My 2040 plan for Massachusetts Rail and Transit (Boston, Worcester: neighborhood, tax)

[mr2448]

Woonsocket has done a study concerning commuter rail service to Providence, Boston and Worcester. All would be viable with different degrees of success. Providence-Worcester service will appear in the next 30 years.

Mt. Wachusetts should have service thru the old Central New England ROW. This would take it thru Clinton and Milford which presently have no commuter rail service. Although they are looking to extend the Forge Park line to Milford. Extend the Fitchburg line to Peterboro, N.H. This was one of the last B&M lines to lose passenger service in the 50's.

You did miss Amtrak service thru Providence to Cape Cod. They retried it in the 70's but the trackage had deteriated too much since the last NH service. I think this will soon be a priority line for Amtrak.

[DarkWolf]

Idk about Amtrak restoring service to Cape Cod that might be too short of a line to restore. Amtrak is more of an Intercity service then commuter / tourist service here in the Northeast. The MBTA might restore service to that line. I think Providence - Worcester line will have a decent amount of ridership 6,000-10,000. We had so much Rail and Transit and we ripped it all up and now were putting it back. The Good thing is its not that expensive to do , the bad thing is it takes decades to happen. Service on the Fitchburg line looks like it will be extended back to Gardner and Eventually Greenfield.

[efreid]

After commuting in NYC, the most glaring problem with Boston inner city transit is no rail link between North & South Stations. NYC has the Penn Station <> Grand Central terminal shuttle so no matter how you get into the city (ie where you live) via commuter rail you are not really time penalized for not going the a station that has your subway line near it. And they are adding LIRR direct to GCT train lines as we speak.

[Lowerdeck]

There isn't a Penn to GCT shuttle, as far as I know. The one from GCT goes to Times Square. From there, you walk through a passageway to get to the A/C/E line, then go south one stop. This will be a little more simplified once the 7 is extended a couple blocks west, but still it's not direct.

It's just as complicated as going between North and South in Boston (red to orange or green)

[DarkWolf]

Here are the Amtrak plans for the Northeast Corridor in the Boston region. All those light grey lines will be future MBTA / RIDOT Rail lines.



You can see why your state is very important to New England.

[DarkWolf]

I have upgraded my plan , and included proposals or what the system might look like for systems in Worcester and Springfield and expansions in Boston.

Planned Regional Rail / MBTA Transit by 2040

Greenfield / Fitchburg line
Worcester / Ayer / Lowell line
Northampton / Greenfield line
Manchester / Lawernece line
Portsmouth / Newburyport line
Concord / Salem line
Newport / Fall River line
Stoughton / New Bedford line
Cape Cop line
Woonsocket line
New London / Worcester line
New Haven - Springfield line
Blue line extension to Lynn
Boston Airport People Mover
Blue line extension to Charles / MGH

Proposals

Proposed Blue line extension to Malden
Proposed Green line extension to the Yards
Proposed Green line extension to North Cambridge
Proposed Green line extension to Malden
Proposed Green line Circulatory
Restoration of the Green line to Arboyway / Forest Hills
Proposed Extension of the Mattapan light Rail to Fairmount / Hyde Park
Proposed Park Ave streetcar - Worcester
Proposed Route 122 Streetcar - Worcester
Proposed Main Streetcar - Worcester
Proposed East Providence streetcar - Springfield
Proposed Northeastern streetcar - Springfield
Proposed Northern Streetcar - Springfield
Proposed Southern Streetcar - Springfield
Proposed Eastern Streetcar - Springfield
Proposed Downtown Loop Streetcar - Springfield

Massachusetts 2040 Regional / Urban Rail plan - Google Maps

[western mass and love it]

Just curious where these proposed street cars are being proposed,i have heard of no such thing. and what the hell is a proposed east providence streetcar in Springfield.

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by western mass and love it

Just curious where these proposed street cars are being proposed,i have heard of no such thing. and what the hell is a proposed east providence streetcar in Springfield.

That was an error , i mean't to say West Springfield Streetcar , i accidently mixed the Rhode Island plans into Mass. I get the Streetcar Proposals for bloggers and my own thoughts on how a starter system should start. They usually get built that way.

[lrfox]

It's cool to look at. Nice work.

Why do you have rail connecting from Attleboro to Taunton? That's not proposed anywhere. It was considered as an alternative to Fall River/New Bedford (which will go through Taunton and then Stoughton, but not Attleboro) but is since obsolete. The Fall River Line will not touch Attleboro even though old proposals considered it an alternative but will connect via Taunton and Stoughton. Attleboro currently continues into Providence (and down to TF Green Airport in Warwick as of next week and Kingston, RI as of next year).

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by lrfox

It's cool to look at. Nice work.

Why do you have rail connecting from Attleboro to Taunton? That's not proposed anywhere. It was considered as an alternative to Fall River/New Bedford (which will go through Taunton and then Stoughton, but not Attleboro) but is since obsolete. The Fall River Line will not touch Attleboro even though old proposals considered it an alternative but will connect via Taunton and Stoughton. Attleboro currently continues into Providence (and down to TF Green Airport in Warwick as of next week and Kingston, RI as of next year).

The line between Attleboro and Taunton will be used to move Equipment and not for regular service. The MBTA is starting to angry Amtrak as it moves its service down to Kingston , Amtrak wants the MBTA to use Electric Equipment on the Providence line. I think the Amtrak has ordered shore line east to change over to electric by a certain date aswell. In my opinion the MBTA will be forced to Electrify a decent chunk of there system by the end of the decade due to rising oil costs. I only see the Southern system being electrified , the Northern system isn't used by much. Also i think to run an effiencent system , the Northern NEC needs to be completely 4 tracked , 3 tracks in my opinion isn't enough.