Only way I see the N-S rail link happening is through federal funding, mostly due to Amtrak pressure. Boston's problem is, "Big Dig 2.0" is starting soon with demolishing the I90 viaduct near BU. It shouldn't be as much of a headache as the original one, but it's gonna be a rough 3ish years with that section of highway closed.
Omg I had no idea that was happening. Honestly I don’t think the 90 viaduct is that bad. Considering that it’s cut into the ground and streets cross over it it doesn’t get in the way too much. I was born right before the big dig was completed so I don’t have any memory of what it was like before but I’ve seen pictures, and let me tell you it makes downtown Boston look like a hell hole. In its current form 90 is not nearly as bad as 93 was
@@yaush_ I prolly don't need to point out that if you'd been born when the big dig had started, you still wouldn't remember what it was like before. 😅😂
@@creativemindplay lol I will date myself by saying I was born a couple of years before the project officially began, and while I don’t remember the headaches I do remember all the jersey barriers with the blue “Central Artery/Tunnel Project” signs lol. And Brighams Big Dig ice cream :-). I will admit missing some of the pre-replacement aspects of the central artery though…when I was little I knew the route to the airport by the tunnels lol…first was the prudential tunnel, then the tunnel with the big fans (the South Station tunnel), and then the tunnel under the water (Callahan). I liked the landmarks lol.
There’s a huge imbalance of branches on the two sides. I don’t know what kind of grades are needed to get under all the infrastructure and water, but you’d probably wind up with a South Station with say Old Colony Lines terminating on the current level and your other branches through-running on a lower level. What would probably be cheaper would be to rebuild the Atlantic Ave. elevated as Green Line service.
Similar in many aspects to Philadelphia's commuter rail system prior to the opening of the Center City Commuter Connection tunnel in 1984. Prior to the opening of the tunnel, an individual that wanted to travel to Lansdale or Doylestown (in Bucks County) from either Media (in Delaware County) or Wilmington, Delaware, had to take a train to Suburban Station (which is west of City Hall), then either walked five blocks east (or take the Market-Frankford Line) to Reading Terminal in order to continue north to Lansdale or Doylestown. The tunnel allows either a single (or two seat) ride to their destination.
The trick for getting from the Northeast Corridor to the Northern Lines is to get off in Back Bay and get on the Orange Line to North Station thus avoiding the possibility of having two connecting trains delayed. I’m always shocked MBTA doesn’t note that as an option even if it’s still not a very good one.
The MBTA has been working like gangbusters to expand the service to the South shore with new stations in Fall River and New Bedford. The South Coast Rail project is moving along great, and the service should be up and running by next Spring. It was a major, multi-year investment in the services. Test trains have begun running in the past month to calibrate the signals and crossings. Secondly, back in the early 1900's there WAS a link between South and North stations. This is not a new concept and I recall some of the infrastructure is still there, just decommissioned and out of service. I recall that some of that tunneling is now part of the Green Line. The Big Dig, of itself, was a financial disaster. I worked in Boston for the ONE engineering company that failed to secure any bid for the project. I do not recall any discussions about a related upgrade to the subway or rail infrastructure at that time beyond relocating lines if there was an impact. It may have been proposed, but it never materialized much beyond a speculation. Just prior to The Big Dig, the MBTA completed the major undertaking of the Northeast Corridor; relocating and consolidating the Amtrak, commuter rail and Orange Lines into one passage. They have always had the funding to do what they felt was necessary to do, even under the worst State and Federal administrations.
Yeah...but...until seating about Amtrak Regional trains is assigned, its first come, first serve for seats. So at Back Bay you're getting access to leftover seats after everyone boards at South Station with first pick of unassigned seats. Plus South Station has a food court with more food options and a CVS for basic needs/updates.
Amtrak serves Back Bay but it doesn't have the proper waiting areas and shops of a major intercity rail station. And like you mentioned the pollution exposure from being outside. Amtrak would benefit from having the Downeaster connected into the network
Something to keep in mind. F40 and GP40's use EMD 645 engines, which have PLENTY of parts available. They are still more reliable than most tier 4 engines. I think MBTA and METRA are the only 2 commuter railroads to have figured this out. There's a reason these companies keep looking for EMD's.
I agree that nothing battery powered should be considered. But with electrifying, it’s all or nothing. Electrify a line or don’t. That halfway is rife for all kinds of operational problems. The Fairmount Line needs to be a top priority and the first to receive EMU’s. While I don’t think five abreast multilevel cars should be the backbone, since high level platforms aren’t even widespread yet, I’d go along with it, but it would be the last unpowered order I’d make. EMU’s would have much better acceleration and deceleration, which is important if you ever have plans on increasing service from hourly to half h hourly, or ideally every 15-20 minutes per line.
I know this is somewhat of a pipe dream, but I wish SEPTA could electrify and revive their longer-distance regional trains they had before the 1980s, out to Reading, Bethlehem, Harrisburg, Newtown, West Chester, New Hope, and all the rest. Would probably benefit many hundreds of thousands.
As for Harrisburg to Elizabethtown, that’s been in the works for years by CAT & HBGRA, which has been in the planning to put commuter rail service between Harrisburg and Liztown, and another towards Hershey.
None of this is ever going to happen. The MBTA is like the rest of Massachusetts state government. Full of talk and hot air while getting nothing done.
2:22 it's not "induced" demand, it's latent demand. People want to drive. Why would anyone drive to a train station, take a train into downtown, then transfer to a subway or bus, and then walk the last few blocks to work when they can go door to door in a car?
used to do exactly that in Germany: took the bus, went on long-distance traind and then either took the subway or tram and had to walk only half a block to my destination. Usually 90 minutes door to door. No option for free or cheap parking at my destination. Would have to walk even further if I drove my car
People DON'T want to DRIVE to work. For far too many, it's the least terrible alternative. Driving is expensive, time consuming and labor-intensive. Traffic in Boston is legendarily bad, and is worse now than it was before the pandemic. Once you get to work, there is very little parking and and what there is is extremely expensive.
Of course they want to drive! They are lining up to: figure out how to afford monthly car payments, daily car parking costs, weekly gas fuel costs, car registration costs, car insurance costs, car repair costs, and car toll costs when you want to drive anywhere. Yep - looking forward to it!
I hope you are in the Boston area and can rattle the cages of the local electeds. This was a sound proposal for the "urban ring" that is now currently planned as a bunch of bus lines using some fragmented restricted use roadways. Cheaper than the tunnel and more flood resistant.
My dream is to see a commuter rail (regional rail) along the median of I-95/I-93/Yankee Division Highway that connects all the various commuter rail spurs north and south
@@georgetklam THIS. Until seating about Amtrak Regional trains is assigned, its first come, first serve for seats. Plus South Station has a food court with more food options and a CVS for basic needs/updates.
@@RaisedLetter Yeah except SEPTA do not understand through-running and all the advantages of it, they seem to be abandoning the idea and totally ruining it.
@@BigBlueMan118 Wait what? They actually are the only transit agency in America that actually connected their separated legacy commuter rail lines! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hTWEdhplQe8.html&sttick=0
One other thing I should add: the conversion to entirely high-level platforms. This would allow for ADA boarding on all cars at every station, the use of power doors (instead of having to manually open a door and a trap), and decreased time standing at stations (as people would board/alight faster due to A: all doors being open and B: not having to walk up/down steps)
It's crazy that Philly not only has a regional rail tunnel, fully electric regional rail lines, but also 3 metro/light rail east/west tunnels and 1 north/south tunnel. Boston needs to catch up.
Great video. MBTA funding is a huge issue and we need videos like this to educate more people about this problem to (hopefully) get Massachusetts politicians to solve the issue.
the NSRL is not an MBTA project - it would be under the jurisdiction of the FRA- the state needs to come up with money to conduct environmental documents to then apply to the feds
As an Australian living in Germany this just seemed so obvious to me when I first saw the maps of Boston's railways and became aware of the issues. What I find even more crazy is that an area as large as Providence with a well-located electrified railway running through the middle of it only has the one station plus another at the Airport, you would think Providence is big enough that it could run its own local S-Bahn type service!
If providence was in Europe it would probably get one of those surface level trams that go really slow. This is considering that you can basically reach anywhere in the city by bike in like 30 minutes.
@@yaush_ errr... I dunno why you say slow, modern European tram networks are generally faster and ourperform their US equivalents and generate a hell of a lot more ridership. Cities like Cologne Stuttgart Frankfurt and Dortmund put their trams in Tunnels through the City too
@@BigBlueMan118 low key I’m talking about France but imagine the same thing happens in Germany. A lot of French cities have installed trams in the last 10 years and most of the time biking is faster and sometimes even walking is. There are some trains that run underground and have similar rolling stock to trams in Paris and marseille that are very fast but if you go to a smaller city then they will be slow. Trust me I live in one. I’ve experienced the exact same thing when I went on a trip to southern spain and in Zurich. Street running trams just aren’t that fast.
By the way, I just want to clarify something. the 80 new Hyundai Brokems aren't replacing the single levels on the south side. They are expanding sets and replacing Kawaski cab cars which will go north to replace the flatcar cab cars.
People who live along north station lines don’t have to go to south station for Amtrak, they can take the orange line to back bay where Amtrak stops at
I gotta wonder about those platform heights too. The prevalence of stairs on every single passenger car and seeming lack of high level platforms seems like a disaster for accessibility.
I would love to see the lines electrified and the North South Rail Link built, but I do not see that happening. Ever. The Big Dig took all the money and room for the tracks!
This. NSRL is never going to happen after the debacle that was the big dig. And don’t get me wrong; it would be a huge improvement to the city’s infrastructure. But no politician will stick their neck out that far after the big dig.
Great video! I wonder if there is a possibility the mbta could buy some of amtraks acs64’s after the airo is introduced on NER. Maybe they could even have a contract so maintenance can still be done at Southampton yard. Keep up the great vids!
I'll never get over how unfair it was for MBTA to have to shoulder the Big Dig debt, without getting anything really transformative from the deal. The earthworks for the NSRL are done, but...like, we already had the center of the city under construction; we just needed the rail infra to be put down. Instead, Boston's PUBLIC TRANSIT agency is burdened by billions of debt for a HIGHWAY project. How is that even remotely sensible? Separate thing, but they should also be buying EMUs, instead of loco-hauled trains, when it starts to fully electrify.
Its probably the Most absurd INSANE thing I have ever heard. Make roads better so people are less likely to use Public Transport, on the other hand fail to realise any benefits for Public Transit, stuff Up the project so badly and Take so long that there is No appetite for completing the rail Link, then send the Public Transport Services a bill in the Mail? Get fucked!
This is why I say both parties are scum in Massachusetts. Democrat, Republican, they both equally screwed MBTA with the Big Dig and both parties' malfeasance is why the T is so woefully behind the times on rail safety, fare collection, even it's facilities are about 20-30 years behind unless you live near new Commuter Rail stops or the ferries.
Once you understand how projects, be they highway or rail are designed, built and maintained plus all of the politics, graft, and cost overruns then you will get that any project of this magnitude no matter how good of an idea it may be will not turn out like it ought to. That is why most people turn their backs on them.
@@spuds6423 thats incredibly cynical and hardly true, there are plenty of examples of projects exceeding expectations and bringing significant local benefits - Kansas City Streetcar, San Diego LR, Vancouver Skytrain to name a few in North America, Sydney Light Rail in Australia, Auckland rail electrification in NZ, Munich S-Bahn tunnel as well as most of the tram extensions in Berlin Germany.
Suburban rail shouldn't have locomotives, it needs to be multiple unit trains. Locomotives will always have inferior acceleration because much less of the weight is on the driven wheels. Double decker cars are also a questionable idea, especially the current double deckers which have a very small area that is accessible without stairs and where wheelchairs, bikes, strollers, and large luggage all have to compete for space. They were a reaction to the old commuter model where everyone is trying to get to their Downtown office job at exactly 9:00:00 AM, and it's better to just run more frequent service rather than trying to maximize seats quite so much. Plus, as mentioned by someone else, high platforms are very important, both for accessibility but also for operations because having only a couple doors open while people climb up or down the steps into the car makes stops very slow.
As a lifelong Massachusetts resident and former state employee, basically the entire state is mismanaged. Nepotism and politics ruins everything. This is why Massachusetts is on the verge of a crisis, becoming one of the “most moved from” states in America by both residents and major businesses. For such a “progressive” state, it’s a disaster…
This is good, Sam, but I think it's important to talk about how much the Big Dig cost. To complete the Big Dig, Boston spent $8.08 billion..... In 1982 money. Adjusted for inflation, that's $25.5 billion. To put into perspective how insane that is, MBTA as a whole, not just the commuter rail, is planning a budget of $2.72 billion. Even without inflation, the Big Dig cost 2.97 times the MBTA's 2024 budget, so the Big Dig was almost TRIPLE the cost of the MBTA's current budget, even when not considering inflation. Another perspective is BART, the rail system in California, 109 miles, cost $8.49 billion to build after considering inflation, a mere $41 million more than the Big Dig in 1982 money. In 1976 money, BART only cost $1.586 billion to build. To get even crazier, the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier cost about $13 billion to build. So a US nuclear supercarrier actually cost LESS to buy than the Big Dig, which is very crazy to think about.
And the original budgeted cost for Big Dig was $2.8 billion - and it was supposed to construct the NSRL. So after tripling the budget, being delayed for years, been documented as having shoddy construction which needed MORE $$$ to correct - cars win. Mass transit, our health, and our sanity loses.
I find it honestly quite ridiculous that the commuter rail is split into two despite connecting their transit modes. But from the things you listed here Sam, there was something I did see of a render on Reddit by either MBTA or someone else in the transit community showing an idea for electrified trains if it was something by Alstom called the X'Trapolis which looked like an EMU, but as much as getting new trains though, it would be pleasing to get new fleets of something not being Siemens or Stadler mixed in with those. MU's I do think would be a good choice for MBTA though.
Another great video. Love your content over the years and seeing it get better and better in video and commentary. Definitely vote for a deep dive into the current condition of the MBTA subway. There are a few things I would add to this video: 1) the reasons for the transfer of Big Dig debt to the MBTA; 2) the actual funding sources of the MBTA and its mandate; 3) the governance and leadership of the MBTA; and 4) the private contractor that MBTA uses to run the Commuter Rail, Keolis, and its performance so far. These are topics that help explain why the Commuter Rail is in its current state and the challenges it faces, perhaps can be addressed in the future. Keep up the great work!
For whatever it's worth, you wouldn't transfer at DTX to the Red line from the Orange, you would just take the Orange to Back Bay and hop on Amtrak there directly. That said, still sucks.
I've learned a lot more about the MBTA from this video. Now, I know of some ways it can be improved. Also, your rendering of MBTA ACS-64s and SC-44s look quite cool! I hope they buy some locomotives like those, both for aesthetic reasons and as part of the electrification of the MBTA! Thanks for the video!
What’s the benefit of “partial” electrification here, especially to the destinations that you defined? They seem chosen at random, where logistics make electrification of some of those lines (namely Franklin after Norwood central) more difficult/expensive. Furthermore, doesn’t the entire environmental argument rely on full electrification?
@@voidjavelin23yah I think it has to with how cheap gas is in the US. It makes a lot more sense to electrify things when gas is absurdly expensive. Additionally if you take France for example it becomes cleaner than gas because most of their power is clean nuclear energy. In the US a lot of it is still natural gas so the environmental savings are less.
As a Chinese who lived in Boston and had the MBTA as a part of my childhood, I totally agree and assume China could learn from the US in the field of local regional railways (despite having a modern and big intercity high speed rail network)
I live in Australia and all stae capitals have electric power systems and in NSW where I live, have electrified the long distance runs from Sydney. They include lines to Newcastle, Kiama and out to Lithgow. Best thing they ever did. Boston should really do the same thing.
For DECADES I have wanted to get on the 'T' as to pursue ELECTRIFICATION for the suburban lines! I wish I could have afforded to live in Boston or their greater area, I would have liked to have gotten on the committee for this project. But like everything else, someone always beats me to that challenge! But it goes further now; there were RFWs ('railfan windows') in the partition or bulkhead between driver's cab and public area. Now I see it has been all painted or covered black all front end viewing as well (maybe inclusive of the green line as well) having been terminated! Having the RFWs not only would draw more ridership for Trainspotters, but education for youngsters to be able to SEE and appreciate rail operations and hence even MORE ridership - not to mention the public at large! Plus, the pulling down the wires for the last remaining trolleybus line in Cambridge, (I am an advocate - especially during this Climate Emergency - trying to PROMOTE transport electrification). Problem is, there have been some issues, especially in San Francisco's SFMTA with all their trial battery electrics, BYD, New Flyer, and Proterra, and/or Nova Bus. Pulling down the wires in Cambridge wrapped up all trolleybus operation in Massachusetts that I know of. BAD DECISION! If the MBTA can't find a battery bus that is sufficient, then NO electrification except the Green, red, and Orange lines in Cambridge! And that is going in REVERSE! Thank you!
Always thought it was a huge blunder NOT to put in the N-S link. And instead they spent $$ on building the Silver Line!? Certainly would have been better 'bang-for-the-buck' with N-S linkage.
Ri resident here, I love that we have MBTA commuter rail in ri but the service times are basically impossible to use for anything except commuting (I would avoid driving into boston if I could, but I dont work there, which makes going to a sox game or something impossible with Commuter rail)
Good well researched video. Has the MBTA patched it's relationship with Hyundai Rotem? If you ride the Hudson River line, you see a lot of MBTA double Deckers at Kawasaki in Yonkers.
It is so frustrating that a rail link was not built alongside the big dig. We could’ve had every line run right through boston as it does in philly, but of course cArS hAvE tO tAkE pRiOriTy. If it was built though, here’s how I think the lines should be connected: Fitchburg to Plymouth (the CENTER of Plymouth) Lowell to Greenbush Haverhill to Middleborough (via Anderson RTC and less frequent service down to New Bedford) Lawrence to Franklin (via Reading and Oak Grove) Beverly to Providence (electrified of course with less frequent trips from Newburyport to Wickford) Rockport to Worcester Readville to Reading (via Blue Hill Ave, this would be the most frequent line) Here are the lines that require extensions from existing lines: Danvers to Fall River (via Salem, Back Bay, Stoughton, and Taunton) Woburn to Needham (via Winchester, Back Bay, and Forest Hills, but if the OL is extended to Needham the Woburn Stub can be part of the Lowell Line) and finally, a completely new ring line from Providence to Lowell, via Mansfield, Walpole, Framingham, and Ayer) Feel free to make suggestions
Simple solution to the north south rail link... Cut in a switch to reconnect the Grand Junction to South Station. The bridges there are supposed to be redone in the next few years, so this would be the time to do it. Rail wise it's just under 7 miles. Add a station at MIT and you can have another easy connection to Kendall/MIT, if not MIT and that neighborhood as a whole. Problem is that it seems quite a lot of politicians in that part of the state don't want to loose a campaign talking point that no one has delivered on for decades. And if you can reuse some of the existing trackwork near North Station? Well, no need for say Amtrak to pull into North Station to change direction to head north to Portland. It's not going to be fast. But given how poorly this state has actually been doing with major transit projects? Something absurdly simple might be the best bet. Far less of a chance they'll mess it up if they're mostly upgrading existing infrastructure.
It would be pretty epic if the Fairmount line ran from south station, and continued onto the Newburyport/Rockport line. With all the other lines continuing to North Station. I suppose that would be better if the North South rail link ever gets built/reaches capacity
Think electrification of the Fairmount Line should be a priority with catenary. For the neighborhoods and as redundancy and resiliency for the Northeast Corridor
The connection for those coming from the north to catch southbound Amtrak (did this for many years) is the Orange Line from North Station to Back Bay. The downside is the awful waiting area in Back Bay which feels like it was designed by someone who hated the idea of people sitting while they wait for a train.
And lack of retail options. And access to leftover unassigned seats from everyone who got first choice access to seats because they got on at South Station.
Great video! Boston has an amazing existing network that with the right upgrades could be world-class. Hope to see improvements soon. Imagine the progress that could be made if someone like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos decided to throw a few billion at the MBTA. They could each drop 10 billion without even feeling it.
On May 23, 2024, the MBTA Board approved the first option of the original 220-car contract placed on hold in 2020 when it ordered 41 additional Rotem Blind Trailer Coaches for $203 million, with delivery to begin in mid-2026.
Amtrak would charge the MBTA ransom fees if they were to use the electrics on the providence line. Isn't that why MARC in Maryland bought diesel Siemens charger locomotives instead to cut the cost of electric use on the NEC?
I’m a staunch supporter of the NSRL. It is frustrating, however, how many transit advocates are more opposed to cars than they are in favor of trains. Everyone needs to have a holistic view of the infrastructure system. Personal vehicles and mass transit synergize quite nicely with each other. My proposal for transit advocates: “induced demand” is a losing talking point. It effectively means “highways are bad, making highways better is worse.” A much better approach is linking highway and rail improvements together. There are advocates for highways with better capacities and advocates for rail systems with better capacities. If they team up, they can help each other.
Philadelphia's commuter rail system & agency, SEPTA, suffers from many of the same neglect, underfunding, mismanagement, & corruption issues as MBTA. The one bright spot was that Philly DID complete their "Downtown Rail Link", joining up the old Pennsy & Reading systems into one unified system. The downside was, the long tunnel required all trains to be electrified, so when the new system debuted in the early 1980's, all the existing longer less traffic-ed diesel lines were eliminated. None of them have ever been brought back, altho there's been talk about the Reading line being electrified. Philly has other big problems with their subway / heavy rail system & the hodge podge of leftover old trolley lines aka light rail that are taking up funding priorities. Extending the Broad Street Line up Roosevelt Blvd should be a no brainer but the cheapskates are talking light rail or busway. Don't make the same mistake New York did w/the Brooklyn connector.
On topic of dual mode units, Amtrak will probably be selling off its P32AC-DM units once Airofleets arrive, Metro North might do so even earlier. They're not much newer than the F40's, but they would be a cheap option for third rail operations.
If any of you foamers out there actually worked for a transportation agency, you would understand exactly what hurdles be they costs, insane politicians and/or corrupt contractors exist, then you will understand why such projects fail. It will drive you nuts, but you will know what happens behind the scenes. To paraphrase the late great Rick James, (who was from Buffalo, NY) "Bureaucracy is a helluva Drug!"
I think if they fix the pollution issue at backbay they don’t need to build a north south connector. Other than a few lines that you didn’t electrify that go towards Quincy, all the other lines and Amtrak are well served through Backbay. If they do build a north south connector. It should also assist or improvements to the silver line, possibly replacing the buses.
I’ve wondered if the MBTA might pick up some of the ACS64’s when Amtrak replaces them. They will have plenty of life left in them most likely. Hopefully either the MBTA or MARC because running diesels under the wires is nuts.
With Amtrak getting Airos, maybe the could give some ACS-64's for service on the NEC, and then purchase duel-modes for the rest of the south side within 10 years. Next would be minor upgrades and longer term electrification projects so the system is better prepared for a central tunnel because I'm sure there are upgrades they can do that are better for maintaining/improving existing service and longer term S-bahn style service
Everything you mentioned would be a great upgrade for the MBTA, but don’t lose sight of what the goal should be: make the MBTA commuter rail a convenient means of transportation for more people. Currently trains don’t come often enough and don’t arrive at their destinations fast enough for it to be practical for most trips. And, as many others point out, lines only run to and from Boston and there is no belt-line connecting the suburbs. People don’t choose to drive instead of take the train because the locomotives and cars are old, the trains are diesel, and the cars are single level. They drive because it is more convenient. If the MBTA were to build new lines, add more locomotives/cars, etc. then I agree they should do it the “right” way with electrified rails, dual level cars, and dual mode locomotives. But, before millions are spent on electrifying existing railways, replacing old (but functional) locomotives and cars, or buying those dumb battery powered trains, we should make sure that what we are getting the best bang for our buck in terms of making the commuter rail more convenient for more people. Mass transit, even if dirty and old, surely must be more efficient than everyone driving their own car and maintaining our thousands of miles of highways.
It might just be my enthusiasm for UK rolling stock, but I think it would be cool to see British Rail class 440 "Desiro" trains or the British Rail class 800s in MBTA livery for their southeastern corridor to Plymouth or Wareham stations.
I agree with most of this. However, it’s not imperative that the MBTA switch to double decker cars. There is less demand post-COVID and double deckers have longer boarding times which slow trips down. If capacity is a concern, then they can run more trains and also induce demand in the process. However, because the MBTA already has an order ready to go for double deckers and a new railcar order would take lots of time to get, I support your proposal of signing off on those new cars.
the thing about electrification is that the mbta could electrify the providence line yesterday if they wanted. as you point out, there's already catenary lines going down to providence, but it's also worth mentioning that of the 21 trains that go to providence on weekdays, only 8 actually continue all the way to wickford junction, with the rest terminating in providence. that's 13 trains a day on weekdays, plus 10 more a day on weekends (none of the providence trains go to wickford on the weekend). all the mbta NEEDS to fully electrify their most used rail line is simply to buy some goddamn electric locomotives! $200m could get them 15 or so ACS's no problem, and they could even put in wires on the stoughton spur off the providence line--that's only four miles of track, and the mbta already owns it (any wires going up to wickford would need to be built by the state of rhode island, as the mbta's jurisdiction and ownership of the rails ends at state lines) the thing about the north-south rail link is that it will never be built. the only time it was feasible was during the big dig, and at this point no one has any appetite for putting an even deeper tunnel under 93, or re-routing both north and south stations. and frankly, it's probably better that it wasn't built. aquarium station has been flooding the past few years during winter storms and particularly high tides, so the potential disruption to transit caused by flooding in the three major central stations, all now deeper underground than (i think) any other station in the country, is something i don't want to think about. honestly, an airport-style, end-to-end, no-fare subway running under congress street might be the best possibility at this point
There are other improvements that the MBTA needs to make, too. They need at least one ring line for the commuter ra (maybe two), probably somewhere around 95 and a second somewhere around 495. It would also probably be helpful to have a ring subway line, especially if that subway line actually stopped at the airport (and didn’t need a shuttle to the terminals like the current blue line airport stop). They need to increase the number of trains scheduled to at least two an hour, all day, every day of the week (weekend schedules SUCK) to incentivize riders other than daily work commuters. They need to make all their stations, and the walkshed areas around the stations, accessible. They also need to upgrade the subway lines - new tunnels to get rid of sharp, slow turns and decrease the number of bottlenecks on the green line, better trains for accessibility (green line trains have to extend platforms for wheelchair users to board, it’s a process that slows everyone down and sometimes doesn’t even work), and higher frequency schedules. A good transit network should have multiple options, so I’d also advocate for some actual BRT lines (not the shared bus only lane that people ignore).
There are plans to build a new station called West Station that would include trains running on the Grand Junction RR. It is the rail line the T and Amtrak use to move equipment between the North and South stations. One of the problems with the MBTA is that for the longest time it was the home of patronage. There used to be a joke that Senate President William Bulger had gotten people who paid him jobs working in the MBTA that it should be called Mister Bulger's Transit Authority. The reason MASSDOT forced the MBTA to build new stations is that an environmental group had threatened the state with an injunction stopping the Big Dig unless there demands were met. Including in their demands were the building of new MBTA stations.
The GP40s aren’t exactly falling apart, but I do believe deferred maintenance has certainly caused them to be less reliable. EMD’s gp units were very popular because they were very reliable
the North south rail link is NOT an MBTA project it would be under the jurisdictions of the FRA- the state can easily commit to the NSRL by paying for the environmental documents to then apply to the feds for funding - it is easier then one thinks it is the lack of leadership and will at this point
Great video and wonderful analysis and ideas. But how do you undo decades of graft, mismanagement and organized crime oversight and operation? If they paved over a number of tracks and let cyclists ride on 10-speeds, those people would get from the deep suburbs to the city faster than the trains do.
I've always thought an orbital line should run on the tracks that go from Providence - Worcester - Ayer - Lowell - Lawrence. the tracks are there but they would just need to negotiate with the freight companies
Electrification is VERY expensive and it does not reduce train operating expenses. you need to consider the trade offs, more lines and more frequent service vs electrification. Most commuter lines can't go much faster due to close station spacing, most of the slow acceleration problems relate to head end hp and gearing, passenger locomotives are generally geared to be faster intercity service with long station spacing and higher top speeds using four axle locomotives, freight locomotives are geared for pulling with lower top speeds generally using six axle locomotives, this is exactly what commuter rail needs. As for pollution issues, most electricity is generated by burning coal in thermal plants, way dirtier than modern diesels. A lot of commuter lines are stuck with older locomotives, often retired from intercity service with millions of miles of wear on them, just like city garbage trucks and busses, they're old.
I do hope not many ride the train., It's 12.25 a trip to Boston, do they think everybody works there., Besides cars a better on gas for that cost. 12 .25 + 12.25 total trip.
