General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

They use those intermittently to test trains, I could imagine them upgrading those to bring them up to snuff to do more extensive testing on the incoming new rail cars.
 
Chmeeee is correct. The test track is being rehabilitated in anticipation of the arrival of the pilot #14 cars.
 
falcon42 said:
What is going on with the Orange Line tracks between Sullivan and Community College southbound? Last 2 weeks or so the train comes to a complete halt after Sullivan and goes at a painfully slow roll the entire way to Community. Its been brutal.
Click to expand...

Wide gauge issue from marker 423 to 411, requires tie work
 
winstonoboogie said:
Wide gauge issue from marker 423 to 411, requires tie work
Click to expand...

Similar slow speed issue SB between Tufts and Back Bay, I think it's even more painful.

Before Community College, I just like to pretend that were on a roller coaster and just reaching the peak before we speed away.
 
How long is this work supposed to take? Its been a few weeks of this slow crawling after Sullivan.
 
winstonoboogie said:
Wide gauge issue from marker 423 to 411, requires tie work
Click to expand...
Could you elaborate? My "educated outsider" understanding this that
- gauge/gage is the distance between the rails, measured at the inside of the railhead.
- That MBTA's gage limits for standard gage of 56.5"/1435mm (PDF page 17 et seq) allows for -1/4" of narrowing and +1/2" of widening on straight track, shifted 1/8" to 1/4" wider on curves (so that flanges don't squeal or, worse, ride up)
- That the main job of ties is to keep the rails from spreading (dropping the wheels into the roadbed), with it being bad to be too narrow, but not usually the problem, since the weight of the train naturally pushes out on the rails, not in.
- The main problem as ties age is that they get soft allowing the spikes to work outward or lift up, which allows the rails to be slid or tipped outward.

So that "wide gauge requires tie work" might be said by a layperson as "ties have gotten weak, allowing the rails to be between 3/4" and 1" too far apart, with the danger that a fast train might exert enough pressure to tip/thrust the railhead out, slip out from under the wheel flange, and drop the train onto the roadbed."

Reading onward in the document above (which is a really cool document, by the way), the first bit of spreading gets you a 25mph limit "Yellow", and further puts the track in "Red", a 10mph limit, with the aim of limiting the train's ability to nudge sideways on the rail.

The rules also say that repairs must be "scheduled within 72 hours" for a Yellow and "repair within 24 hours" for a red. Is "scheduled within..." different from "repaired within.." (seems like Yellow gets put on a "the list" but not fixed). And does the T keep to these standards of responsiveness?
 
Last edited:
Until we get a Red-Blue connector, has there been any discussion about doing the connection using a new bus route? Like Kendall-Haymarket-State?
 
sm89 said:
Until we get a Red-Blue connector, has there been any discussion about doing the connection using a new bus route? Like Kendall-Haymarket-State?
Click to expand...

I guess I have a hard time imagining that helping much.

Option 1: Hop the Orange or Green Line one stop.

Option 2: Wait for a much less frequent bus. Sit in traffic on the bus.

I know which one I would do.
 
So two people got hit on the tracks in Natick this morning. Needless to say the Framingham line must have been a disaster. TBH I don't know what the MBTA can do about it to prevent stuff like this.
 
sm89 said:
Until we get a Red-Blue connector, has there been any discussion about doing the connection using a new bus route? Like Kendall-Haymarket-State?
Click to expand...

Enabling out of system/walking transfers (for non-pass holders) at a couple of the OL/GL stops might cut downtown loads a little bit, especially if they made them clear enough on the maps and physical signage in the stations for tourists to understand.

Symphony/Mass Ave, Copley/Back Bay, and Chinatown/Boylston would be the 3 I'd like to see it allowed at.

Not a panacea for anything, but it would get a little use.
 
millerm277 said:
Enabling out of system/walking transfers (for non-pass holders) at a couple of the OL/GL stops might cut downtown loads a little bit, especially if they made them clear enough on the maps and physical signage in the stations for tourists to understand.

Symphony/Mass Ave, Copley/Back Bay, and Chinatown/Boylston would be the 3 I'd like to see it allowed at.

Not a panacea for anything, but it would get a little use.
Click to expand...

You could even encourage a walking transfer between State and DTC or Government Center and Park. Not ideal, but potentially a stop-gap.
 
JeffDowntown said:
You could even encourage a walking transfer between State and DTC or Government Center and Park. Not ideal, but potentially a stop-gap.
Click to expand...

Or Bowdoin and MGH. While usage of any one pair might be low, there are a lot of options. Each option is a bit oddball, but a small number of oddball users at each of a large number of oddball connections--people who grab a coffee or snack as they walk each morning from Bowdoin and MGH--could do well to drain transfers from over-crowded "behind-the-barriers" transfer points.
 
Maybe I've missed it before, but is this new?

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/transportation/t-notes-rivera-says-riders-dont-think-mbta-cares/

Jeffrey Gonneville, the deputy general manager of the MBTA, said the agency has begun soliciting a contractor for $185 million of signal work that would increase the passenger capacity of the Red Line by 50 percent.

A signal is transit jargon for the equipment that identifies where trains are located along a track and give an operator the green light to proceed. Signals have become a major headache for the T, as breakdowns and malfunctions have forced the system to grind to a halt until the issue can be resolved.

Gonneville said the new signals system would provide incremental improvement for the Red Line as it is built but won’t be fully operational until the 2023-2024 time period.
Click to expand...
 
I read in a few other recent articles that the system is really kind of staying the same, they are just replacing a bunch of it and trying to remove analog components for digital. I remember reading a long time ago that they were also going to adjust/make the blocks smaller (as the new fleet can accel/brake faster).
 
Philly and Mexico City have late night/early morning service, but not Boston
 
Some assorted notes from trawling through recent FMCB agendas:

Details on Gloucester Draw Replacement and Track 61 Test Track (October 16th Meeting):
Gloucester Draw
Track 61

AFC 2.0 highlights from the September 18th meeting (presentation is a PowerPoint file):
*All door boarding on buses & trolleys
*Commuter rail capability
*Future capability for "tap out" on rapid transit (prelude to fare zones?)
*Future support for a "best value" system - charge for a pass when pay-as-you-go costs exceed pass costs.
 
They absolutely want to implement distance based fares on the rapid transit system and it's complete bullshit. The rapid transit lines do not go nearly far enough out to justify any sort of increased charge based on distance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top