The "Miles on the MBTA" blog finally got around to riding the mid- Fitchburg stops, including the Weston trio, in a posting blitz while it was reviewing the new Wachusett digs. The Hastings write-up is particularly...um...amusing.
Kendal Green:
https://milesonthembta.blogspot.com/201 ... green.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Hastings:
https://milesonthembta.blogspot.com/201 ... tings.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Silver Hill:
https://milesonthembta.blogspot.com/201 ... -hill.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Lincoln:
https://milesonthembta.blogspot.com/201 ... ncoln.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Wachusett:
https://milesonthembta.blogspot.com/201 ... usett.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The 128 CR stop is starting to gain some public-private momentum as City of Waltham, the Polaroid complex mixed-use developers, and the engineering firm they've hired out-of-pocket have unveiled the transpo Master Plan for the area. Their initial proposal, formally released about a month ago, includes:
-- Contiguous street grid through Polaroid spanning Route 117 and Totten Pond Rd.
-- Bus stop improvements (big deal for the #70, which is currently the most-frequent transit here)
-- Pedestrian crossing improvements of Routes 20 and 117
-- The fully-funded Central Mass trail from Beaver St. to Polaroid + the crossing of 128 to trail head at the New York Life driveway (no dice on further west because Weston and Wayland have canceled their trail segments from NIMBY backlash)
-- Formal proposal to MassHighway to finally link Route 117 into the Route 20 exit so residential Stow Rd. doesn't get awkwardly slammed with back-tracking traffic (unclear whether it'll be a second set of ramps off a collector/distributor, or a makeover of Green St. into a frontage road feeding a revamped rotary).
The 117/20 connector is the only thing that requires a state funding commitment as city and developer are paying for all else, and THAT is the missing link that'll let them go full-force at building the 128 commuter rail stop. Platform and driveway access has to be on the Route 20 side via the remediated sand pits the Biogen campus is built on to avoid any impacts to the Stony Brook wetlands, so they need a formal commitment on the 117/20 connection before adding the CR component. If MassHighway is game for it, then Waltham + the developers will quickly move to unveil their renders of the CR station (probably with the 70 bus roped around to terminate there) as cherry on top for the whole thing. We're legitimately getting close to this becoming a thing, and the private money wants in on the build costs. Just have to see how this trial balloon of a 117/20 connector road fares, because that's the last hurdle to clear before they can make a formal station proposal.
As far as the Weston trio goes, I have no qualms using Silver Hill as a bargaining chip Town of Weston can keep if that's what it takes to whack Hastings ASAP and get their preemptive buy-in to not contest KG being closed when the new superstation gets built 2000 ft. down the tracks (probably with easy extension of the town DPW driveway for direct ped access from Church St. to the new station). SH does sorta work for the league-average stop spacing on that stretch of Fitchburg Line, it's grade separated, and so long as it can retain its limited-service exemption from the Mass Architectural Board from full-length full-high installations there are useful minor accessibility improvements they can make to it at very low cost. Paving the parking lot, paving the platform, installing basic lighting, and grading a slope from the parking lot down to platform level for better accessibility than the stairs would all be things that could be done for a combined few hundred grand. Since the 128 stop would probably entail +1 new interlocking installs right beyond the platform to allow future Indigo-frequency short-turns @ 128, you could even get rid of the need to cross track at SH to board an inbound train by wrong-railing it during SH slots between Lincoln and 128 to serve the SH platform without fouling other Fitchburg headways. That would in turn give you ability to install a simple 1-car wood mini-high for full accessibility...or get rid of the low gravel platform altogether and
just have that re-graded ramp from the paved lot dump straight onto a self-contained mini-high for a 1-car only stop.
Figure also that there'd be some utility in having a simple 1-car wood platform infilled at Walden Pond at some point in the future for weekender recreation patronage, a la the simple 1-car Metro North flag stops at Appalachian Trail on the Harlem Line and Breakneck Ridge on the Hudson Line. So Silver Hill doesn't necessarily break the mold being retained as a barebones flag stop with maybe +1-2 more daily schedule slots than today if it came with binding strings attached that Hastings must go, KG must go as soon as 128 opens, Weston has to kick in a local share of funding for that few hundred grand in minimal accessibility improvements, and Weston has to take over management of the SH parking lot, wintertime plowing, etc.