Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

Slightly more on-topic: I’m curious about the mobile generator at the Medford St substation. It’s tucked behind a bit of temporary fencing in the driveway, which only adds to the temporary feel. Why is it there? Did the design not account for proper backup power?
 
RandomWalk said:
Looks like the owner of 200 Inner Belt is adding a ground level entrance to East Somerville station across from the existing main entrance.
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Saw this site cordoned off yesterday. Do you know if there's any more info anywhere online?
 
Reddit user spots an MBTA system map from December 2020 out in the wild at Ruggles, and it shows the C Branch running to North Station alongside modern day GLX routings.

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Delvin4519 said:
Reddit user spots an MBTA system map from December 2020 out in the wild at Ruggles, and it shows the C Branch running to North Station alongside modern day GLX routings.

View attachment 55669
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I know there was a discussion a few months ago about why the T isn't running more Green Line trains to North Station. Interesting to see they were thinking of doing it at some point.

Some Reddit users in that thread had speculated it was because turning trains around at North Station is more tedious than Government Center. (Although I guess a counterargument is that turning at North Station is much less disruptive for dispatching and schedule keeping, due to the ability to hold trains in the North Station yard.) On the other hand, I also wonder if the T ultimately decided there wasn't enough demand for 3 services between NS and GC, especially with the Orange Line also nearby.
 
Teban54 said:
I know there was a discussion a few months ago about why the T isn't running more Green Line trains to North Station. Interesting to see they were thinking of doing it at some point.

Some Reddit users in that thread had speculated it was because turning trains around at North Station is more tedious than Government Center. (Although I guess a counterargument is that turning at North Station is much less disruptive for dispatching and schedule keeping, due to the ability to hold trains in the North Station yard.) On the other hand, I also wonder if the T ultimately decided there wasn't enough demand for 3 services between NS and GC, especially with the Orange Line also nearby.
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My recollection from the before-GLX times was that the disruption of turning trains at North Station for westbound trains was pretty significant. I used to transfer from the OL to GL at North and you'd often sit there waiting for a long time while a C train turning at North basically ended up blocking an E train coming down from Science Park into the station.
 
The North Station turnback is very strangely designed. There are two pocket tracks that each connect only to the nearest tracks, so trains have to cross over twice in the same direction. That takes up extra time and contributes to the very low speeds for trains entering/exiting the mainline tracks. I'm not sure why it was built this way. Perhaps they assumed that GLX (then legally mandated to open in 2011) would obviate the need to turn trains at North Station and they were maximizing storage for Garden events. Perhaps it was just poor design.

1726513186115.png
 
The EGE said:
The North Station turnback is very strangely designed. There are two pocket tracks that each connect only to the nearest tracks, so trains have to cross over twice in the same direction. That takes up extra time and contributes to the very low speeds for trains entering/exiting the mainline tracks. I'm not sure why it was built this way. Perhaps they assumed that GLX (then legally mandated to open in 2011) would obviate the need to turn trains at North Station and they were maximizing storage for Garden events. Perhaps it was just poor design.

View attachment 55680
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Perhaps also that was the constraint of the space available. This is really sandwiched in among the highway structures.
 
The EGE said:
The North Station turnback is very strangely designed. There are two pocket tracks that each connect only to the nearest tracks, so trains have to cross over twice in the same direction. That takes up extra time and contributes to the very low speeds for trains entering/exiting the mainline tracks. I'm not sure why it was built this way.

View attachment 55680
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The only reasonable explanation for the design I can think of is that it was intended for storage which this design is very good at, and not for turnarounds.

But of course that leaves the big question "Why on earth were they using it for turnarounds?"

The EGE said:
Perhaps they assumed that GLX (then legally mandated to open in 2011)
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Considering how hard the state tried to weasel out of basically all the Big Dig remedial projects, I find this somewhat unlikely.
 
TheRatmeister said:
Considering how hard the state tried to weasel out of basically all the Big Dig remedial projects, I find this somewhat unlikely.
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Planning took place in the early-to-mid 1990s; at that point, while the Old Colony lines and other CR projects were the top of the priority due to their earlier timelines in the CLF agreement, RBX and GLX were to follow. It wasn't until the early-to-mid 2000s (at which time the North Station project was well under construction) that the state tried to weasel out of GLX - Somerville filed its lawsuit in March 2005 when the GLX didn't even appear in the MBTA's five-year plan. (Cellucci took office in 1997 and Romney in 2003, which likely had something to do with it.)
 
The tunnel where the yard is was built as part of the TD Garden construction all the way back in 1995. So planning for it took place well before even the original 1994 study of the GLX, and early in the Big Dig planning process. So I'm not sure what the space constraints would have been, other than not taking too much space away from the TD Garden parking garage, and I doubt the GLX was considered as a factor in the design.
 
ceo said:
The tunnel where the yard is was built as part of the TD Garden construction all the way back in 1995. So planning for it took place well before even the original 1994 study of the GLX, and early in the Big Dig planning process. So I'm not sure what the space constraints would have been, other than not taking too much space away from the TD Garden parking garage, and I doubt the GLX was considered as a factor in the design.
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Don't you have the Storrow to Big Dig connection tunnels feeding past on either side? -- the GL surfaces between the two tunnels.
 
ceo said:
Both tunnels run under the North Station platform tracks, well away from the TD Garden and the Green Line ROW. https://maps.app.goo.gl/94cNVUxt2Sst9EeY9
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Map doesn't show the tunnel route. Everything marked is surface or elevated.

The South bound entrance along Martha Road is directly next to the south side of the Green Line portal.
North Bound Exit is right next to the north side of the Green Line portal.

None of that tells us much about there the underground storage area is relative to those roadway tunnels.
 
JeffDowntown said:
Map doesn't show the tunnel route. Everything marked is surface or elevated.

The South bound entrance along Martha Road is directly next to the south side of the Green Line portal.
North Bound Exit is right next to the north side of the Green Line portal.

None of that tells us much about there the underground storage area is relative to those roadway tunnels.
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OpenStreetMap maybe shows this better
www.openstreetmap.org

OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap is a map of the world, created by people like you and free to use under an open license.
www.openstreetmap.org www.openstreetmap.org

You can see the Green yard under North Station, which is entirely south of the all the underground highway ramps. The Green portal does come up between the two highway ramps, but that's because it crosses over one the tunnels west of the yard.

OpenStreetMap is usually good for figuring out those kinds of underground paths, so I'm pretty sure it's right here. I do see one weird glitchy road being drawn under the CR platforms. I wonder how one fixes that.
 
ritchiew said:
OpenStreetMap maybe shows this better
www.openstreetmap.org

OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap is a map of the world, created by people like you and free to use under an open license.
www.openstreetmap.org www.openstreetmap.org

You can see the Green yard under North Station, which is entirely south of the all the underground highway ramps. The Green portal does come up between the two highway ramps, but that's because it crosses over one the tunnels west of the yard.

OpenStreetMap is usually good for figuring out those kinds of underground paths, so I'm pretty sure it's right here. I do see one weird glitchy road being drawn under the CR platforms. I wonder how one fixes that.
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That is great. Thanks.
 
There's a new automated announcement on the GLX reminding riders that they can tap to pay on the trains (and warning them that they will accidentally pay if they stand too close to the readers).
 
kdmc said:
There's a new automated announcement on the GLX reminding riders that they can tap to pay on the trains (and warning them that they will accidentally pay if they stand too close to the readers).
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just the GLX or also western branches, too?
 
Koopzilla24 said:
It's been on the western branches since day one but I've been hearing it less recently
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On my last ride on the Riverside line inbound (which I don't take that often) the operator was doing front-door only boarding which seems to negate the point of installing all these readers.
 
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