Fitchburg Line Upgrade Discussion

As promised, more pictures from August 23rd. The links are to the full-size versions on Wikimedia Commons.

The platform is fully in place, and the majority of the passenger bridge abutments are as well. I'm not sure what the large black trusses are:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... 2012_2.JPG

Old and new stations. Note the section of rail leading to the old platform. This piece of rail is only about 100ft long - the Foster Street crossing has not been completed.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... n_2012.JPG

New interlocking east of Foster Street. The second crossover is in the background, near the new signal bridge.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... t_2012.JPG

[quote="The EGE"]As promised, more pictures from August 23rd. The links are to the full-size versions on Wikimedia Commons.

The platform is fully in place, and the majority of the passenger bridge abutments are as well. I'm not sure what the large black trusses are

It looks like they are pre-assembling the trusses for the bridge so they can set them on the abutments as one unit instead of piecing them together.

No on-site signs as of 0845 on 09-04-2012 of Wachusett Extension activity, not even signs notifying of impending closure of Fifth Mass. Turnpike.

jaymac wrote:No on-site signs as of 0845 on 09-04-2012 of Wachusett Extension activity, not even signs notifying of impending closure of Fifth Mass. Turnpike.

Maybe "Bud" Taylor of Westminster has managed to intervene, he's a very vocal opponent of the expansion / layover yard...

There's no reason for them to prioritize it. High-priority rebuilds (Littleton, South Acton, Yawkey) and the new Fairmount stations belong at the front of the line.

Currently, time from Wachusett would be 1:28 to 1:42 (assuming 8 minutes Wachusett-Fitchburg) which is really too long for a park-and-ride. Currently, drive time is about 75 minutes from that location in good driving conditions. Once the double track is up and running, then the times start coming down. When we can get 1:20 (or even 1:15) from Wachusett, then it's a little more reasonable. Doubly so once Littleton and South Acton are rebuilt and the dwell times go down.

The EGE wrote:There's no reason for them to prioritize it. High-priority rebuilds (Littleton, South Acton, Yawkey) and the new Fairmount stations belong at the front of the line.

Currently, time from Wachusett would be 1:28 to 1:42 (assuming 8 minutes Wachusett-Fitchburg) which is really too long for a park-and-ride. Currently, drive time is about 75 minutes from that location in good driving conditions. Once the double track is up and running, then the times start coming down. When we can get 1:20 (or even 1:15) from Wachusett, then it's a little more reasonable. Doubly so once Littleton and South Acton are rebuilt and the dwell times go down.

They also have to wait for the signal replacement project to reach all the way to Boston before the line gets bumped to Class 4, can do 79 MPH, and the travel time savings of the improvements project really start getting noticeably realized for passengers. No need to rush Wachusett when they're still doing the intricate replacement work on the outer half and have yet to touch anything inside of South Action. Wachusett's not going to take any longer than Fitchburg today once you open up goodly-sized stretches of 79 MPH.


That said...how many years of periodically poking some boreholes in the ground does it frigging take before they start looking like they're somewhat nearing a point of readiness to start maybe doing a little something out there? This is yet another time-limited stimulus project they don't seem to care one whit about doing at all punctually.

Just pulled out of Littleton/495 on the way home to Fitchburg...a couple of the ramp sections (those "black trusses" mentioned above) have been put in place, with temporary wooden railings on each side.

One wonders if the new Littleton station is a prelude towards greatly increased parking. The high-level will make boarding a lot faster.


All I've heard is a noncommital 'possibly' from the private company that formerly owned the larger lot. But there's plenty of room, and plenty of demand (multi-year waiting list for passes) for another lot. A garage is probably a non-starter, though.

EGE - for now there is plenty of parking at Littleton with the new lot finished last year just before the sale to the MBTA. I doubt that anybody will be eager to spend the money to build parking that isn't needed (yet). There is plenty of space to build a new lot - I understand that Nordblom owns most of the surrounding land - it only sold the lots to the MBTA. Once all the trains that currently turn at S. Acton start turning at Littleton I suspect that some current S. Acton parkers may relocate to Littleton as it may be easier for some to get to. That should increase demand and perhaps spur the investment in additional parking.

From what I could tell (the bumps and noise from rolling over it) the last switch for the new Littleton crossover just east of Foster St was installed over the weekend. The switch, seen sitting on the new track in the pictures above, is no longer sitting on the new track and from the sound and feel of the 408 as we rolled past where it was, I would say that it has been installed.

There is still a piece of sectional track waiting on the new rails just under the Rt 2 bridge. I would guess that is the track for the new Foster St crossing. I think that it was one of the 2 pieces of sectional track that was stored near the eastern Central St crossing in Acton for a few years. I think that the other piece was used for the western Central St crossing behind Idlewyld Farms (the pieces disappeared where they had been stored within a few days of the Idlewyld Farms crossing being done and the one appearing near the Foster St crossing).

Crews have been at the Depot Rd crossing in Boxborough for the past week or two and much of the new rail west of there has been unclipped from the ties (both rails, one at a time). Dont' know what they are doing.

Maybe "Bud" Taylor of Westminster has managed to intervene, he's a very vocal opponent of the expansion / layover yard...

Actually, as it turns out, I just finished a sound study for the Town of Westminster about the layover yard. It didn't look too positive
from the T's point of view; some of the local residents may have legitimate gripes about locomotive idling noise late at night.
Don't know how it will turn out; will be interesting to see what happens.

Just an interesting observation. When I leave work I go up Princeton Rd. in N. Fitchburg, just after the rr bridge on the south side of the line is the old freight house at the location of the origional Wachusetts station, this is occupied by several small industries. The owner just finished grading, paving and adding a water run off pool to the lot between the building and the railroad they ran the paving almost up to the track.

The problem I see is the new track to the new station will take 25' from the edge of his new parking lot as the railroad has a 4 track wide right of way thru that area but currently only use the two center locations. If you look at the plans the "T" wants to use the third unused span which is on the side of the parking lot and add rail over Princeton Rd. for the lead to the new station which is around 1/4 mile further up the tracks from the old station. The switch to axcess the new this track off of the mainline would be east of of the bridge.

Anyone have any insight on this situation?

If you look at the map at the city acessors office they don't own the land, it looks like some one spent some $$ before paving over land they did not own.

peter

agarturbo wrote:Crews have been at the Depot Rd crossing in Boxborough for the past week or two and much of the new rail west of there has been unclipped from the ties (both rails, one at a time). Dont' know what they are doing.

The process is known as "destressing" the rail. It is welded rail, and in order to control the expansion of the steel, the rail is heated to around 100 deg F. The rail is freed from the plates to allow it to expand. Once it is expanded, the clips are reapplied to hold it. From that point onward, the rail is in tension most of its service life, and therefore will not kink.

DAW

We're hearing they will be totally rebuilding the crossing near Roberts Station on South Street over the next few months, so it will be a much more pleasant experience crossing the tracks by car.

I think this has been going on for 30 or so years, but this time for sure!

Temporary platform at South Acton, placed at the outbound end, will enter service effective tomorrow, September 13th....

Beginning Thursday September 13th, a temporary platform will be placed in service to facilitate the construction of the new South Acton Station.

The temporary platform is located on the Outbound end of the existing station.

There is a paved walkway providing access to the temporary platform.

But that conflicts with the announcement about busing:

NOTE: Because of construction at South Acton Station, the South Acton Station platform will be closed. Customers boarding and deboarding at South Acton Station will be accommodated at a temporary platform that is located approximately 1000 feet beyond the Inbound end of the station on the other side of the Route 27 overhead bridge.