BostonUrbEx wrote:You're literally advocating to squander the land on auto-dependent development and then shoe-horn in a station (and the connections dependent upon that station which would even make a walk to the B Line feasible) after that auto-centric development takes root.
I'm sorry, what?
I'm not advocating auto-dependent development at all. I'm saying that adding a station that only serves Worcester trains is not the right answer to the area's transit needs. Those Worcester trains are crowded, and fairly infrequent in the grand scheme of things, and I highly doubt more than a handful of people would actually depend on them. Anyone buying a condo or working in an office in Harvard's future development is going to drive if that is all they're given as a transit option. Either that or take the bus or walk the <0.5 miles to the B line (I'm sure a pedestrian overpass will be provided with or without the station).
I don't understand why it is so hard a concept to grasp that adding more stops to existing commuter trains from far-flung suburbs is not the ideal way to provide local transit within the city. You're trying to force these trains to be something they're not.
This development needs to include transit from the start, but a West Station that only serves Worcester line commuter trains is not the answer. It's thinking inside a very small box with no regard for anything outside of it.
As you yourself say, commuter rail sucks. The solution is not adding yet another closely spaced stop to it. That's just making it suck more. The solution is planning for the future of the line - which logically includes either layers of service (longer-distance commuter trains AND frequent local trains, with only the local trains making these stops), or a parallel local transit line (e.g. restoring the A line, or potentially a green line branch into Lower Allston through this development).
And if the state can't get a plan together for local service of some sort along this corridor before construction hopefully starts in a few years, it's not exactly hard to leave room for a future station. Such is done all the time. Especially since the state plans to retain a parcel of land south of the relocated turnpike for a layover yard with or without the station. Then once they decide if they want to layer an "Indigo" service on top of the Worcester line, they can plop down some platforms and egresses and have a station.