This also reminds me of how people were saying the Lechmere Viaduct was designed for 50 mph. If the increase in speed limit on the Red Line is successful, maybe it will pave way to similar treatments on other parts of the system like this?
I have a copy of the Red Line Track chart from ~2016, but it's speed section is blank. But I do have an undated copy of a track profile that does include the ATO speeds, probably dating to the 70s when the extensions were built. I'll attach a PDF to this post (it'll be somewhat compressed so it'll fit). you want to look at the line at the bottom where it's labeled ATO speed commands - in short, there's quite a few 50mph segments.
Thanks!!
If you dig deep into the new red and orange car spec, which is where I extracted the track profiles from, they include details on the blue line dynamic envelope as well as track geometry. I have the track charts for both Green and Blue
i don't think there's enough capacity there to provide true parallel service tho.
Fully agree - but still better than nothing but shuttle buses.
www.bostonglobe.com
Is the T’s planned FY25 budget similar to the planed service reduction in 2021 or will it maintain current service levels?In other news, the House and Senate finally agreed on the FY25 budget. Relevant to the T is that they've included $447M for the MBTA, and $204m for the RTAs to launch fare free services. Important to note that it's not all additional - the T's own FY25 budget planned for $314m in state assistance, which means there's really only $133m extra, if I've read the article correctly.
Free community college. Fare-free regional transit. Shelter funding. Here’s what’s in the $58 billion budget deal. - The Boston Globe
More than two weeks after the fiscal year began, Massachusetts lawmakers reached a deal on a $58 billion state budget plan.
FYI FY25 already started. The state fiscal year runs July 1 - June 30. While the T intends to find 93m in savings, it intends to run full service as it exists today, and continue its hiring initiatives but it's relying on 307M in piggy banked federal COVID dollars to balance it's budget, completely using that up. For FY26 it's proforma shows it'll have a deficit of 696M, which everyone has been calling the fiscal cliff. (A large part of the increase in expenses is being driven by safety and service initiatives) Hopefully this new money allows the T to smooth it somewhat.
There's also already trains every half hour or better between Quincy Center and South Station which makes it less important, that was the goal the Porter shuttle was trying to achieve so I'm not sure why we should expect anything else here.
N. Station - Oak Grove is being tentatively rescheduled to mid-fall, directly after a Back Bay - Forest Hills surge.The Orange Line shutdown that was planned for August 2024 between Oak Grove and North Station is no longer the MBTA's plan anymore!
Instead the Red Line has a new shutdown for the same time slot.
August Service Changes: MBTA Continues Repair Work to Improve Reliability Across the System | News | MBTA
Official website of the MBTA -- schedules, maps, and fare information for Greater Boston's public transportation system, including subway, commuter rail, bus routes, and boat lines.www.mbta.com
This means instead of making the Orange Line faster than it was before the monthlong shutdown in summer 2022, the Orange Line will remain slower than it was prior to the summer 2022 monthlong shutdown for over 2 years!!! Until they reschedule the repairs to slow zones between NS and Oak Grove.
I hope so. Looking at the latest internal schedule there is a Harvard-Park surge tentatively planned before Thanksgiving though...... Hopefully the August surge can speed things up and then the fall one is just SOGR stuff.
The "first car stop here" sign has always been there. I knew because way too often, I have to get past that sign to snag some photos of the trolleys.
