Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011
I've asked people on the project about this a couple times, nobody says they're planning for a future conversion to heavy rail. In fact, I think one time someone said not only were they not provisioning for it, but that it wouldn't happen! It's a bit worrisome.
They've also had to have their arms twisted to pain threshold and been badgered relentlessly by STEP to give
expressed written commitment that Union Sq. station won't block future extension to Porter, too. Which the latest staged-opening stopgap plan says won't, because the tail track space behind the station poking out a few feet in the Porter direction is now operationally required if they're gonna open the branch a couple years before the maintenance yard is built. But, boy, they did not want to give an answer on even that simple-ass question for eons. Was only brought up at every community meeting for the last 3 years. And they wonder why STEP, the CLF, and City of Somerville got all lawyered up at the latest delay.
Of course they'll say anything to lower the expectations. They don't want to build anything ever inside 128 and will look for any excuse to throw water on it. We're talking some future generation of leadership when absolutely no one currently holding down an upper-level management position--or their like-minded supplicants--is still left at the agency. And are replaced by a culture that cuts out the endemic passive-aggression towards urban core transit and starts thinking like...oh...couple dozen other U.S. cities that are finding full-hearted embrace of it a better option. Ditto for the Governor's cronies and anti-transit City Hall monarchy. A lot can change in 25 years, but yeah...the current crop of "leaders" is what it is and will be for as long as they're occupying space.
I don't think the design particulars on things like power conduits and little technical details have been hashed out because that's very small-level stuff. One of the things they're
supposed to do is consolidate all the cables in a trough under the fence between the Lowell Line and GL and leave lots of empty space in the conduits for future electrification of the LL (required if the N-S Link were ever built, and possibly before). Amtrak will bite someone's head off if they find out--whoops!--they'd have to blow 8 figures diging a whole new trench in 25 years to run the Downeaster on electric because somebody "forgot" and blew 8 figures building incompatible conduits. Another provision thing was to use thicker NEC-style catenary supports on only the center fence side of the track, again to provision for the LL so they could just attach a crossarm on the RR side and use one support to hold up both overheads. We'll see if they get amnesia about that one and chuck up something too small requiring total replacement if/when.
Thankfully STEP is going to be paranoid about this stuff, read all the fine print, and call them out on anything that looks fishy or contradictory.
Track clearances aren't really a big deal for provisioning heavy-rail. Every above-ground station on the system has the clearances to handle something as big as a Red Line car around the platforms. It's only the superficial height and jut of the platform itself that needs adjustment, and platform edges on new construction are usually prefab even on mini-highs like the GL. Nothing about the conceptual designs of the stations seemingly throws any quirks into the mix, and track spacing is standard across the system. Ditto all subway tunnels built after the Red Line was completed...everything, including trolley tunnel extensions, used the Red Line spec for default dimensions and clearances. I don't even think they're allowed to engineer new construction at less than those clearances because of how non-grandfathered quirks affect vehicle order bids.
Whether it could potentially be converted X decades from now has little to do with what administrative will exists today than them not making life difficult by shooting themselves in the foot on wiring plant or doing something bizarre to the station designs that serves no purpose but to willfully inhibit future considerations (see Union tail tracks). Again, Amtrak will tear the T a new one if they mess up infrastructure--and by extension political capital--on a federally designated HSR corridor.
