Short stretches of single track typically aren't big operational issues. I've ridden the Eastern Route off and on for 40+ years, and you're more likely to wait at Beverly Jct. than at either end of the Salem tunnel. Waltham is at a similar level. In terms of delays and train density, the two biggest north side capacity problems are Andover St. - Wilmington Jct. and Sullivan Sq. - Oak Grove. The former is in the works, the latter could be helped a lot for not much money by making the Medford Branch running track a CTC siding and scheduling meets there. Neither is really a prerequisite for Plaistow, NH service because that isn't expected to increase the number of trains on the Western Route; they'll just have to add 15 - 20 minutes to each round-trip time. The extra capacity Plaistow needs is extending double track a couple of miles beyond the current end at the NH 121A crossing. Otherwise, freights and DEs waiting for the single track to Rockingham Jct. will have to mix it up with commuter rail between Hall and Plaistow. Regrettably, Guilford's past behaviour suggests that this will take years and platoons of lawyers to get into service, once money becomes available.
jbvb wrote:Short stretches of single track typically aren't big operational issues. I've ridden the Eastern Route off and on for 40+ years, and you're more likely to wait at Beverly Jct. than at either end of the Salem tunnel. Waltham is at a similar level. In terms of delays and train density, the two biggest north side capacity problems are Andover St. - Wilmington Jct. and Sullivan Sq. - Oak Grove. The former is in the works, the latter could be helped a lot for not much money by making the Medford Branch running track a CTC siding and scheduling meets there. Neither is really a prerequisite for Plaistow, NH service because that isn't expected to increase the number of trains on the Western Route; they'll just have to add 15 - 20 minutes to each round-trip time. The extra capacity Plaistow needs is extending double track a couple of miles beyond the current end at the NH 121A crossing. Otherwise, freights and DEs waiting for the single track to Rockingham Jct. will have to mix it up with commuter rail between Hall and Plaistow. Regrettably, Guilford's past behaviour suggests that this will take years and platoons of lawyers to get into service, once money becomes available.The Medford Branch track already has crossovers for thru-running (been used when the tunnel's had flooding problems), although I don't think the track itself is in real good shape. That track continues a long way further as a derelict freight siding that peels off to about where the Carberry's Bakery is on Commercial St.. If they took down the fence that separates it from the thru tracks an upgraded passing track be extended past the Medford St. bridge to just about Oakland St., a little under a mile of total double-tracking. The ROW's wide enough to double-track fully from just outside Wellington to just outside Malden Ctr., but the Adams St. and Charles St. bridges would require a 4th berth and a little extra filling on the abutments to handle that. They look like newer bridges, so they must've been rebuilt down to 3-track at some point in the last 40+ years. Won't be an opportunity to do that unless the bridges are structurally deficient and need a re-decking in the near future. Unfortunately that's the most that can be done without cannibalizing the OL express track.
