Light rail article in paper about Allston to south station

I read an article about a rail link from North Allston to South Station via Back Bay and Yawkey station. Did anyone else see that article, herald I think.

Yes, its in the Herald.

The plan as called for in the Herald calls for a Light rail line sharing the tracks witht he Worcester/Framingham line from South Station to Yawkey. Then, once you reach the Beacon yard, using some track that apparently go to Allston.

How can a light rail line share tracks with heavy rail commuter rail trains? I thought FRA would prohibit this.

the FRA would prohibit this because of the weight difference of the two trains

They will have to call it the A line, LOL.

Here is the article

http://business.bostonherald.com/busine ... eid=108500

bierhere wrote:Yes, its in the Herald.

The plan as called for in the Herald calls for a Light rail line sharing the tracks witht he Worcester/Framingham line from South Station to Yawkey. Then, once you reach the Beacon yard, using some track that apparently go to Allston.

How can a light rail line share tracks with heavy rail commuter rail trains? I thought FRA would prohibit this.

There are ways to get around it, like Temporal Separation [used on NJT's RiverLINE], or build an additional track, or track separation [big drawback, longer headways on that segment. the minimum would be 15 to 20 minutes between trains ].

Or better yet, just build the segment between Yawkey and South Station on the streets. Building a REAL streetcar line [or a Green Line like streetcar-LRT route] would be a ridership and tourist draw.

I love when my ideas make it to the news.

http://www.vanshnookenraggen.com/FutureT/Silver.html#4

Notice they said "light rail"; they didn't say "electric light rail". It seems to me that this idea is simply a variant of the " run DMU's to Route 128 on the Worcester Line" idea that's been around for a while.
In reality, I think that's what they'd do, and in the process would re-open a number of old commuter rail stations in the process. Certainly, it's a very sensible proposal, and one that could be implemented without
a great deal of $$$$. They could start it next year for $5 million, the cost of a couple of DMU locomotives, if
they wanted to, and use existing stations. In the long run, I think this is what will happen, just as it will on the Fairmount line. This would be whole orders of magnitude cheaper than putting down new tracks and wire for light rail.

trainhq wrote: In reality, I think that's what they'd do, and in the process would re-open a number of old commuter rail stations in the process.

Which commuter stations along this line have been closed?

Allston, Newton Corner, probably some others too.

The "Sports Depot" restaurant in Allston is located in the former station at that location. There also used to be a station in Brighton, which I believe was called Faneuil Depot, but it was torn down long ago. Of course, these were not commuter rail stations in the sense of being served by the MBTA, but were part of the New York Central's original service along the Boston Line.

Being a lifelong resident of Brighton, I've often wished that I could jump on a commuter rail train to head downtown or vice versa...but I guess that's what the express buses are for.

The closed stations on the Boston & Albany line between the existing Back Bay (actually the adjacent Trinity Place/Huntington Avenue, separate westbound and eastbound stations until the consolidation with the NH Back Bay station in 1964) and Newtonville stops were Allston at milepost 4.3 (still standing, as noted above), Brighton at MP 5.1, Faneuil at MP 5.8, and Newton at MP 7.1. All stops between Trinity Place and Newtonville were discontinued by the New York Central in April 1959.

Given the neighborhood development since then, it certainly seems like restoring a couple of them would be a good idea, especially if linked with frequent diesel MU (DMU) service. That assumes that the MBTA can find and get funding for a DMU that satisfies the FRA, but that's another story.

Try http://www.coloradorailcar.com

As great an idea DUM is, that train is just ugly.

I hope this happens. I think this rail link would have a lot of benefits. It would bring rail service to a section of Boston that needs it and can't use the existing service that goes through there (Framingham CR Line). If passengers in that area need to get to or from downtown, they must take buses to the Green B Line, making it extremely crowded and slow in the morning and afternoon rush hours. This service would relieve the overcrowding on the Green Line and perhaps attract some new riders as well. It would be especially beneficial during Red Sox game days, when the overcrowding on the Green Line is at its worst. Colorado Railcar single-level DMU's would be perfect for this service.