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

[devnull]

Interesting; thanks for the insight!

 

[Riverside]

The escalator at South Station is apparently not maintained directly by the T, and Channel 5 reports the T has sent a letter about the damn thing being perpetually out of service.

Despite promises for fix, South Station escalators still not working

The MBTA told 5 Investigates it is "not pleased" with the property management company, sending them a notice of default with a demand for a corrective actions.

www.wcvb.com

 

[Stlin]

Honestly, since COVID the general state of South Station has been disgraceful, especially the restrooms. Broken doors, no tp, the works.

 

[ceo]

According to the story, Ashkenazy has promised that the down escalator will be fixed within 48 hours, and the up escalator within 2 weeks. If I might make the tiniest little suggestion... once the down escalator is fixed, how about running it going UP?

 

[#bancars]

Some construction work on the bridge over the Commuter Rail tracks near Hyde Park station (3.18.23):

 

[bigeman312]

Ok so the Greenbush is slow and prone to delays along with old colony. What’s the next worst? It’s clear that not every line is created equal. What’s the best? Fitchburg seemed fast but honestly it’s still hour+ headways at peak which makes it hard to rely on. Mbta just sucks in general every mode. The boat is the prob the best bc it’s completely outsourced. Wish it ran later and on weekends.

I’m responding here, as this thread is more appropriate for this discussion.

The Fairmount Line has the best on-time performance (99%) and the most frequent service (every 45 minutes from 5:00 am to 11:00 pm). It’s also the shortest Commuter Rail Line. Essentially, it’s the Commuter Rail Line that most resembles rapid transit.

The Providence Line (specifically the Providence branch of the Providence/Stoughton Line) is the highest ridership line, the highest-speed line (on average), and the longest line.

 

[DBM]

The Providence Line (specifically the Providence branch of the Providence/Stoughton Line) is the highest ridership line, the highest-speed line (on average), and the longest line.

I've done around 1,000 round-trips from South Station/Providence in the past half-decade. For what it's worth (nothing), I can only recall TWO infrastructure-failure delays, with all other (relatively rare) delays on the line being accounted for by:

--brush fires on the tracks during fire season,
--passenger disturbance (there was an OD once, and heart attack/stroke another time),
--the usual brief congestion in the last 500 yards to South Station, as the Southside branches converge,
--being periodically shunted off to the side for 1-2 minutes to let an ACELA take its right-of-way past
--too few cars causing massive passenger crowding, leading to overly-long de-boardings at Sharon/Mansfield

In sum, the PVD line is stupendously reliable--I'm surprised to learn it doesn't get a 99% on-time, but I guess that's because all-of-the-above get factored-in?--but it's also anomalous because AMTRAK does the corridor maintenance, not MBTA/Keolis, right?

 

[Stlin]

it's also anomalous because AMTRAK does the corridor maintenance, not MBTA/Keolis, right?

Interestingly enough, per Amtrak's Asset Line Reports, in 2018, responsiblity for the NEC segment between South Station and the RI state line was transferred from Amtrak to the MBTA.

In other news, on short notice the CR managed to put together a pair of extra trains to accommodate Parade travellers - while it may have been better to just have added them to the schedule earlier so that they're known to exist, I don't exactly think of the CR as a mode being particularly great at demand response so Ill say this is very good to see, but we should see more of it on a ongoing basis.

 

[617]

I’m responding here, as this thread is more appropriate for this discussion.

The Fairmount Line has the best on-time performance (99%) and the most frequent service (every 45 minutes from 5:00 am to 11:00 pm). It’s also the shortest Commuter Rail Line. Essentially, it’s the Commuter Rail Line that most resembles rapid transit.

The Providence Line (specifically the Providence branch of the Providence/Stoughton Line) is the highest ridership line, the highest-speed line (on average), and the longest line.

now that I ride it I’d love to see CR improvements but I won’t hold my breathe. Resources are spread too thin on expansion. The fitch line had maps posted everywhere showing south coast rail…why bother?

 

[bigeman312]

now that I ride it I’d love to see CR improvements but I won’t hold my breathe. Resources are spread too thin on expansion. The fitch line had maps posted everywhere showing south coast rail…why bother?

Phase 1 of South Coast Rail (service to Fall River and New Bedford via Middleborough) is scheduled to be complete this year. It's fully funded and most of the construction is complete. For example, here is a picture of the completed Freetown Station from last December. The Fall River Secondary is substantially complete, while the Middleborough Secondary and New Bedford Main Line are in progress.

We are in the home-stretch. At this point there may be delays that cause South Coast Rail not to open until next year, but it is very likely to open within the next 14-months, barring major unforeseen issues. The quality of service is a different conversation entirely.