Mattapan Ashmont High Speed Line Shutting Down

Later this year the High Speed PCC line will shut down for renovations which should last a year...

Feb 20, 2005 Boston Globe Article

Well, if it had to be shut down due to Ashmont renovations, I'm glad the T is going to renovate the rest of the line simultaneously. The renovations to the intermediate stations sound pretty basic, but what's going on with Mattapan? Anyone know what they're planning to do there?

It would be nice if the line could be upgraded for Type 7's but I don't see that happening. Anyways if that did happen, it would take away some of this historic mystique of this particular line.

It does seem like this line is always being renovated. Wasn't it renovated back when John Haley was running the organization (I thought he did a good job by the way), and then again later on?

They have another 10 years on the rebuilt PCC before they can get rid of them since goverment funding rebuilt them.

There also could be the option for a few boeings down the line if the necessary changes were made.

I believe the primary impediment to using newer trolleys on the line is power load more than anything else. The line draws power off the Red Line, and would require its own power station to operate multiple Boeings or T7's at once (and obviously T7's would require upgrades to pantograph overhead). Some of the bridges would also have to be reinforced, but they're already taking care of the big one at Ashmont during the renovation so that's not necessarily a big/expensive impediment anymore. They might also have to widen the turnback loop in Mattapan yard or change it to a stub-end terminal, as the existing configuration looks a little tight for an articulated trolley.

At least they're planning this out with some thought to make the most of the Ashmont disruption. Hearing "temporary suspension of service" and "historic trolley line" in the same story obviously is going to put a lump in most MBTA railfans' throats...but I feel better knowing that they're trying to renovate Mattapan and the intermediate stations as well. Bodes better for the future of the line than if the Ashmont reconfiguration had been done from a strictly Red Line-centric way (moving the trolleys around at Ashmont strictly as a byproduct of the Red Line station's rehab, and leaving the rest of the line's infrastructure to keep on decaying).

Let's hope they do some track work during the down time, too. There's some sad-looking rails on parts of that line. It might also make sense during the time off to haul a pole-equipped Boeing down to Mattapan yard and at least test the feasibility of running them down there in a few years (one test car at a time won't kill the bridges or power), so we at least know if there are options when the PCC's are finally done.

I also wonder what they're going to do with the PCC's while the line is dormant. Is it worth trucking them up to Riverside for some light maintenance and storage for the year while Mattapan yard is dormant (wouldn't want any vandals getting ideas around an idle and not-very-well fenced trolley yard with such historic equipment)?

Wouldn't surprise me if the PCCs were moved to the Red Line yard for storage via the connector, but then again the yard will be crawling with T personnel and contractors so they may very well get moved to a storage point in the yard while the station and loop get renovated.

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:At least they're planning this out with some thought to make the most of the Ashmont disruption. Hearing "temporary suspension of service" and "historic trolley line" in the same story obviously is going to put a lump in most MBTA railfans' throats...but I feel better knowing that they're trying to renovate Mattapan and the intermediate stations as well.

Right now in Seattle there is a big dispute whether the historic waterfront streetcar line will close down (and because of a sculpture park too), luckily it is getting a lot of attention in the news and people are standing up in support of it.

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:Let's hope they do some track work during the down time, too. There's some sad-looking rails on parts of that line. It might also make sense during the time off to haul a pole-equipped Boeing down to Mattapan yard and at least test the feasibility of running them down there in a few years (one test car at a time won't kill the bridges or power), so we at least know if there are options when the PCC's are finally done.

Maybe by the time the PCCs are finished the line can become a "historic light rail" line using LRVs from around the country: Boeings, Siemens U2s, Buffalo LRVs - unlikely, but could be like SF's F-Market

You better just pray the T doesn't pull another Arborway temporary suspension.

highgreen1 wrote:You better just pray the T doesn't pull another Arborway temporary suspension.

It's a suburban line, not an inner-city line, so they probably won't do that.

Well for one thing, PCC cars have to be run. When you leave them sitting for long periods of time, it takes a bit of work to get them going again. I hope this isnt a plot to get rid of the cars!

It probably isn't a plot to get rid of them, I mean they did just overhaul them not even 2 years ago.

sery2831 wrote:Well for one thing, PCC cars have to be run. When you leave them sitting for long periods of time, it takes a bit of work to get them going again. I hope this isnt a plot to get rid of the cars!

They can be idle for a year while the construction goes on, will be the nail in the coffin of anyone who tries to pull another Arborway "suspension".

That's no threat. That's a guarentee. Service will be back.

The streetcar service makes sense from an economical point of view - there is no direct bus route that serves all of the stations, so multiple routes and buses must be run. That increases the labor cost of any substitute bus service.

Besides, if the MBTA really wanted to get rid of the trolleys, they'd propose converting the line to Bus Rapid Transit - heck, they'd probably get a bunch of money from Washington if they did so.

JD