Fairmount Line Upgrade

sm89 said:
Also that petition is from January 2017, so it's been a year.
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That's the way the MA legislature works. Almost all laws passed in 2018 will be bills introduced in January 2017. There is a 2 year session and if your issue is not emergency legislation, it generally has to be introduced by January 20, 2017. (See the schedule for the session at https://malegislature.gov/ClerksOffice/House/Deadlines )
 
Found this (probably shown before)... Good stuff. EMU's to South Station and Seaport, and big buildup at the stations on the FL would be awesome.

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2017/07...odel-for-commuter-rail-but-its-not-there-yet/


When the final infill station opens in 2019, the one-way end-to-end trip time will be 31 minutes. DMUs could do the same trip in 25-26 minutes. Electric trains, like the ones used on the Long Island Railroad, Metro-North, and any number of modern regional rail services around the world, could do it in 18-19 minutes. They accelerate faster, can run slightly faster on curves, and require less schedule padding since they break down less often. But the state has not been willing to commit to investment in electrification.
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^^^

I was under the impression that nearly the entire ridership of Fairmount Line is based upon the last two stops - Readville and Fairmount, based upon that stunt to make the line free earlier. And the Farmount stop presumably only has some ridership because Hyde Park is Zone 1 versus 1A.

Electrification and more frequent service is a must if you want the College Kids to move in there.
 
Blue Hill Avenue station is nearly complete as of last week - I expect it's very close to opening.

640px-Blue_Hill_Avenue_station_from_Blue_Hill_Avenue%2C_December_2018.JPG

640px-Blue_Hill_Avenue_station_from_Cummins_Highway_%281%29%2C_December_2018.JPG
 
Buried deep in this article is a tidbit that Blue Hill Avenue station is expected to open in February.
 
It just looks sketchy as fuck. I would never wanna walk down that thing at night.
 
LOL. Structurally fine. But periodic assassinations are possible.

Joel N. Weber II said:
What prevents running 15 minute headways along the South Station to Readville segment with some trains extended to Foxboro and others terminating at the Readville yard?
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You'd probably need double track all the way to Walpole is my guess.

But you've only got it to Norwood.
 
odurandina said:
LOL. Structurally fine. But periodic assassinations are possible.



You'd probably need double track all the way to Walpole is my guess.

But you've only got it to Norwood.
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No. The Foxboro full-build study says that doing 16 round trips to Foxboro on top of the 16 daily round trips to Forge Park only requires a 1.3 mi. extension of the DT from Norwood Central to the foot of Windsor Gardens station, and a crossover installation at Franklin Layover so one of the existing yard tracks can be used as a passing track during peak periods when the yard is mostly empty. Inexpensive, non-invasive stuff.

Implementing rapid Readville short-turns requires: (1) relocating the Fairmount platform off the single-track Fairmount-Franklin connector and rebuilding it as a double-track full-high island about 200 ft. north so one platform berth is always available while any train is changing ends on the other, and (2) a switch reconfiguration so freight trains coming on/off the connector turn out ahead of the platform and never interfere with a short-turning train.


Interlining Franklin+Foxboro permanently via the Fairmount Line like the RER study specs so 30-min. all-day Franklin/Foxboro headways end up delivering Fairmount its 15-min. all-day headways doesn't require any major track investments other than the above. At most they'd maybe spec a new crossover installation just to backstop schedule resiliency, but otherwise the capacity is all there.
 
Blue Hill Ave looks ready to open, they just put up a bunch of new photos on the project page today, scroll down to featured photos and click through https://www.mbta.com/projects/blue-hill-avenue-station, I haven't seen that type of LED signage at an MBTA station before either, wonder if it will be any more useful than the current ones which tell you absolutely nothing except that a train is approaching.

Speaking of which, why don't commuter rail stations have arrival boards, places like Ruggles are well equipped with these red LED boards but all they ever say is "Train approaching please remain behind yellow line" and over half the time a train doesn't even come after they say that... Other countries have managed to fit all the necessary info (platforms, arrival time, delays) on boards that size. https://ak8.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/22484608/thumb/1.jpg
 
^ roslindale station has something in between, I think… The LED sign looks like the ones at Ruggles, but it does say, for example, “next train in five minutes”. Agree that a digital board that had maybe the next two or three trains would be nice to have.
 
FK4 said:
^ roslindale station has something in between, I think… The LED sign looks like the ones at Ruggles, but it does say, for example, “next train in five minutes”. Agree that a digital board that had maybe the next two or three trains would be nice to have.
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That's similar to the ones at all Old Colony stations: scrolling marquee, and garbled computer voice reading off what's scrolling. They've got to be >15 years old at this point.

Unlike the rapid transit ones that were all a single installation, there are several generations worth of CR displays out in the wild. So it leads to an inconsistent customer experience. With most of them being significantly older and less flexible than the subway displays, which are more easily upgradeable for adding features. Part of the inconsistency is that data bandwidth was spotty across the Purple Line when most of those varying-gen displays were installed. That's gotten much better now with more extensive lineside fiber optic installs and the new availability of PTC radio towers that would be able to donate a tiny slice of their encrypted bandwidth to sending station messages.

Given that so many of the CR displays are nearing end-of-life hardware replacement I would not be surprised if there's a major upgrade + standardization effort going to be launched soon after the big system modernization study is complete. Even the new displays at Blue Hill may end up giving way to something more dynamic in a couple years.
 
Station looks like a good start. Its missing an enclosed waiting area with restroom and coffee shop, but it will do for now
 
Sure is hit or miss isn't it. Perhaps the MBTA should give towns leeway for
installing some comfortable seating and shelter.
Furthermore, the people have every right to demand it.
 
Getting these stations complete is atleast a first step if maybe someday we were to get DMU’s. Best to get em done now, plus even just for the commuter rail its nice to have them finally finishing even if its vastly inappropriate for a neighborhood this dense and within the city limits to be accessed by CR. The stations are here now though for a better alternative.
 
odurandina said:
Sure is hit or miss isn't it. Perhaps the MBTA should give towns leeway for
installing some comfortable seating and shelter.
Furthermore, the people have every right to demand it.
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I get this idea, having a simple station without amenities is maybe not so attractive to perspective riders. I know you've spent some time out in LA, have you ever ridden on Metrolink? Many, perhaps most of the stations are massive complexes, often odes to politicians' egos. But the stop spacing is terrible, the schedules are terrible, and the geographic gaps between lines are huge. Contrast that to MetroNorth, where many of the stations are even less fancy than MBTA. Which would you rather our system most resemble?
 
HenryAlan said:
I get this idea, having a simple station without amenities is maybe not so attractive to perspective riders. I know you've spent some time out in LA, have you ever ridden on Metrolink? Many, perhaps most of the stations are massive complexes, often odes to politicians' egos. But the stop spacing is terrible, the schedules are terrible, and the geographic gaps between lines are huge. Contrast that to MetroNorth, where many of the stations are even less fancy than MBTA. Which would you rather our system most resemble?
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This is a ridiculous question.
 
HenryAlan said:
I get this idea, having a simple station without amenities is maybe not so attractive to perspective riders. I know you've spent some time out in LA, have you ever ridden on Metrolink? Many, perhaps most of the stations are massive complexes, often odes to politicians' egos. But the stop spacing is terrible, the schedules are terrible, and the geographic gaps between lines are huge. Contrast that to MetroNorth, where many of the stations are even less fancy than MBTA. Which would you rather our system most resemble?
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MetroNorth since their stations have people.
 
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