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

There were a lot of compliance and stage of good repair issues with the existing station - it was built pre-ADA and before MAAB regulations were as strong as current, and the 1980s-early 2000s era of commuter rail station has not aged well. (A notable example is the lack of detectable platform edges - it's just yellow paint for most of the platform length.) By the time you're rebuilding the entire footbridge, you're definitely over the 25%-of-full-replacement-cost threshold that triggers the requirement to make the entire facility accessible. Full-length high-level platforms are also desperately needed to reduce dwell times, especially if we want electric service.
 
Just noticed the Newburyport / Gloucester lines are shut down with bus services for weeks on end this summer. This system is unreal. I really hope Maura Healey follows through with her proposal and that she uses the bully pulpit against any of the usual state lawmaker naysayers.
 
FK4 said:
Just noticed the Newburyport / Gloucester lines are shut down with bus services for weeks on end this summer. This system is unreal. I really hope Maura Healey follows through with her proposal and that she uses the bully pulpit against any of the usual state lawmaker naysayers.
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Signal work for the 12/31 federal deadline to get cab signals installed across the northside.
 
Regular weekday service returns to Foxboro September 12, as a redo of the one-year pilot that was interrupted by COVID. 10 and a half daily round trips, free parking.

Franklin line goes from 19 weekday round trips to 23 in / 21 out. Forge Park service remains the same; the Foxboro trips are a mix of existing midday Foxboro service, extended Walpole short turns, and new trips.

I suspect Foxboro will continue to underperform, but the more frequent service on the Walpole-Readville section will likely be appreciated.

Foxboro Weekday Commuter Rail Service Pilot to Start September 12 | News | MBTA

Official website of the MBTA -- schedules, maps, and fare information for Greater Boston's public transportation system, including subway, commuter rail, bus routes, and boat lines.
www.mbta.com www.mbta.com
 
The EGE said:
Regular weekday service returns to Foxboro September 12, as a redo of the one-year pilot that was interrupted by COVID. 10 and a half daily round trips, free parking.

Franklin line goes from 19 weekday round trips to 23 in / 21 out. Forge Park service remains the same; the Foxboro trips are a mix of existing midday Foxboro service, extended Walpole short turns, and new trips.

I suspect Foxboro will continue to underperform, but the more frequent service on the Walpole-Readville section will likely be appreciated.
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I'm a little surprised that the Foxboro pilot is returning before Phase 3 of the Franklin Line Double Track project is finished, although construction on that project has not even commenced yet.
 
themissinglink said:
I'm a little surprised that the Foxboro pilot is returning before Phase 3 of the Franklin Line Double Track project is finished, although construction on that project has not even commenced yet.
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DT Phase I being online means they can respace the Forge Park slots to avoid some of the conflicts that plagued the first pilot. You need all 3 DT phases complete before they can pair up clock-facing slots, but the first two offer greater flexibility in working F'boro slots in with irregular-spaced FP slots.
 
There is actually a pretty decent amount of density paralleling the rail line just north of Oak Grove - it's no longer just the parking sink it used to be.

It looks like additional CR service to Forest Hills will also remain - 5 in / 3 out on the Franklin Line at peak, and a midday Providence outbound.
 
The EGE said:
There is actually a pretty decent amount of density paralleling the rail line just north of Oak Grove - it's no longer just the parking sink it used to be.
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At Wyoming. Where standing on the platform you can see Oak Grove (snark over).

Im assuming you are referring to the new developments right on the Melrose line, but those are 95% residential and aren't really a draw for any CR commuters. Most of the walkshed is SFR on Main St, Pine Banks park and the Fells. Considering Malden Center got less than 150 riders per day pre pandemic, Im not holding my breath Oak Grove would do more than 30.
In my opinion, it’s degrading service for essentially every Haverhill line rider to serve a few dozen passengers who already have excellent bus/subway options.
 
Highwayguy said:
Im assuming you are referring to the new developments right on the Melrose line, but those are 95% residential and aren't really a draw for any CR commuters. Most of the walkshed is SFR on Main St, Pine Banks park and the Fells. Considering Malden Center got less than 150 riders per day pre pandemic, Im not holding my breath Oak Grove would do more than 30.
In my opinion, it’s degrading service for essentially every Haverhill line rider to serve a few dozen passengers who already have excellent bus/subway options.
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I concur in questioning the benefits at the cost of (slightly) degrading CR service. It obviously makes sense for the CR to stop at Oak Grove when the Orange Line is disrupted (or the converse, as the OL was the Haverhill's 'bridge' to Boston when North Station was closed for the '04 DNC), but significantly less sense with Orange running. The Commuter Rail runs much less frequently and isn't even that much faster (apart from when the OL is in meltdown mode), and any time savings on the CR would be offset (at least in part) for anyone needing to make transfers to the Green Line (connector tunnel versus cross-platform), and significantly worsened for anyone who needs to reach any of the other lines that Orange accesses directly. Malden getting that few CR pax even with more buses and greater surrounding density isn't surprising, given that the travel times are at best a wash for anyone needing to transfer, and the OL runs so much more frequently. There's a weird asymmetry to how much time is added to the inbound/outbound schedules (and a weird asymmetry for how long that stretch takes based on which direction the train is going, which I don't entirely understand), but on average the schedule's adding about three minutes for every inbound trip (less than that outbound), which isn't a ton but is heaped on everyone for the sake of a few people off the OL or who have a slightly shorter walk.

Highwayguy said:
At Wyoming. Where standing on the platform you can see Oak Grove (snark over).
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While the snark is well-taken (hell, forget Wyoming, you can see Oak Grove from the grade crossing halfway between Wyoming and Cedar Park), the distance between Oak and Wyoming is longer than between Melrose Highlands and Cedar Park, and between Cedar Park and Wyoming (about half the Oak-Wyoming distance). Leaving aside Melrose's...ample supply of stations, the first thing you notice on a map of the area is the two honking great parks squeezing the area around the ROW. Wyoming and Cedar Park could probably do with consolidating (though where that would fit is problematic, but even with the new developments Oak's surrounding density isn't as good, and in Melrose the CR is the only (walkable) game in town. Oak's not as much of a pure park-and-ride as it was, but it's certainly not crying out for CR service in addition to the RT service it already has.
 
If Melrose residents really want a service that makes all the local stops in their town and then hits Oak Grove, they should just extend the Orange Line to Reading already.
 
Aside from the NIMBYism, I recall that the ROW cannot support both Orange Line and Commuter Rail. Would routing the outer Haverhill Line via the Wildcat be the best solution?
 
Lynn station will now close on October 1:

Lynn Station to Close on October 1 for Improvements | News | MBTA

Official website of the MBTA -- schedules, maps, and fare information for Greater Boston's public transportation system, including subway, commuter rail, bus routes, and boat lines.
www.mbta.com www.mbta.com

Changes since the previously postponed closure include a shuttle bus to Swampscott, Zone 2 fares at Swampscott, and a temporary platform at Lynn (to be built after demolition) to reduce the closure length.
 
RandomWalk said:
Aside from the NIMBYism, I recall that the ROW cannot support both Orange Line and Commuter Rail. Would routing the outer Haverhill Line via the Wildcat be the best solution?
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Yes. At various times under the B&M and early in the MBTA era the Haverhill service ran fully via the Wildcat; the combined Haverhill/Reading Line service dates to 1979. Under the original Reading OL plan (and any future revival) the Orange Line would eat the CR ROW to Reading and the outer Haverhill line would be fully served by the Wildcat.
 
RandomWalk said:
Aside from the NIMBYism, I recall that the ROW cannot support both Orange Line and Commuter Rail. Would routing the outer Haverhill Line via the Wildcat be the best solution?
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The Rail Vision plans to do that simply because the single-tracking can't mix :30 service to Haverhill with :15 service to Reading. NH Main + Wildcat is faster, too...and North Wilmington can be accommodated by reactivating the Salem St. stop on the Wildcat (last used 1965) that the T still owns.
 
Salem St is an awfully compact location for the T’s typical sea of parking commuter rail station. Would they really do a new stop without a large parking area?
 
RandomWalk said:
Salem St is an awfully compact location for the T’s typical sea of parking commuter rail station. Would they really do a new stop without a large parking area?
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Even I'm not quite cynical enough to think that the T would necessarily refuse to build/operate (well, reactivate) a station solely because it had fewer spaces than others (especially as a replacement for the would-be-shuttered North Wilmington, which has little parking itself). That said, the railroad-owned parcel adjacent to the ROW is actually quite long, and looks wide enough to fit a single-file-style parking lot with maybe 80-100 spaces if you wanted to squeeze them in.
 
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