Brattle Loop
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- Apr 28, 2020
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We're fortunate that the two ends of the OL run parallel to CR trains that pull into Back Bay and North Station, with the Green Line providing train service through the core. The NEC is probably running at capacity but is there any room on the north side up to Melrose to run additional smaller short-turn trainsets? Like if we already had 15-min urban rail frequencies from Forest Hills & Malden Center inbound then we would have a reasonable alternative. But with only shuttle buses, anyone that can afford to drive/uber will do so and I can imagine I-93 and Columbus/Huntington ave being a complete parking lot not only during rush hour but off-peak as well.
The Western Route is single-track from the Eastern Route junction near Sullivan all the way past Oak Grove, which puts a ceiling on the frequency of moves through there. Someone with better operational knowledge (F-Line?) might be able to tell us if it'd be possible to run a shuttle with those kind of frequencies at all through there. (The single-track problem is actually worse than that, because there's not a ton of crossovers, so if you were actually sending a shuttle up into Melrose it'd have to either wrong-rail from Wyoming to wherever or use the hand-throw crossover at Melrose Highlands, which would slow things down more.) Much as it'd be good if they used the infrastructure they had more to deal with these kind of problems, it's a separate if related problem that the inner Haverhill line isn't set up to run as an Orange Line replacement even as well as it could be.