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

[The EGE]

Looks like some last-minute changes to the schedules were made. Providence/Stoughton has the Wickford Junction shuttles changed to through trains, albeit still with a 10-minute dwell in Providence. And Worcester has a "Newton Connection RailBus" running Wellesley Farms-Riverside-Auburndale-West Newton-Newtonville-Newton Highlands to provide reverse-peak service to the Newton stations.

 

[Zash]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this or if it's been posted already, but it looks like the new CR platform at Ruggles is virtually complete at this point.

 

[The EGE]

Looking at the new schedule (the longstanding South Station-Back Bay schedule now includes Ruggles!), I'm pretty certain that the new platform will be in use. For example, there are 8:29 and 8:32 am inbound and 8:33 outbound departures at Ruggles, which would be difficult to achieve with only the old two platform tracks.

 

[HelloBostonHi]

Looking at the new schedule (the longstanding South Station-Back Bay schedule now includes Ruggles!), I'm pretty certain that the new platform will be in use. For example, there are 8:29 and 8:32 am inbound and 8:33 outbound departures at Ruggles, which would be difficult to achieve with only the old two platform tracks.

Yeah I can't imagine they can possibly stop every train at Ruggles without the third platform track, although it definitely wasn't open when I was there last week, they were putting up signage and maps which is usually one of the last steps. OL elevator and busway elevator 1 are done, Forsyth St elevator still in progress but similarly final signage was going up last week.

That schedule is impressive, that's basically all day 5-15 minute headway service from Ruggles to South Station. That's highly competitive with the Orange Line for a trip to downtown depending on your final destination. Two years ago that was my daily commute but you had to schedule it carefully to avoid the big gaps.

Now if only we could get a move on with that unified fare system.

 

[cbrett]

weird question that I can't find any data for: how much does it cost to run a train? I'll take anything here, cost per mile, cost per line, really any kind of financial data to say it would cost X to run 1 more train or save X to cut one train. I know that running costs are probobly insanely variable, but I can't find anything. Even like the MPG of a train would be swell.

 

[Arlington]

^ Hmm. I would try looking at what the T charges the Cape Flyer or RIDOT for the trains the T operates on behalf of these service sponsors

 

[The EGE]

Somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 per train mile.

 

[HelloBostonHi]

Platform at Ruggles is open. Signage looks incomplete. I'm interested by the inclusion of both an Amtrak arrivals board and an MBTA arrivals board (second to last photo). Not sure what the Amtrak one is for. The platform continues down past the busway underpass but there were some workers down there and I didn't want to get in the way.

 

[Arlington]

I think Amtrak Regionals will want to be ready for super-commuters from New London (Groton), or Westerly or Kingston to Longwood

 

[themissinglink]

If someday in the future the Greenbush Line is to be electrified, would there be enough overhead clearance in the Hingham tunnel to install wires?

 

[Stlin]

I think Amtrak Regionals will want to be ready for super-commuters from New London (Groton), or Westerly or Kingston to Longwood

Can regionals actually stop here without completely screwing up their schedules and MBTA meets, given that Back Bay is what, a single track mile away? It's also not that close to Longwood. I feel like the sign is just there for temp service diversions, for when they renovate Back Bay. (Also, what's the latest on that? Phase 2/3 design was supposed to be complete in 2020)

 

[jklo]

It's also not that close to Longwood.

True but LMA does run a shuttle to Ruggles.

 

[JeffDowntown]

True but LMA does run a shuttle to Ruggles.

There are also several MBTA bus routes from Ruggles that service Longwood. It is a pretty frequent transfer.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

If someday in the future the Greenbush Line was to be electrified, would there be enough overhead clearance in the Hingham tunnel to install wires?

Yes.

 

[AndrewOnTheMBTA]

Yes.

The ridership on this line is much lower than their hopeful estimates and has been going down. This would probably be on of the last to see any major improvements.

 

[tysmith95]

Greenbush it was a mistake to focus on park and ride stations over walk up downtown locations.

Also greenbush competes with the ferry.

 

[Zash]

Platform at Ruggles is open. Signage looks incomplete. I'm interested by the inclusion of both an Amtrak arrivals board and an MBTA arrivals board (second to last photo). Not sure what the Amtrak one is for. The platform continues down past the busway underpass but there were some workers down there and I didn't want to get in the way.

The newness of this platform really puts into perspective how decrepit the closed portion of the middle platform of Ruggles has gotten.

 

[ra84970]

The newness of this platform really puts into perspective how decrepit the closed portion of the middle platform of Ruggles has gotten.

the true reason why doing SOGR work isn't much desired, after a certain point.

 

[Riverside]

Forest Hills appears on the Providence schedule for the first time in (to my knowledge) at least 10 years; in fact, it's may be that it's been over 30 years since a Providence line train stopped at Forest Hills for scheduled service

(And I will say this -- it is beautifully clock-facing. Trains leaving Worcester every hour on the hour from 5am to 7pm? Framingham inbound locals departing every hour on the :55 from 4:55am to 7:55am? Outbound Framinghams leaving South Station on the :35 and Worcesters leaving on the :05? I can't remember ever seeing anything like that. Providence's isn't quite as elegant, although you can tell they tried. Providence itself gets an inbound train every hour on the :15 [±3 min, with one exception] all day from 4:15am to 8:15pm. Outbound service is a bit messier, but basically is every hour on the :25 from 4:25 am to 8:25pm, with one -5 minute exception at 6:20pm, and one gap at the 5pm hour -- a very long-running gap caused, as best as I can tell, by conflicts with Amtrak's dual Acela and Northeast Regional departures during that block. But yes -- clearly much more of an intention for clockfacing schedules than I can ever remember seeing in the past.)

(Talk about missing the forest for the trees... in my previous readthrough these schedules, I didn't notice this clockfacing stuff at all. But now that I'm looking, it's everywhere.)

And continuing this adventure in "Major Changes Riverside Didn't Notice On His First Readthrough"...

I realized yesterday that, for what I think may be the first time in... 60 years? Providence will be served by local trains to Boston on Sunday morning before 11am:

(In fact, checking Dave Perry's archive, it looks like this change was actually implemented in the January 2021 schedule.)

For those who may not recall this particular arcane bit of trivia, for as long as I can remember, the weekend schedule looked like this:

In fact, if memory serves, @F-Line to Dudley once mentioned that this practice actually dates all the way back from the old days of the New Haven Railroad, who also did not run Sunday morning trains on this corridor.

I don't know that this practice is as old as the Forest Hills thing, but it's still quite old. So, this is another small example of how the pandemic is causing institutions across society to shake off the cobwebs.

 

[The EGE]

There's a 9:25 am PVD local departure in my 1940 and 1947 timetables, and 9:11 am in 1955, but nothing before 11 by 1966. Very likely it ended in July 1959 when half of BOS-PVD Sunday service ended. Riverside, your guess of 60 years was almost spot-on.