The T is planning that now
MBTA Commuter Rail (Operations, Keolis, & Short Term)
- Thread starter Balerion
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Brattle Loop
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I might have been reading too much between the lines of the F-Line post you linked to, but my reading of that post was that it may well be technically possible to re-grade the area (albeit expensive), it would require the cooperation of, at least, CSX, Pan Am (if they haven't been eaten by CSX by then), and the FRA, and possibly others, several of whom might well not be inclined to go along with it (and certainly not out of the goodness of their own hearts) and who the state does not have the power to force to comply (because of the federal involvement). I've looked for, and never been able to find, more concrete information than what F-Line has posted in a few threads on the regulatory/FRA stuff surrounding that bridge and grade. I agree with you that it's certainly doable with enough money, but that raises the question of whether it's good value for money (which, unfortunately, might depend on just how grumpy CSX is at any given moment).
Brattle Loop
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I like that idea. I don't know if it would work, because that would depend on how much it'd cost, and whether CSX would be willing to fight that (which they would if it was going to be expensive enough), but it'd be worth a try given the opportunity opened by the Pan Am deal.
1. Cooperation on GJ and Chelsea/Everett
2. An agreement over Springfield-Worcester pass rights
3. Agreement about Worc-Ayer(Wachusett Res)upkeep.
4.Nevins/North Yard consolidation into CP Yard as part of Framingham grade solution
State could offer help on W Springfield yard development, Springfield-Worcester track upgrade/DT and possibly Hoosic Tunnel height increase
This is the time for a "big picture" deal!
2. An agreement over Springfield-Worcester pass rights
3. Agreement about Worc-Ayer(Wachusett Res)upkeep.
4.Nevins/North Yard consolidation into CP Yard as part of Framingham grade solution
State could offer help on W Springfield yard development, Springfield-Worcester track upgrade/DT and possibly Hoosic Tunnel height increase
This is the time for a "big picture" deal!
The Ag Branch business is all on the northern end. Rebuilding the connection in Clinton would allow CSX to access nearer to their customers AND Rt 9 isnt blocked every day. And CP is large enough to not require two yards. And I am suggesting that CSX re-activate the connection between the Framingham Secondary and the CP Yard. Framingham did a study on it about 12 yrs ago. I will dig it up
This is one of them, pretty sure he goes more in depth on another thread too
Encore Boston Harbor Casino | 1 Broadway | Everett
Hey F-Line, I know this is beating a dead horse, but I figure you can provide the answer quickest (and my apologies if you did so recently). Could a CR station fit on the bridge itself, in theory? No. For same reason as it not being able to fit near the casino coming off the bridge, the track...
archboston.com
Except restoring the connection at Clinton means coming out of Worcester. Worcester, at least on the CSX, is no longer equipped to handle manifest freight.
Also, I fail to see the hardship of crossing Route 9 once or twice a day.
The problem with the CP Yard is that you still have to shove out towards the mainline or Nevins in order to go east to the Southeast Mass branches (and north
to Leominster_
Also, I fail to see the hardship of crossing Route 9 once or twice a day.
The problem with the CP Yard is that you still have to shove out towards the mainline or Nevins in order to go east to the Southeast Mass branches (and north
to Leominster_
Or Ayer?
You dont live in Framingham do you?
The town was suggesting adding a southern pointing track down the Framingham Secondary
Well aware of the crossing issues in Ayer, though I don't live there. The crossing issue in Framingham involves commuter rail traffic, not so much freight. Most of the
freight comes in from the west into Nevens/North Yard. One or two or three freights crossing Rt 135 to Southeast Massachusetts in 24 hour period really isn't a hardship.
RT 9 , which -a again - only sees that CSX local once or twice (if they are lucky enough not to outlaw up north) is a red herring. Framingham, like a lot of New England
communities, want freight rail out. In their case, they want the North Yard gone to access Farm Pond. They are delusional if they think using the CP Yard is the answer.
freight comes in from the west into Nevens/North Yard. One or two or three freights crossing Rt 135 to Southeast Massachusetts in 24 hour period really isn't a hardship.
RT 9 , which -a again - only sees that CSX local once or twice (if they are lucky enough not to outlaw up north) is a red herring. Framingham, like a lot of New England
communities, want freight rail out. In their case, they want the North Yard gone to access Farm Pond. They are delusional if they think using the CP Yard is the answer.
(off-topic, sorry) So I generally find most built-in searches for forums/websites (stares at you reddit) to be generally bad. One thing that I always finds works well enough is using a site-specific Google search. Basically you can do something like:
site:archboston.com your search here
and it generally yields better results. Apologies if you already knew that - figured I'd throw it out there in case people didn't.
Thanks! I'll try that
Up until a day or so ago you couldn't use google for arch boston because it would come back with a link to the older link format for posts redirecting any search to the forum landing. I had to use searches to find the title of the thread and the page number in the link to get to the posts I wanted. It appears to be resolved, but it sucked.
Brattle Loop
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Huh, that's odd, I haven't encountered that problem in a while. I ran into the same issue when the forum got revamped, I wonder if Google's been throwing up links to the old archboston.org URL that don't work anymore.
EDIT: Yup, just tested it. When you search specifically "site:archboston.org" Google shows links that redirect to the forum landing.
Brattle Loop
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It does seem to work with "site:archboston.com" though, at least for me.
Oh, yeah, that explains it. First one in my example was .com, and when I tried again it was .org, which makes sense since one the .org is probably just a DNS redirect or something to the .com domain. Feel a (very) little bit less cray now - thank you for solving that mystery.
Brattle Loop
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You're welcome. It took me a little while to solve after the forum changed, not helped by the giant "archboston.org" banner still at the top of the page. It's annoyingly deceptive that the .org links still show the "right" pages on Google, only to redirect to the landing. I assume that it was hard enough to port the whole forum over to the new software without trying to make sure all the old links worked (if it was even theoretically possible at all).
Mystery solved, back to the thread topic with a question. New CR schedules go into effect next week with "Weekend and Storm Service" schedules. Is that a new thing, them just cutting to weekend schedules when it snows, or has it been happening like that and I just wasn't aware of it? (For the record, I know they've cut trains for snow, my question is whether they've always used specifically the weekend schedule when they do.)