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

A shared-use path at least from West Medford to the MVP station would be a really useful thing. It's just over a quarter mile, but by existing roads it's almost twice the distance. Probably have to build a separate bridge for it though.
 
The T just posted new "Winter Adjusted Schedules" for a couple of lines reducing Commuter Rail service on account of "COVID-19 impact on workforce availability". Framingham and Reading short-turns have been eliminated (with some Worcester and Haverhill trains making all stops to backfill), Framingham/Worcester's down 5 inbound and 4 outbound runs, Haverhill/Reading's down 10 inbound and 9 outbound runs.

Not going to go over too well, I suspect.
 
Lawmaker says South Attleboro train station on track for complete makeover
by CAL DYMOWSKI, NBC 10 NEWS
Friday, February 4th 2022

turnto10.com

Lawmaker says South Attleboro train station on track for complete makeover

Major changes could be coming soon to the South Attleboro commuter rail station. A state lawmaker said a design is being finalized and that upgrades will make the station safer and more accessible for riders. "A lot of things are going to be very different," said Rep. Jim Hawkins, D-Attleboro...
turnto10.com turnto10.com



The station is likely to remain closed while it is renovated as it will lessen the construction time and cost. The nearby new downtown Pawtucket Station less than 2 miles away is however expected to be completed later this year and open for operation.
 
New England Born & Raised said:
Lawmaker says South Attleboro train station on track for complete makeover
by CAL DYMOWSKI, NBC 10 NEWS
Friday, February 4th 2022

turnto10.com

Lawmaker says South Attleboro train station on track for complete makeover

Major changes could be coming soon to the South Attleboro commuter rail station. A state lawmaker said a design is being finalized and that upgrades will make the station safer and more accessible for riders. "A lot of things are going to be very different," said Rep. Jim Hawkins, D-Attleboro...
turnto10.com turnto10.com



The station is likely to remain closed while it is renovated as it will lessen the construction time and cost. The nearby new downtown Pawtucket Station less than 2 miles away is however expected to be completed later this year and open for operation.
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Not sure I'd call this bus but good to hear

[Mod note: this originally appeared in the BUS/BRT thread; moved on Feb 9th -Arlington]
 
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HelloBostonHi said:
Not sure I'd call this bus but good to hear
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Well, to be fair, I think there will be improved bus access once the station is rebuilt. But, yes, probably the wrong thread!

[Mod note: Agreed. Moved to here from the BUS/BRT thread on Feb 9th -Arlington]
 
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Pawtucket-Central Falls Commuter Rail Station Update - late summer 2022 opening

Finer details tied to access at train station being sorted out
  • By ETHAN SHOREY Valley Breeze Editor
  • Feb 16, 2022

www.valleybreeze.com

Finer details tied to access at train station being sorted out

PAWTUCKET – City and state officials are working hard toward the goal of getting the new Pawtucket/Central Falls Commuter Rail Station open by late summer, but some aspects of getting
www.valleybreeze.com www.valleybreeze.com
 
New England Born & Raised said:
Pawtucket-Central Falls Commuter Rail Station Update - late summer 2022 opening

Finer details tied to access at train station being sorted out
  • By ETHAN SHOREY Valley Breeze Editor
  • Feb 16, 2022

www.valleybreeze.com

Finer details tied to access at train station being sorted out

PAWTUCKET – City and state officials are working hard toward the goal of getting the new Pawtucket/Central Falls Commuter Rail Station open by late summer, but some aspects of getting
www.valleybreeze.com www.valleybreeze.com
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Nice! I hadnt realized it was this far along,
620b938bc6340.image.jpg


This station is going to make pawtucket very desirable to live in. Its the cheapest medium sized city with commuter rail service into Boston, its not that far from Boston with service to both Boston and Providence, and youll even have Amtrak service to nyc, dc etc. Plus the cities bus routes will now be able to go to the commuter rail station. With this brand new station and some redevelopment occurring in the area Pawtucket is going to be one of the most accessable, cheapest cities to live in, in both the Boston and Providence metro area.
 
stick n move said:
This station is going to make pawtucket very desirable to live in. Its the cheapest medium sized city with commuter rail service into Boston, its not that far from Boston with service to both Boston and Providence, and youll even have Amtrak service to nyc, dc etc. Plus the cities bus routes will now be able to go to the commuter rail station. With this brand new station and some redevelopment occurring in the area Pawtucket is going to be one of the most accessable, cheapest cities to live in, in both the Boston and Providence metro area.
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But they've basically had that all the time. The South Atteboro stop isn't very far (at least while it was available). Just makes it more feasible to walk instead of driving the 2 miles if you live in the immediate area.
 
jklo said:
But they've basically had that all the time. The South Atteboro stop isn't very far (at least while it was available). Just makes it more feasible to walk instead of driving the 2 miles if you live in the immediate area.
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Buses, too. RIPTA hubs all its Pawtucket routes right down the street from this stop. You get transfer clustering and frequencies the likes of which South Attleboro with its single RIPTA route entrails can only dream of, meaning the car-free shares are going to be cosmically higher with Pawtucket on the board.
 
stick n move said:
Nice! I hadnt realized it was this far along,
620b938bc6340.image.jpg


This station is going to make pawtucket very desirable to live in. Its the cheapest medium sized city with commuter rail service into Boston, its not that far from Boston with service to both Boston and Providence, and youll even have Amtrak service to nyc, dc etc. Plus the cities bus routes will now be able to go to the commuter rail station. With this brand new station and some redevelopment occurring in the area Pawtucket is going to be one of the most accessable, cheapest cities to live in, in both the Boston and Providence metro area.
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The station is located within the Conant Thread District which is named for a nearby thread mill complex that once employed nearly 5k workers. Many of the old mills in this neighborhood already have or will be converted into lofts. Furthermore, a new construction $43.5M 214,000 square feet six story 150 residential units mixed-use building (Dexter Commons) is planned for a block away. Demo work has already commenced on the proposed site.

Road and sidewalk work in the area has already been completed in anticipation of the new station. Six acres of adjacent land next to the station has been purchased to initially provide 200 parking spaces with future expansion possible. The station however is still expected to cater to far more commuters that get to it via walking or bus. The nine square mile Pawtucket (75,604 residents) and the adjacent square mile Central Falls (22,583) are both very densely populated cities.

The opening of the new station will once again restore train passenger service to Pawtucket after a 40+ year absence. Passenger service first came to the city in 1847 as it was rapidly developing as a manufacturing hub. The present track realignment in 1916 was accompanied by the opening of the city's third station, a grand beaux-arts 30,000 sf depot that was once one of the largest and busiest in New England. It once had 79 trains a day passing through it with some 70,000 passengers using each month back in its prime. It sadly sits empty today decaying with time. Its location on a bend along with its exorbitant renovation cost made reusing it for the commuter rail not feasible.



Conant Thread District

Conant Thread District | Development in Central Falls & Pawtucket

Comprised of 150 acres between Providence & Boston, the Conant Thread district is a mixed-use development that is attracting start-ups, innovators, & more.
www.conantthread.com


 
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I've been meaning to grab a picture on the way to/from work over the past week, but it looks a contractor for the MBTA is working on setting up a temporary platform for Worcester Union Station just to the east of 290 (right next to the old Amtrak station).
 
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WormtownNative said:
I've been meaning to grab a picture on the way to/from work over the past week, but it looks a contractor for the MBTA is working on setting up a temporary platform just to the east of 290 (right next to the old Amtrak station).
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Sorry, where is this?
 
Badusername said:
Why are fare gates for commuter rail a bad idea?
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They aren't necessarily a bad idea in a vacuum, but the T/Keolis's planned implementation was...underwhelming. Since they're only at the downtown stations, they'd be useless for inbound trains, and for outbound trains the most they'd do is confirm that someone has a ticket, not the correct ticket. (If on-train enforcement/collection is poor - and in my experience pre-Covid it often could be poor - it'd be easy to scam with cheap fares given the difference between something like a Zone 1A fare and the outer-zone fares). The actual plans for implementation, as I recall, were also somewhat flawed in that at North Station at least they'd cut off public (non-ticketed) access to the various concessions in the waiting area (though maybe Delaware North wants that to keep people from buying cheaper food instead of their concessions upstairs), and at all the stations it was never clear how exactly it'd work for Amtrak passengers.

That said, in an AFC 2.0 world where they properly implemented automated fare collection on the CR with entry/exit card tap points (downtown and at the outlying stations for zone fares) you wouldn't need gates as such, and you'd solve both the evasion and the collection problems. So, basically, my issue was that they were doing it (in my opinion) the wrong way, and doing the wrong thing badly, which I think is dumb and wasteful (though they've been paying actual people to do it, which is if anything even dumber).
 
Brattle Loop said:
it was never clear how exactly it'd work for Amtrak passengers.

That said, in an AFC 2.0 world where they properly implemented automated fare collection on the CR with entry/exit card tap points (downtown and at the outlying stations for zone fares) you wouldn't need gates as such, and you'd solve both the evasion and the collection problems. So, basically, my issue was that they were doing it (in my opinion) the wrong way, and doing the wrong thing badly, which I think is dumb and wasteful (though they've been paying actual people to do it, which is if anything even dumber).
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Philadelphia added the gates and for Amtrak, you need to show your ticket to the staff for them to open the gate. You have to do it twice to board SEPTA at 30th and get off downtown (Amtrak ticket entitled you to free transfer between the stations)

SEPTA did add tap points at outer stations but the whole system is a mess.
 
jass said:
Philadelphia added the gates and for Amtrak, you need to show your ticket to the staff for them to open the gate. You have to do it twice to board SEPTA at 30th and get off downtown (Amtrak ticket entitled you to free transfer between the stations)

SEPTA did add tap points at outer stations but the whole system is a mess.
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Yeah I wonder how this would be managed with Downeaster customers needing access to the platforms as well. Amtrak can’t possibly be expected to create a tappable/scannable ticket or app that is compatible with every regional rail network.

The SEPTA implementation sounds terrible.
 
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