MBTA Commuter Rail (Operations, Keolis, & Short Term)

Arlington said:
Yes! It makes a pretty good TOD stop as it is. Tightly nestled into what, in the burbs, passes for a kind of walkable density.

Really should get its own little TOD neighborhood (given that Anderson is just Acres of Asphalt and always will be)
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The "walkable density" is much, much less than the sum of its parts. Yes, there is a residential neighborhood in spitting distance to Mishawum, but it's not all that it seems on Google Maps because the 128 overpass on Mishawum Rd. has no accessible sidewalk. The station is virtually useless for anyone living on the denser side of the highway unless they want to waddle in terrifying proximity to screaming traffic.

TOD-wise the station's been a longstanding failure since they've been trying to stimulate that angle ever since its 1984 opening without much success. It's got a couple hotels nearby, but Woburn Mall has never congealed into more than a bland massing of big boxes. I suspect the increase in walkup may have been tied to the bus service cuts of the last 5 years that nipped a couple infrequent-running routes that touched Mishawum, and a relatively small number of people being committed to walking slightly longer-distance.


I also think the unfinished west entrance to Anderson RTC is making Mishawum linger on where it otherwise wouldn't. There's another dense-ish residential pocket off Merrimac St. west of Anderson, and that stop could get a big boost from the locals if the 134 were able to drop off at a New Boston St. entrance rather than fizzing out near the Wilmington town line. And it's definitely inhibiting any permanent establishment of 128 biz shuttles, which in their previous short-lived incarnations couldn't take any swing through the industrial park where all the jobs were and hit the station where the service was. Finishing the west entrance + the pending reconstruction of the missing New Boston St. bridge + better bus/shuttle connecting transit centered on Anderson probably eliminates the need for Mishawum.

And you may well need to eliminate Mishawum in order to do RER worth a damn, because that stop can't be redone with full-high platforms. Freight clearance route and zero room for passing tracks at that site, so it's a mini-high forever along with the river-spanning Wedgemere platforms. All other Lowell Line stops, including a more residentially-useful Montvale Ave. infill, are or can get rigged up for level boarding non-invasively with the right touches. So Mishawum's also the very last stop you want preventing auto door use or causing unnecessary door trap flips when the time comes to start bringing Urban Rail frequencies to the due-north 'burbs.
 
Apparently someone got hit by a train and was killed at Norwood Central.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
6, with expansion space set aside for a 7th if it's ever needed. The ruling limit for layover capacity is how many trainsets have to be staged for overnight storage to feed the next weekday morning's inbound schedule. During the service day the layovers are mostly empty, so their capacity needs are pretty narrowly-defined around the logistics of daily service starts.

6-7 trainsets is all Wachusett will likely ever need. Shared freight traffic Ayer-west puts a finite limit on how close-packed A.M. rush trains can be, so any further step-ups for A.M. rush surges would likely necessitate a pocket idling track near Littleton to stage short-turn inbounds instead. And as you move closer to RER service characteristics the trains during the day are staying in motion by balancing inbound/outbound service levels...meaning that even with substantial outright traffic increases few trains are going into the yard except for very short stopovers to change crews.

Therefore, outer layovers are always going to have their needs set by one thing: how much equipment does it take to briskly wake up the system from an overnight shutdown.
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With that being said, it appears they layover five trains on an average weekday. The first five inbound runs from Wachusett start before the last outbound gets out there.

Studying ridership data for the Fitchburg Line, there is definitely demand for more inbound frequency in the morning, but that would necessitate laying over more trains, or running another, nearly empty early morning outbound.

F-Line to Dudley said:
any further step-ups for A.M. rush surges would likely necessitate a pocket idling track near Littleton to stage short-turn inbounds instead.
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The vast majority of riders would be much better served if there was at least another inbound from Littleton hitting every stop before the 492, allowing some of the very popular Wachusett AM inbounds (400, 402, 406) to run semi-express.

Specifically:

  • 400 skipping Hastings, Kendal Green, Waverley, and Belmont, in addition to Silver Hill
  • 402 skipping Silver Hill, Hastings, and Waverley
  • 406 skipping Brandeis/Roberts and Waverley, in addition to Silver Hill and Hastings
  • At least one (maybe two) additional AM inbound hitting all of the aforementioned stops: Silver Hill, Hastings, Kendal Green, Brandeis/Roberts, Waverley, Belmont, etc.

It seems, from what your saying, the best option for these runs would be from Littleton. Adding this/these runs would necessitate an early AM outbound short-turn, right? This would necessitate a "pocket idling track" near Littleton, right? I want to make sure I understand that correctly. Thanks for the response, F-Line.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
They come around every few years with that one: combine Ballardvale and Andover with a stop at Lowell Junction that includes construction of a new 93 exit at Lowell Junction Rd./Burt Rd. at the industrial park. Usually resurfaces again when Pfizer drops off its lobbying checks at the Capitol.

Proposal gets violently opposed by Town of Andover every single time. And they're correct in doing so, because Ballardvale and Andover are just about pitch-perfect neighborhood walkup stops that consistently outperform the surrounding density and have good existing bus coverage. Also don't know how another 93 exit that close to Dascomb Rd. would work without merging trouble.

There's definitely multiple possibilities for Haverhill infills if the Reading schedule were sheared off and the outer-half saved time by reverting to the Lowell Line-Wildcat routing. So other than this appears to be photocopying verbatim the last old proposal from 10 years ago to combine stops at Lowell Junction, I'm not sure why there's such a rush to mess with what works. I'm personally not sold on the LJ stop because the surroundings are a little sparse, but South Lawrence (495 @ 28...replacement for old Shawsheen stop) and Ward Hill (495 @ Industrial Ave., North Andover...1 exit from 495/MA 213 interchange) are very good candidates.
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If anything I think North Wilmington should be the stop replaced by a new I93 station. North Wilmington is in a low density neighborhood, with no TOD and only 20 parking spots. Adding a garage to Wilmington train station, plus a new I93 train station could serve people from that neighborhood.

Plus North Wilmington gets its last train of the morning at 630 AM and doesn't get another one until 930. A 3 hour gap at the peak of rush hour. This is because the two rush hour trains just past 7 and at 8 am go onto the Lowell line.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.5907999,-71.1638484,1613m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

This is where the Haverhill line crosses I93. I'm not sure if there are any wetland restrictions there that would preclude the building of a new transit station (F-Line probally knows more). But that stop would be closer to North Wilmington than it would be to Ballardvale.

I'm not sure why you'd get rid of one of the Andover stations, they aren't close together and they do get healthy ridership. It's not like Winchester where stations are within easy walking distance.
 
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Another thing about the rail vision presentation, the Needham line. I'd assume that increased service there would require double tracking. F-Line, how feisable is that?
 
tysmith95 said:
Another thing about the rail vision presentation, the Needham line. I'd assume that increased service there would require double tracking. F-Line, how feisable is that?
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DT is feasible, but substantially increased service is not because of congestion in the SW Corridor tunnel. It will never, ever meet an Urban Rail standard of :15 bi-directional headways. Probably won't ever meet a Regional Rail standard of :30 bi-directional headways, either.

I don't know if what they were presenting at the meeting was the option about forced transfer at Forest Hills most of the time. That is technically feasible for the headways with just double-tracking because trains wouldn't be entering the NEC, but the neighborhoods would violently reject it over loss of the one-seat. And because the FH commuter rail platforms are squished to one side requiring crossover moves, not many Providence/Stoughton or Franklin trains can pick it up as a stop to accommodate 'dinky' transferees without interfering with Amtrak. Thus, the forced transfer is as good as a gun to the Orange Line's head for making an already bad FH platform overcrowding situation worse.
 
Weve talked a little in the past about the design of MBTA commuter rail stations. I argue that theyre too bare-bones which hurts ridership. A rebuttal was that no one builds real stations these days anywhere, and if you get a bus shelter you should be happy.

Well...

In the not too distant future, the Stuyvesant Avenue NJ Transit Train Station in Lyndhurst is going to look a lot different — and nicer — thanks to the hard work of Mayor Robert Giangeruso, the Township Commission and NJ Transit.

The Mayor and Commission recently authorized NJ Transit to move ahead with a $22 million capital improvement to the station.

“The new station will replace the current antiquated Lyndhurst Train Station on Stuyvesant and Court avenues,” Giangeruso said. “The new station will not only help to improve ridership, but will also provide handicapped access to passengers — something the township has been lacking.

“We are extremely excited to be on the receiving end of this incredible $22 million infrastructure improvement from NJ Transit. This will increase property values while not costing the taxpayers of Lyndhurst one cent.”

According to the mayor, the new station, which is currently used by around 1,000 commuters each day, will get new, protected waiting areas, new ticketing locations and better access to the platform.
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http://www.theobserver.com/2019/03/train-to-the-future/
Hand-Rendering-coloredn-01.jpg


Imagine that, an indoor waiting area!
 
$22m station renovations are morally indefensible. At reasonable costs, that pays for 3 full high accessible CR stations.
 
FitchburgLine said:
$22m station renovations are morally indefensible. At reasonable costs, that pays for 3 full high accessible CR stations.
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The diagram shows a high platform, which that station currently doesnt have. The track is raised above the roadways, so presumably the station will include an elevator to make it handicap accessible. Thats most of the costs.

Incidentally, the DoD spent $78 million in the time between my earlier post and this one. Perhaps that is a better place to direct morale outrage.
 
New Jersey Transit should just take money from a random branch of the federal government, got it. In competent countries like Spain and Italy, high platforms cost $3m per station and elevators are under $1m. US transit's inability to control capital costs isn't going away, no matter how many other sources of funding you find.
 
jass said:
Imagine that, an indoor waiting area!
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And then you have to pay someone to staff the new ticket area, someone to keep the new station clean, someone to provide utilities for the new building and keep it warm, someone to provide maintenance/painting etc, someone to provide security watch cameras, lock the doors at night and open them in the morning. The MBTA has proven that as of right now they are not capable of supporting maintenance even of their existing facilities. Lets work on what we have first. Lets focus on things with true operational benefits like going all high level platforms, double tracking/triple tracking lines as necessary.

I think municipalities should control stations, let them build station buildings and maintain them, I know a lot of suburbs have way more money to spend on it and then its benefiting the people who pay the local taxes directly.
 
bigeman312 said:
I think mis-allocation of government spending (federal and otherwise), as well as inefficiencies and poor cost control are all problems and not mutually exclusive. And all of these issues affect the MBTA.
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Yup, at the end of the day, it's the same dollars being lifted from my paychecks.


HelloBostonHi said:
And then you have to pay someone to staff the new ticket area
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No you dont. Many NJT stations have unstaffed indoor waiting areas.

someone to keep the new station clean
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This is true of any platform. Someone empties the trash cans. Their job is then extended to unlocking and locking the indoor area at the right times.


someone to provide utilities for the new building and keep it warm, someone to provide maintenance/painting etc, someone to provide security watch cameras
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Yes, these are all things that help build ridership.

Just imagine using this kind of logic when running a business. Think of how much money you could save if you didnt heat or cool your building! No need for cleaning if you simply dont have restrooms!

Like a business, the MBTA is in a competitive environment.

If the MBTA doesnt provide seating and heating, and cars do, guess what people choose?


I think municipalities should control stations, let them build station buildings and maintain them, I know a lot of suburbs have way more money to spend on it and then its benefiting the people who pay the local taxes directly.
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This can be a good idea if the municipality is a good partner. But if you get a "I hate transit" mayor, whats to stop them from no longer providing these services?
 
No article to link to yet but per Adam Vaccaro on Twitter, Yawkey Station will be renamed "Landsdowne" over the next week.
 
Wow! Wonder how long it will be before all the signage is changed and all the maps are changed...

I mean, some of the CR maps at Ruggles still don't acknowledge the Old Colony, nor the RI extensions, so who knows...
 
Riverside said:
Wow! Wonder how long it will be before all the signage is changed and all the maps are changed...

I mean, some of the CR maps at Ruggles still don't acknowledge the Old Colony, nor the RI extensions, so who knows...
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His follow up tweets said "before Red Sox opening day" everything changes. That'd be the home opener, but it's still only a week.

Patch is first with an actual article.

https://patch.com/massachusetts/fenwaykenmore/mbta-just-renamed-yawkey-station-commuter-rail
 
I'm glad they didn't call it Fenway; especially since there's already a GL stop with that name.
 
tysmith95 said:
Interesting that the Worcester line has an updated spring schedule, but for every other rail line it's the same.
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Not that surprising if they wanted to change the name of a station :)

HenryAlan said:
If you look at the new, effective April 8 schedule pdf for Framingham/Worcester, it's already listed as Lansdowne.

https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/...g/2019-04-08-framingham-worcester-revised.pdf
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Also, as Vacarro himself noted he realized for the first time yesterday (so did I), the name of the street is Lan D sdowne. The MBTA either decided to educate 4 million people on the actual name of the street or gave the station a name everyone has misspelled and mispronounced for 100 years.

EDIT: I need to correct myself here. Looking at the Boston Parcel Viewer, the MBTA got the name of the street wrong. The City of Boston spells it without a D.

EDIT AGAIN: The MBTA didn't get it wrong - the schedule you posted spells it right. I guess just the press release got it wrong.
 
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I knew it was LanDsdowne, but probably because as a small child I thought it was Lands Down, as in "that's where the home runs that go over the Green Monster land down."
 
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