I had an idea: Segmented Red Line Routes. I think this would reduce the travel times on the braintree branch
A Ashmont-Alewife (Unchanged)
B Braintree - South Station (or Charles/MGH? somehow room would be made on the Longfellow Bridge renovation for a pocket track)
C Alewife - South Station
Plenty of people travel from the Braintree branch to Cambridge, though- I would think this would be a significant reduction in convenience for them, at little operational gain, even in F-Line's scenario where we build duplicate stations.I had an idea: Segmented Red Line Routes. I think this would reduce the travel times on the braintree branch
A Ashmont-Alewife (Unchanged)
B Braintree - South Station (or Charles/MGH? somehow room would be made on the Longfellow Bridge renovation for a pocket track)
C Alewife - South Station
I very much like that idea for the blue line, but it seems a like the turn coming from government center through Charles/MGH and down towards the back bay is a little tight. It makes sense on your map, but when you look at the actual geography, at least to me, it seems to tight. I could very well be wrong? What about starting from government center and heading straight down beacon st? I could see a walkway between the park st stop and a blue line stop and the state house growing park st as the transit hub.
I know for reasons previously mentioned, the routing of the rapid transit through to riverside isn't all that feasible, but what about going the other way with it, and converting this proposed blue line to LRT?
Just a random thought, and I'm guessing it'd be unlikely due to a lack of space, but what about sending the Blue to Brookline Village and creating a Green Line transfer station with a D/E Connector?
Uh, something like this:
This is what I thought could be done. I don't think it's too steep a turn really considering how big the turn-around at Bowdoin is already.
... I know, Beacon St. is gonna be pissed...
I don't think Brookline is doable. Tunneling up a steep hill to Coolidge Corner is a royal pain, even at relatively shallow cut-and-cover. The load-bearing difference on the walls is different on an incline, and this incline is a mile long. The per-foot costs are yuckier than level cut-and-cover, and the demand really doesn't merit HRT on the C.
This is what I thought could be done. I don't think it's too steep a turn really considering how big the turn-around at Bowdoin is already.
... I know, Beacon St. is gonna be pissed...
Solid point combat, looks feasible, at least from a trajectory stand point, and probably serves more people by your routing than straight down beacon st from gov't center.
But never going to happen, because like you said, Beacon St. will never go for it.
^ I think the most realistic approach is a tunnel-box along a narrowed Storrow, then bore down into Kenmore starting around Mass Ave under Charlesgate. That creates very minimal disruption to the Back Bay neighborhood.
Are you talking about the a Blue HRT on the current D ROW?