Rail expansion to westernass (Boston, Worcester: living in, costs, bus)

[mdovell]

Normally I have some healthy skepticism about the viability of this project but I think that there's a higher likelihood given that Biden is an office. Biden took the train quite a bit. Actually quite doesn't even begin to cover it he literally went from Wilmington Delaware to DC over and over again roughly 110 miles each way.

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/pre...omestic-travel


Baker finally gave funding.

https://www.masslive.com/politics/20...l-project.html

No I don't think this whole thing will be finished for 50 billion dollars. There's no way that would cost is 50 million. But much of the planning and Engineering I think probably could get done. So if the state comes up with this amount and then the feds come up with something that is so called shovel-ready then this makes it much more viable. We'll go all the way to Pittsfield? Maybe not but I think the long-term viability for establishing a rail connection between Boston and Worcester is by far much more likely given everything that's happened. Once that track light is improved you pretty much have access to Boston via Worcester.

Congressman Neal has been re-elected the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. CT wants this as well as the long-term viability of the Mystic in New London stations is questionable at best given the flood protection Maps which have recently been established (flood factor). Then we factor in covid-19 social distancing as well as businesses and people that want to lower costs and continue telecommuting. Furthermore if you want people to come back and work in Boston but they can't afford everything going on with housing they're going to be living out for the West so they simply creates more of an option. even with Municipal jobs I've already seen a shift. There's a woman that lives inside of my complex that works for the City of Rochester which is easily hours away. The time it would be interested in giving the way of federal funding tends to work. They are a funds took a while to be implemented but inevitably a lot of that did go into Transit that seemeth Union Station Springfield. I think we might see something similar here whereas we think things get back to normal and then this rail line gets established.

If tomorrow morning every employer said that everybody must go back into work meeting go into the office the traffic would be horrendous to say the least and then would see lost productivity just sitting there in our cars. At the same point if they want us to not come in that does free up time but is always going to be somebody looking to get more people into the office. It certainly wise to invest in infrastructure spending during an economic downturn especially with low interest rate. I'm not saying that next year there's going to be a rail line goes from A to B for this but would things be what it is I think it is a very good possibility that we could see this within a decade.

[OutdoorLover]

Ridership on mass transit has plunged drastically during the pandemic - commuter rail runs have been cut by more than 50% and the MBTA is having big revenue shortfalls. Hopefully ridership will return to previous levels within a year, but until it does, it seems speculative to talk about big rail expansion.

[Urban Peasant]

In other countries such as China, new high speed rail runs only on elevated viaducts. There are no grade crossings and on the newest rails, passenger trains do not share tracks with freight trains. We can most certainly build something like that and even have the funds to maintain it for quite a long time. We built the Interstate Highway System after all, right? The problem is for too long not enough people saw such projects as priorities and even then had a hard time obtaining funding. I'm glad to see some movement here.

[GeoffD]

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation still argues the cost of the project doesn’t justify the amount of passengers that are likely to use the service, putting a price tag of up to $4.6 billion in a recent report.

This slice of the article says it all. A $50 million funding for looking into rail is kind of different from a $4 billion project.

What is desperately needed is a sub-2 hour intercity rail connection between South Station and NY Penn. With the Connecticut NIMBY obstruction, I’d be fine with running it to Albany and down the Hudson. From Boston, you get to the CT line and the train goes from 150 mph to 70 mph. Let Connecticut keep their 30 mph speed zones / max 70 mph metro north rail service and bypass the state entirely for intercity rail. You can run local service to Springfield on that line. Just get it out of the way of the 200 mph express service as it rips by.

[Dangerous-Boy]

We need more passenger rail!

[OutdoorLover]

If we're talking blue sky, I will say that I think you need a national standard for high speed rail - at a minimum for the track hardware, how they're configured re curves and banking, signals and automated controls. You don't want each state making its own decision and then the "high speed train" has to stop at the state line because the tracks and other infrastructure are incompatible beyond!

[jtolpin]

Living in Metrowest area, and working in Springfield, I could see myself taking the train through Worcester, sure....

I did the commute from Southborough Train -> South Station -> Green Line -> Orange Line -> office in Boston. Wasnt fun. It was 2 hours from my driveway to my office.

I drive now, and it's 1.25 hours to/from work (no traffic of course either way). What would make me take the train? If it could do it in 1.5 hours, perhaps. But I doubt it could. And the stress some days I had when I had to make the train - there were plenty of times I was stuck in South Station, waiting for next train.... not fun.

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by OutdoorLover

If we're talking blue sky, I will say that I think you need a national standard for high speed rail - at a minimum for the track hardware, how they're configured re curves and banking, signals and automated controls. You don't want each state making its own decision and then the "high speed train" has to stop at the state line because the tracks and other infrastructure are incompatible beyond!

Heh, heh. Kind of off topic but your last statement reminds me of the time when Amtrak had to switch engines in New Haven because diesels were not allowed to travel into NYC. Agreed if the service crosses state lines, it has to follow some sort of uniform national standards.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

Heh, heh. Kind of off topic but your last statement reminds me of the time when Amtrak had to switch engines in New Haven because diesels were not allowed to travel into NYC. Agreed if the service crosses state lines, it has to follow some sort of uniform national standards.

They still do. The Vermonter and Northeast Regional trains that originate in Springfield are diesel. At New Haven, there is a 20 minute delay to switch in an electric locomotive. I used to do Hartford-Philly a lot a few years ago.


We've had this thread several times over the last few years. There aren't enough riders to justify a multi-billion dollar infrastructure investment. It would be better to build a multi-modal transportation center off the Millbury Mass Pike exit and run bus service from Western Mass to there that lines up with express trains to Back Bay and South Stations.

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

They still do. The Vermonter and Northeast Regional trains that originate in Springfield are diesel. At New Haven, there is a 20 minute delay to switch in an electric locomotive. I used to do Hartford-Philly a lot a few years ago.


We've had this thread several times over the last few years. There aren't enough riders to justify a multi-billion dollar infrastructure investment. It would be better to build a multi-modal transportation center off the Millbury Mass Pike exit and run bus service from Western Mass to there that lines up with express trains to Back Bay and South Stations.

At this point there's not enough riders to justify any infrastructure so the concept is moot. The environmental factors and covid pretty much bring this to forefront. If either Mystic or new londons stations are stopped then there's no connection between boston and NYC. CT knows this. this is why they want this at least for a backup. Right now borders are closed and flying isn't really coming back as much. If rail pulls back from Boston that's a huge setback.