neman2 wrote:You might as well propose a railcar ferry down the Charles River from Waltham on the Fitchburg Route to somewhere near Norumbega Park in Newton where the B&A crosses the river. Probably cheaper and less NIMBY issues.
I'm surprised nobody before me has suggested this cheap-and-easy north-south link via ferry...
1) rehab the freight branch that heads off northeast across from FX and goes up past Terminal Street in Charlestown
2) build a rail-ferry dock somewhere under the shadow of the Tobin Bridge
3) rehab
Track 61 all the way down to the water
4) build a rail-ferry dock east of the Black Falcon terminal or north of the dry dock
That would be cheap as hell, and the last time I checked all those tracks were unencumbered except for the Track 61 being converted to a Red Line test track. Even then, a second track on top of / in the Bypass Road parallel to the existing Track 61 could be added, and then just do rail moves at night with the bypass road switched to single direction with signals for the cars.