Re: North-South Rail Link
The Fed aspect makes N-S Link hard to pin down on when it can happen. MA simply can't build it without full-force national funding,...
Is the state going to be willing to make a push by 2015-17 when this window of opportunity opens? Or are they going to continue running away from it with Big Dig PTSD? ....
Nobody's saying this is going to be built. The recommendation could be no. This is much more basic: do they even want a dialogue on big ideas to boost the state? Or are they content on closing the books on the Boston/MA renaissance? They're giving all indications the latter is the path of least resistance. Dukakis isn't some railfan fixated on this. He's one of the ones who got the renaissance going with all that got redeveloped downwind from the Big Dig....
It's leadership, not construction. Do our leaders want anything badly enough to pursue it? If they don't, we know how mediocre our future is going to be. Here's a big litmus test of that they'll be presented with in 5 years when Amtrak pops that very first question, "So...I got shit to do. What are you game for?"
I want to have hope that somebody who's occupying the seat of power after this bleh crew leaves has some initiative and desire for something better. Hope is a good thing. If they quash all hope pre-emptively this isn't going to be a very enjoyable state to grow old in. For any of the talent infusion the renaissance brought here the last 20 years.
First -- I'd question the association of Dukakoid thinking with anything positive -- but lets defer that one
2nd -- i doblt that Amtrak is going to be searching for places to spend money anytime soon -- its deeper in the hole that the T and has a totallly unsupportable mixed mission -- my guess is Amtrak will be replaced by a NEC corporation and some Fed Highway like process for support for rail maintennce with long haul trains opperated like Disney Cruises -- but again for another time and place
Here -- I want t concentrate on the motivation for the obsession with N-S Rail Link:
F-line do you know how many seats you need to ride to get from Heathrow to Buckhingham Palace or St. Paul's in London -- let alone from the Eurostar from Notre Dame de Paris to Canary Wharf or conncting from Paddington to Victoria [" Take the tube (Bakerloo line to Oxford Circus, change to Victoria Line) or bus (no.36). Some shops at Paddington; more at Victoria, but main shopping streets are Oxford Street, Regent Street, Bond Street. Get off tube or bus at Oxford Circus for these. ']
The answer is that there is nothing special about 1 seat rides from Bangor to DC or certainly Wilmingron MA to Franklin MA or Fitchburg to Plymouth or even from Worcester to Salem
The real answer is connectivity -- just as cell phones and Skype have practically made the old wired POTS obsolete -- what you need is frequency and ease of making the interchange -- can you get there easier by T than by taking a taxi or by walking than by taking another T segment -- that ultmately is the relevant discriminant
Obviously the trade-off criteria [in effect the return on your investment in time and physical effort] depends on the weather, your physical condition, how much stuff you are dragging with you, how sweaty you can afford to be at your destinaton, etc.
I've made a lot of connections both here in the US, in Europe and in Asia -- some even though simple on paper are horrendous and other look difficult but work out well
Specifically -- For the Muliple B$ it would take to dig-up a tunnel for high speed rail under Boston -- much can be done to improve connectivity:
1] Red to Blue Line cnnection via passenger tunnel with moving walkway from DTX to State
2] Direct weatherprroof passenger connection from North Station rail platforms to Orange Line -- enabling:
a) 1 seat connection from Down East to NEC at Back Bay
b) 2 seat connection from a northern commuter or Down East to Southern Commuter at South Station
3] more connectivity for Cambridge particularly near Kendall / MIT
4] some sort of connectivity to Haaaahhvd and other stuff to come in Alston / Brighton {New Balance development)
5) better connectivity to Longwood Med / Fenway College area
6] better connectivity in and to SPID -- could be via Gerbil tubes since a lot of the underground has highways running through it
7] better connectivity to UMass Boston area where a lot of development will be happpening (e.g. Globe site, Bayside Expo site, etc)
8] better connectivity to Chelsea
9] Blue Line to Salem via Lynn
10] higher speeds and frequency of trains to/from Worcester
I stopped at 10 there are probably half a dozen more that meet my test -- including doing something with South Weymouth
in my humble opinion -- all of the above today are much more valuable in terms of ROI for the Global HUB than the N/S Rail Tunnel or the South Coast Rail (only exception to that is better connection to Foxboro at the Stadium area)
I suggest that the focus should be on enhancing and fostering what is developing rather than wishful thinking (you'll note that my wished for Red LIne through Lexington is nowhere to be seen)
