WR, and Roslindale to each other and Downtown Boston. Having it be light rail would likely result in faster or similar trip times downtown despite needing to transfer at Forest Hills with the OL improvements and as the current diesel locomotives are kneecapped by the close stop spacing. It could even be renovated as a cross-platform transfer with the OL.

As it’d be a chore and costly for the city to electricity the entire branch (despite it conveniently connected to the NEC), I’d propose CAF Urbos 3 supercapacitor tram technology with overhead pantograph fast charging at the stops along the line. The MBTA already has a standing relationship with CAF and could likely strike a decent deal on this. On top of all that there’s enough space for a maintenance yard and charging facilities in the former Wye (I think) at Needham Junction.

Ideally this would extend north from Needham Heights to reconnect with the D branch between Eliot and Newton Highlands but I doubt anyone would want the greenway removed to allow that to happen.
OL extension either to W Roxbury or a mostly single track OL to either Hersey or Needham Jct(possibly just to the north near the hospital)
 
OL extension either to W Roxbury or a mostly single track OL to either Hersey or Needham Jct(possibly just to the north near the hospital)
The Needham Cutoff ROW (W. Rox Jct. to Needham Jct.) was designed for 2 tracks everywhere except for the Route 128 overpass. No need to single. Just plop second bridge decks on 3 pre-designed spans (Charles River, Cutler Park path, and Route 135) and rebuild the 128 overpass as a 2-tracker.

Ridership's probably not there at Greendale since the GL stop @ Highland will be the bigger car destination, but there are certainly no technical challenges for going anywhere between W. Rox and Needham Jct.
 
The Needham Cutoff ROW (W. Rox Jct. to Needham Jct.) was designed for 2 tracks everywhere except for the Route 128 overpass. No need to single. Just plop second bridge decks on 3 pre-designed spans (Charles River, Cutler Park path, and Route 135) and rebuild the 128 overpass as a 2-tracker.

Ridership's probably not there at Greendale since the GL stop @ Highland will be the bigger car destination, but there are certainly no technical challenges for going anywhere between W. Rox and Needham Jct.

Looking at it less from a park n ride standpoint I was thinking Greendale as it’s a shorter walking distance to a couple schools and the reservation. Hersey also already serves as a good car destination stop. Though I was thinking about it as LRT rather than OL extension originally so the stop spacing with Greendale might be a bit tight.
 
Since this is CRAZY Transit Pitches, can we squeeze a single track branch off the D alongside the Upper Falls Greenway? Once it crosses the Charles restore it to double track until Needham Heights where it then runs single track in the Needham ROW until Needham Jct. Or just end it at Needham Heights. It can be only a few tph that run on it, every 20min, but give people the option to get to Brookline, Fenway-Kenmore, and the LMA much quicker if that’s their end destination. It’ll be sure to get some cars off the road.
 
Looking at it less from a park n ride standpoint I was thinking Greendale as it’s a shorter walking distance to a couple schools and the reservation. Hersey also already serves as a good car destination stop. Though I was thinking about it as LRT rather than OL extension originally so the stop spacing with Greendale might be a bit tight.
Problem is OLX has never been studied past W. Rox, whereas it's been studied many times over to W. Rox. Prior to the ROW being salted over with development of private homes, Dedham was considered the optimal terminus. So we don't really know how Greendale or Hersey would fare at 4-minute Orange headways. They're certainly amongst the least-dense environs anywhere on the rapid transit system, comprising of mostly single-family homes on half-acre lots with little commercial and the golf course chopping things up. It's certainly nowhere near as dense as the Green Line Newton-Needham corridor through Downtown to Needham Junction. You could have a 128 parking sink at Greendale (but probably not Hersey), but the usage would be abysmal on the off-peak with most of those trains running nearly empty. And I doubt it would be full for cars on-peak because the Gould St./Highland Ave. stop on the Green extension is so much denser and :15 Regional Rail to Dedham Corporate and Westwood will suck up demand from the south.

I think you build to VFW Parkway (the storage yard and electrical hookup would need to go by Home Depot regardless) in a package deal with the GL branch to Needham Jct., then maybe study if a Greendale +1 encore is worth it.
 
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Since this is CRAZY Transit Pitches, can we squeeze a single track branch off the D alongside the Upper Falls Greenway? Once it crosses the Charles restore it to double track until Needham Heights where it then runs single track in the Needham ROW until Needham Jct. Or just end it at Needham Heights. It can be only a few tph that run on it, every 20min, but give people the option to get to Brookline, Fenway-Kenmore, and the LMA much quicker if that’s their end destination. It’ll be sure to get some cars off the road.
Green Line dispatching has enough variability in it that single-track would not work. The meets are just too unpredictable, and delays would readily ensue even on sparse-ish headways. Upper Falls had lots of freight sidings back in the day, so accommodating the trail with double-track is doable. The last Newton study did envision such a rail-with-trail setup, so the feasibility is more or less proven.

I also don't think you'd ever run headways so completely sparse. There's a lot of demand in Newton-Needham because of all the redevelopment going on there. At worst you'd simply take the existing D 6-minute headway and fork it after Newton Highlands to 12-minute headways on each branch. Then simply keep the peak going on the off-peak so branch frequencies never drop off too too much. It would work for the outer D because a lot of the park-and-ride audience for Riverside and Woodland would disperse to Highland Ave., as well as Waltham/128 if the Fitchburg Line got :15 Regional Rail service. Plus there's the Regional Rail consideration for a Riverside short-turn boosting the frequencies. Eliot and Waban do far and away the lowest ridership on the D so won't be unduly punished, and you would have the option to move Eliot a couple blocks east to the branch split if that's a desired keep for the full frequencies.
 
Upper Falls had lots of freight sidings back in the day, so accommodating the trail with double-track is doable. The last Newton study did envision such a rail-with-trail setup, so the feasibility is more or less proven.

Would that have lengthened the existing trail? I couldn't find that study in a quick Google. The current one isn't that useful because it isn't that long, doesn't cross Route 9, 128, or the Charles, or have direct connections to any other trail. It's kind of isolated in the corner of Newton the way it's built now.
 
Problem is OLX has never been studied past W. Rox, whereas it's been studied many times over to W. Rox. Prior to the ROW being salted over with development of private homes, Dedham was considered the optimal terminus. So we don't really know how Greendale or Hersey would fare at 4-minute Orange headways. They're certainly amongst the least-dense environs anywhere on the rapid transit system, comprising of mostly single-family homes on half-acre lots with little commercial and the golf course chopping things up. It's certainly nowhere near as dense as the Green Line Newton-Needham corridor through Downtown to Needham Junction. You could have a 128 parking sink at Greendale (but probably not Hersey), but the usage would be abysmal on the off-peak with most of those trains running nearly empty. And I doubt it would be full for cars on-peak because the Gould St./Highland Ave. stop on the Green extension is so much denser and :15 Regional Rail to Dedham Corporate and Westwood will suck up demand from the south.

I think you build to VFW Parkway (the storage yard and electrical hookup would need to go by Home Depot regardless) in a package deal with the GL branch to Needham Jct., then maybe study if a Greendale +1 encore is worth it.
That would be my preference. I just mentioned single track to Hersey because, while F-Line is technically correct(although 128 bridge abutment doesn't look like a double) the ROW goes through a marsh.
 
Since this is being mentioned: Is there still any hope of Orange to Dedham if we ignore cost concerns? Or is that dream completely dead now?
 
Since this is being mentioned: Is there still any hope of Orange to Dedham if we ignore cost concerns? Or is that dream completely dead now?
There would be some property takings, probably also some political pushback, but I don't know that it couldn't be done with enough political will. The takings would probably add a $10-$15 million to the cost, that's about it.
 
There would be some property takings, probably also some political pushback, but I don't know that it couldn't be done with enough political will. The takings would probably add a $10-$15 million to the cost, that's about it.

I assume it would follow the original West Roxbury ROW and terminate before the Dedham mall behind Ocean State? Terminating at least at Dedham Center and closer to 95 would be best but I don’t see how it would navigate the shopping centers in the way unless tunneled. I’m all for removing the rear parking lots though.
 
The other option for dealing with the mall would be an elevated structure leading from there to Dedham Center, but I think you are likely correct that the mall itself would serve as the end point.
 
Since this is being mentioned: Is there still any hope of Orange to Dedham if we ignore cost concerns? Or is that dream completely dead now?
It's dead. The ROW along Belle Ave. is completely obliterated by new-construction housing thanks to the T selling off that land about 15 years ago.

Dedham never wanted it, anyway. They're a weirdly NIMBY town and longstanding transit desert.
 
That would be my preference. I just mentioned single track to Hersey because, while F-Line is technically correct(although 128 bridge abutment doesn't look like a double) the ROW goes through a marsh.
The 128 bridge was a circa-1955 addition so they didn't bother future-proofing. All of the original 1911 ROW grading and bridge abutments were laid out to support double. The marsh wouldn't be any environmental challenge because the ROW is perched high up on an embankment that's DT-width throughout.
 
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Would that have lengthened the existing trail? I couldn't find that study in a quick Google. The current one isn't that useful because it isn't that long, doesn't cross Route 9, 128, or the Charles, or have direct connections to any other trail. It's kind of isolated in the corner of Newton the way it's built now.
Probably not. South of 128 the ROW is a little more densely abutted. But the real connectivity of that trail hasn't been realized yet because it's the freight spur that crosses Needham St., snakes around the back of New England Business Center, crosses the Charles, and ends at 3rd Ave. that ends up being the more useful link. They haven't yet built a trail down there. That one would connect at Kendrick St. to the Cutler Park trail system, and probably would get lots more utilization. The 'mainline' trail is pretty much going to be along the freight spur, with the twin ends of the current trail becoming glorified 'entrances'.
 
Yeah, they tried 34-to-Dedham-Square in Spring 2022 and cut it right back in Summer 2022. It lengthened 34 headways by a good amount so clearly the ridership wasn't worth it in Dedham.
I always thought that was an operational issue. To turn the buses around, they need to go down Washington St all the way to Elm St, then come back via Boston Providence Hwy (at least that was the case when I took it). Too much dead mileage.

The bus redesign does have a 34 extension to Legacy Place.
 

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