Not to dig this back up for no reason, but the Old Colony Lines really are complete crap and assuming the Savin Hill - JFK/UMass nightmare never gets fixed, I could see the case being made for Cape Cod
via Taunton.
Of course, as I understand it, 'to Taunton' is the extension that's most likely to actually happen because it's not completely useless, even factoring in the jerks in Raynham and Easton.
Oh yes, absolutely. The Stoughton main would have to be fully double-tracked to support a branch (actually, it has to be to support any kind of meaningful schedule to both FR and NB...but they are penny-pinching and NIMBY-placating on the initial design by going for single track start and double-up later). But the Middleboro Secondary is an arrow-straight shot between Cotley Jct. at the 24/140 interchange to Middleboro yard. It's *decent* condition track used 2-3 times a day every single day, very few grade crossings, and when the Cape Codder was still running they trenched cable for a new signal system that remains unfinished because the route was canceled before it was more than half-done. That would be a relatively easy one to pump up to full passenger speed, plunk down a side platform connected to the Silver City Galleria stop, and run from there to Middleboro station. The Old Colony is fully capable of handling a Buzzards Bay terminus for the full commuter rail schedule, but they can't run more than a limited schedule onto the Cape without a mix-and-match alt route.
Ultimately I think Stoughton's cheaper and bigger bang-for-buck in isolation than fixing Savin Hill, and probably has more total juice as a build priority if the OC were capped at just Greenbush, Plymouth, and a Middleboro/Buzzards Bay ceiling. The single-track at Savin Hill is easier to swing if JFK and Quincy Ctr. got double-track platforms for staging meets. That is doable (very much so at JFK, requiring some structural reinforcement at QC).
Stoughton is ultimately worth the build because of this alt route option. That's excellent utilization. And you would still be able to send Cape trains through the N-S Link via Stoughton without needing to build the Old Colony portal. Which is the main reason why I think the OC portal is unjustifiable expense with only Greenbush, Plymouth, and Bridgewater-north served.
It just needs to be sheared off from South Coast Fail, Raynham and Easton need to be slapped into submission, and they have to back off the timetable until the Legislature seriously reforms shit. That's my only issue with the Stoughton route. Frankly, South Coast gets
more palatable if they cool it for 10 years and rope a Cape Codder restoration + Stoughton-Cape routing in
first to get some national-interest stakeholder participation. Because until the CC is on the map, it IS strictly a local commuter rail project the feds have zero interest in funding. The FR/NB/Freetown ass-kissing has put the cart so far before the horse it's senseless. There's a way to do this if they only would pursue it in the correct order instead of ass-backwards with ponies for every politician starting south-to-north.
