highrail wrote:"cheaply"? I don't think so. The least expensive thing might be the railcar. The cost of the engineering, environmental study, construction (bed, rail, ties, signals, crossings, stations, etc) would make the effort impossible. Nice daydream, but that is about all. Danvers to Salem, for example..a bus vs a few million in construction...an easy choice
Except that it's not.
1) Buses, like it or not, have a negative stigma. People like taking trains, and look down their noses at buses.
2) If the line is decently patronized, trains (even DMUs) have a higher capacity than buses, and are significantly more comfortable.
3) Salem gets pretty awful traffic. Especially during a certain month of the year, but even year-round most major roads back up pretty awfully, especially around the train station. Have you ever tried to drive MA 114 from Danvers to Salem at rush hour? Buses are subject to this traffic congestion, trains are not.
4) A branch to Danvers would have the potential to offer one-seat rides to Boston (North Station's got the capacity, though the Eastern Route does have a few congested spots) during peak hours, while I don't see any easy way to do an express bus from Danvers to Boston. Yes, this thread is about light rail, but diesel light rail and DMUs are fairly interchangeable, and hopefully even more so after the new 2015 regulations go into effect, so I think the branch would likely end up with the ability to run through service to Boston.
Of course it's expensive. No one's arguing that. But I don't think rail from Salem to Danvers should be as easily dismissed in favor of buses as you argue. And it's certainly not impossible.