I'm replying to the discussion about
TransitMatters' Fitchburg Line report here -- it really isn't about "current Commuter Rail operations" at all. Preceding posts linked below.
The more I think about it and look at it, the more gobsmacked I am that they just casually propose a Berlin-style viaduct along downtown Waltham. That's, like, a huge change to that public space, with impacts well beyond the scope of improving frequencies and dwell times. I'm reminded of something I said in the God-mode thread:
Thou Shalt Not Destroy The Aesthetic Of The Village.
I wish they had instead offered some specifics on how to rework Waltham station to enable higher frequencies. The current design places the "inbound" platform on the single track segment and squished between Moody and Elm Streets, meaning that a stopped train is always going to block Moody St (as far as I can tell). Something like what
@F-Line to Dudley proposed would be much more valuable and actionable:
Also, while it's not particularly "sexy", we'd also need plans to reshape the mildly-terrifying setup at
Lincoln station:
View attachment 43127
(
Photo credit to John Phelan on Wikimedia Commons)
^ This design is supposed to accommodate a train every 15 minutes on each track?
I also in general am struck at the lack of a holistic approach to some of their proposals. I'd argue that the best way to increase access to jobs at Brickbottom, Union Square, and Alewife is to extend the Green Line to Fresh Pond. Then Porter becomes the transfer hub -- Red to Harvard, Kendall and Alewife, Green to Brickbottom, Union, and Fresh Pond, with regional rail trains running express to North Station in <5 minutes, relieving crowding on both Red and Green.
I really need to "put up or shut up" here, so I'll just say that in my opinion the better strategy would be to focus on how to get 15-min headways within 128 in the next three years, by focusing on:
- Waltham rebuild
- High-levels at Porter
- A short-turn location
- Rolling stock needs
- Optionally, high-level rebuilds of the other within-128 stations
Electrification, full-highs everywhere, new infills... all of these are great, but they pale in comparison to the simple yet enormous benefit of Just Running The Trains More Often.
(Maybe 15-minute headways
aren't achievable without full-highs everywhere, I don't know -- but if so I'd want to see that analysis please.)