ceo
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I can't quite tell from the photos, but isn't that the same elevator that was there already? (And aren't they going to have to add another one now?)
General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)
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The EGE
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Assuming these 2019 plans are still accurate, the temporary headhouse has its own elevator separate from the old one:
The final configuration will have redundant elevators, two sets of stairs, and one escalator:
The outbound headhouse is also getting redundant elevators as part of the 325 Main Street (Google) project.
bigpicture7
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The MBTA Finance Subcommittee meeting today had some early insights into what the T is referring to as "One Time Investment Opportunities" using Federal COVID Relief funding.
Key Takeaways: $500M in discrete investments, to include:
1) GL train protection program accelerated by a year.
2) Funding for Demo of Lynn Garage & replacement with surface parking, begin redev process.
3) Additional Funding for Bus Facilities: full BEB @ Quincy, full BEB Design @ Arborway, North Cambridge BEB retrofit.
4) $145M set aside for future local match for federal funding.
5) Newton Commuter Rail Station 100% design, CR electrification planning.
Key Takeaways: $500M in discrete investments, to include:
1) GL train protection program accelerated by a year.
2) Funding for Demo of Lynn Garage & replacement with surface parking, begin redev process.
3) Additional Funding for Bus Facilities: full BEB @ Quincy, full BEB Design @ Arborway, North Cambridge BEB retrofit.
4) $145M set aside for future local match for federal funding.
5) Newton Commuter Rail Station 100% design, CR electrification planning.
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JeffDowntown
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I would assume there is no plan to touch Bowdoin Station until the final plans for Red-Blue connector to Charles are worked out.
WestMedford
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Also any significant improvements could trigger ADA requirements
......Bowdoin = Probable Dead Man Walking
Bowdoin station - Wikipedia
"..... The proposed Red–Blue connector would extend the Blue Line west to a Red Line transfer at Charles/MGH station, with Bowdoin station likely eliminated. "
Check out the MBTA's renderings of the proposed Red-Blue connector
The MBTA is envisioning a new underground Blue Line station with escalators to the Charles/MGH Red Line station.
www.boston.com
For years, state officials have been discussing whether a Red-Blue connector would involve eliminating Bowdoin, which is located roughly a quarter-mile from the Government Center MBTA station, which also serves the Blue Line.
Another option involved relocating Bowdoin’s platform while maintaining its existing mezzanine and head house. However, in a 2018 memo, state officials wrote that eliminating the station was the preferred option. The recent renderings also do not show any connection from the new station to Bowdoin...."
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F-Line to Dudley
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Destroyed, more precisely. The alignment would be straightened to eliminate the loop curve, meaning the westbound track would plow straight through the current wedge platform.
Looking at the photos brings up a question that I have long wanted to have answered but wasn't important enough until now.
The lighting in the stations has the label that it is 600VDC. Meaning are they actually using traction power for lighting? I also noticed on the older rolling stock the heaters have 600V on them as well. That I can understand using traction power for, but the lighting is a strange one. I could see maybe using 208V AC three-phase that many office buildings use, but either this is just something peculiar about the T or they just had more stickers to use up and that's what they ended upon.
The lighting in the stations has the label that it is 600VDC. Meaning are they actually using traction power for lighting? I also noticed on the older rolling stock the heaters have 600V on them as well. That I can understand using traction power for, but the lighting is a strange one. I could see maybe using 208V AC three-phase that many office buildings use, but either this is just something peculiar about the T or they just had more stickers to use up and that's what they ended upon.
F-Line to Dudley
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Yes...if it's 600V stickered, it's on traction power. Usually the stations themselves are on grid power (which means the power goes out when there's a local outage), and the tunnel lighting is on traction power. But some fixtures like trackbed lighting within the stations and elsewhere (sometimes secondary fixtures on egresses) are wired to the traction feed for redundancy's sake in case of a local outage. There isn't a great deal of rhyme or reason to which specific station fixtures are wired that way.
I guess that would be a good way to see if the third rail is hot. Lights out = no traction power.
I've actually seen traction crews throw a chain with wooden handles to short out the power in Chicago. That was some fireworks that goddamn almost blinded me when I was standing watching. I've also seen something similar but an actual metal bar that shorted the track in Munich, and Frankfurt has what looks like a single-ended jumper cable that clips to the catenary and a metal block that is attached to one of the rails.
Amid questions about cost and continued diesel use, T breaks ground on new Quincy bus garage - The Boston Globe
The projected cost of the $372 million facility “should set off the alarm bells at the MBTA finance department,” a former state inspector general said.
www.bostonglobe.com
QUINCY — Building a new 350,000-plus-square-foot, three-story bus maintenance facility here to replace one of the T’s oldest bus garages officially got underway Monday.
Governor Charlie Baker, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority General Manager Steve Poftak, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and other state and local officials gathered inside the abandoned Lowe’s in Quincy to celebrate the groundbreaking of the $372 million facility they said marks a new era of electrified bus transit.
But transportation and environmental advocates are raising questions about the eye-popping cost of the facility and the T’s decision to use diesel components for its electric buses there.
“When other transit agencies in high-cost parts of the country are able to build facilities at a significantly cheaper cost, it can’t help but raise eyebrows about whether taxpayers and farepayers are getting good value for their money,” said Chris Dempsey, a former Massachusetts assistant secretary of transportation and current Democratic candidate for state auditor.
The MBTA isn’t the first transit agency to build a new bus facility for electric buses. In recent years, Washington, D.C., Montreal, Minneapolis, and others have embarked on similar projects as transit agencies race to cut emissions from fossil fuels and avoid the worst effects of climate change.
In Massachusetts, the transportation sector accounts for the largest portion of the state’s emissions, and electrifying all kinds of transportation is central to the state’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
Advocates said it’s important for the MBTA to look at other agencies to make sure it is getting the best bang for its buck as it overhauls bus garages. The MBTA estimates that the Quincy facility will cost $372 million, including $210 million for construction and $44 million for real estate, according to a breakdown provided by MBTA spokesperson Joe Pesaturo, and will be able to accommodate 120 buses............
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/09...first-episode-talks-boston-mayoral-candidate/
$210 million for construction costs comes to $600/SF.
Bus facilities range a bit in cost per square foot. That's about double what you'd typically see, and 3x the lowest you will ever see - it's up there, but not the most expensive... LA and SF have some steep projects.
The cities they list - DC, Montreal, Minneapolis as similar projects:
DC has no cost figures that I can find on what I'm suspecting to be a very expensive overhaul. A shame considering it would be closest of the three to construction costs we're seeing in Boston.
Minneapolis: $428/sf
Montreal comes to $964,000/bus space system-wide, Boston comes to $1.75m/bus space for this project.
Bus facilities range a bit in cost per square foot. That's about double what you'd typically see, and 3x the lowest you will ever see - it's up there, but not the most expensive... LA and SF have some steep projects.
The cities they list - DC, Montreal, Minneapolis as similar projects:
DC has no cost figures that I can find on what I'm suspecting to be a very expensive overhaul. A shame considering it would be closest of the three to construction costs we're seeing in Boston.
Minneapolis: $428/sf
Montreal comes to $964,000/bus space system-wide, Boston comes to $1.75m/bus space for this project.
While I know the photo is ceremonial, but it looks so dumb to me.
Ribbon cutting is also ceremonial but it theoretically can act as a declaration when a project is "done done"
But the ground breaking just looks like a mess for others to clean up. Considering the ceremony likely started from a practical act that a project starts when the shovel hits the ground. The tradition could at least been some real dirt where the act could have theoretically mean one shovel less of work for the real workers. I mean if I was elected official, I would want that - though I imagine only someone like the governor or the senator could say that and make it happen while anyone else would just be a great to create friction.
Ribbon cutting is also ceremonial but it theoretically can act as a declaration when a project is "done done"
But the ground breaking just looks like a mess for others to clean up. Considering the ceremony likely started from a practical act that a project starts when the shovel hits the ground. The tradition could at least been some real dirt where the act could have theoretically mean one shovel less of work for the real workers. I mean if I was elected official, I would want that - though I imagine only someone like the governor or the senator could say that and make it happen while anyone else would just be a great to create friction.
Jeez, taking a second glance at this, I was really giving the T the benefit of the doubt, but this is the $190 million 3 level subterranean bus storage and maintenance facility for Montreal...
Dont forget that figure will end up closer to $400M than $200M when all costs are totaled up
JeffDowntown
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Is part of the high cost the fact that the T is building a combo electric and diesel storage and maintenance facility, so they have to include maintenance elements and support for diesel, electric and hybrid buses. Wouldn't a pure electric facility be inherently cheaper on a per-bus basis?
The T is planning to build one of those to replace the current Arborway garage, so we'll be able to see pretty soon.