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Train 208 derailed this morning, apparently in the new interlocking at Wilmington Junction (? -- MBTA tweet describes location as "near Ballardvale" but the only overpass between Ballardvale and another station is I-93) -- see tweet for more images https://twitter.com/MBTA/status/932616293...

Worth noting also that if they were nearly equal, you'd rather Wynn pump more money into subsidizing off-peak Orange Line service than building a limited use commuter rail stop. Higher frequency Orange Line service will benefit the entire length of the system and make the Orange Line more attractive...

The new track through Andover is apparently being frequently used, particularly by Pan Am, as a siding to hold freight trains for extended periods -- which is stirring local complaints http://www.andovertownsman.com/news/covering-their-tracks/article_f30f56cb-9c04-5074-a9e2-58d8ef3f401d.html" o...

And as I pointed out in my previous post, the patrons who want to get from North Station to Kendall would save, at most, two minutes. Sigh. Touting that number illustrates that you've measured the wrong number, which suggests you don't rely on a commute with connections. What a commuter cares about...

No, that's $17,899,221 per MONTH, not per year. So that changes $0.71/trip to $8.52 per trip. Would you pay $4250 to go that extra mile every year (2 trips per day, 250 days per year)? But wait, there's more. Your assumption is that 100% of all riders want to get to the other side. (Back Bay and Ya...

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/10/02/state-officials-want-new-orange-line-station-malden/VwelsageqNgEMWPGysktjI/story.html A new Orange Line station has been proposed. Tentatively called River's Edge, it would be between Malden Center and Wellington and would be intended to drive further de...

The conceptual plans for Andover DPW yard redevelopment showed no platform on the outbound track and a separate pedestrian bridge; the poor/no coordination hypothesis is sadly supported by data.

http://www.northsouthraillink.org/about/ I love that Mike Dukakis is a transit advocate, but he is rooted in the C-Cleveland Circle line, in a world where trolleys are constantly in motion, don't require storage space, don't require waiting rooms, only need 8' wide low platforms. Michael Dukakis ha...

Quite the list. I got a kick out of Lowell Junction, though. It's in the middle of nowhere, and getting to is half the fun. A large park-and-ride station south of Lowell Junction was going to be part of a large development on both sides of I-93, including a new interchange. A large mall was to be b...

While on the topic of platforms, does anyone know why the Ballardvale mini-high was sited so far away from the platform? Also, at North Wilmington, since the current platform is so short (and I believe has always been so), would it need to be replaced by a full high-level or could just a mini-high b...

Something I was wondering about the schedules: does MBTA/Keolis have software to simulate operations on the entire CR system? If so, how sophisticated is it? In other words, can they plug in a paper schedule (and starting positions of the equipment) and identify where bad meets would occur?

Apparently few on this board agree that this is a waste of money. Even the feasibility study is a waste of two million dollars in my opinion. Yes, my estimate of 2000 riders per day was just a guess. Even if the number is ten thousand per day, that amounts to $80 per trip. Are you willing to pay th...

If the demand is there, then the customers (or the real estate developers, or the real estate owners) will happily pay all the costs in full. Oh right, I forgot, they want somebody else to pay the costs. There are enormous network effects & benefits which are spread around. Better access to job...

Take a look at where job growth is likely to be concentrated in the future, and you will see a lot of sites which are near commuter rail but badly served by the current North/South divide. That's important for the modern economy, where job changes are a fact of life -- living on one side of the divi...

But this isn't the issue here -- the double-tracking is funded by stimulus money, not state funds. The T dragging the work out, with now less than 100 meters of gap (around Andover station & Pearons St crossing) preventing the one stretch from being used -- and being that way for several years,...