The EGE wrote:A good general estimate is somewhere in the range of 10 million dollars for full highs, depending on how station access is already. The MBTA Fairmount Line stations cost around $10M each; that's with 2 800-foot platforms with shelters, signs, electronic message boards, lighting, cameras, and lengthy ramps (the line is grade separated).
Yes, although vast majority of that cost is going to be for those (impressively overbuilt) ramps and the landscaping onsite. The high-level platforms the T builds are not particularly expensive, because they generally aren't solid slabs. They tend to be rather cookie-cutter construction of concrete pilings, a prefab concrete deck on top, and hollow underside (see Hanson station on the Kingston/Plymouth Line for typical construction:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hanso ... son_MA.jpg). It's a platform on stilts. And their shelters--the prefab ones at least--are just corrugated steel roofs that wear pretty well under weather. They got the Old Colony Lines right...pretty bland construction, but a very consistent look station-to-station that looks nice, clean and professional...has white/light-gray tones that stand up well to the weather and look nice with minimal maintenance...and have remained in excellent condition after 15 years. For retrofits of existing low-level platforms that's pretty cheap to do so long as there are not abutting historic station buildings where the height difference in platforms makes the interface with the front of the building a pain and requires small ramps.
Unfortunately all the T's station retrofits so far have been very, very expensive jobs primarily centered on parking lot expansion, eye candy, and architectural fluff. But I could easily see them plow through all the non-ADA lows on the system with access from nearby grade crossings very easily. The entire Reading Line from Wyoming Hill to North Wilmington, for instance. Chelsea on the Eastern Route. Several of the Rockport Line stops.
Norfolk on the Franklin Line (Endicott-Windor Gardens are the only portions on that line on a freight clearance route). Etc., etc. Fund it under similar properties as the I-93 "Fast 14" bridge replacement project that worked so well, go with entirely prefab construction (even prefab pilings they can just sink and anchor into the ground to make it pour-free), and finish...say...the entire Reading Line in one summer blitz. Divert Haverhill Trains temporarily to the NH Main, run single-track ops short-turning at Reading or North Wilmington, and do total closures on one side's platforms first before moving to the other side. That's an excellent way of taking care of those easy ones quickly and without the mission creep the T is infamous for. That would be an excellent way to clear the non-ADA station backlog, replace a lot of ones that are looking worse for wear (like the stations out to Reading), and put a significant dent in the system's level boarding upgrades. Certainly the ones requiring more extensive mods--Worcester Line inside Framingham where significant ADA walkway construction is required, the NEC stations that would be getting passing tracks, the remaining non-clearance route Fitchburg stations east of South Acton that all have historic station buildings or other on-property structures. But it's high value for money on the ones suitable for prefab jobs and sitting on grade crossings. They've just got to get out of this habit of treating parking, eye candy, and platforms as megaproject monoliths.