Yawkey Gets New Platform

[Ron Newman]

Will the station stay open during this construction?

[sery2831]

No alerts saying of any closures on the Ts site. So I am guessing the station will remain open.

[BostonUrbEx]

Was anyone else at the ceremony today? I feel like every single person there either had some political/financial stake in the project or was with media.

Will upload some pictures soon.

Interesting note from... uhhh- I think it was Mullan? He said the station will be 100% solar powered. In fact, it will produce more power than it consumes.

[BostonUrbEx]

[jamesinclair]

I wonder how many people in that photo knew of Yawkeys existence before today

[BackInTheCity]

This maybe off topic. Not sure where to post this.

When Beacon Park was in full swing it was more than 88 acres. They cut down the size of the yard thru history and soon there will be no more freight service. They say the renaissance of rail will be in the near future and also a LOT of BIG money is being poured into rail.

What will happen when all freight service is moved out of Boston and the renaissance is on and the economy is booming how is Boston going to get its goods in when there is no freight service when it was a booming 90 acres?

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Was anyone else at the ceremony today? I feel like every single person there either had some political/financial stake in the project or was with media.

Will upload some pictures soon.

Interesting note from... uhhh- I think it was Mullan? He said the station will be 100% solar powered. In fact, it will produce more power than it consumes.

Interesting. I bet they could do that at most CR stops that aren't caught in permanent building shade. Not like you need much electricity to power anything at any unmanned station that isn't a major park-and-ride hub. The scrolling info displays are already pretty miserly, and they make extremely bright white LED light fixtures that match or exceed the lumen output of metal halide, sodium, or fluorescent fixtures at just a few watts of juice (they very recently installed those on the Red Line at the far outdoor end of the Charles MGH platform, and they're indistinguishable from the prior metal halide fixtures). Just throw the panels up on the roof of the platform shelter and let it feed the existing grid connection. They make 'em thin and modular enough to suit any roof texture. Hell, even not- independendly wealthy homeowners do this to their own houses all the time. If the T wanted to assert some creativity here they could cut even some deals with local environmental tech companies to let them test their latest solar models on T property. There's lots of startups in the area dabbling in this. The agency is, after all, the single largest electricity consumer in the state.

[johnm4]

Was anyone else at the ceremony today? I feel like every single person there either had some political/financial stake in the project or was with media.

Will upload some pictures soon.

Interesting note from... uhhh- I think it was Mullan? He said the station will be 100% solar powered. In fact, it will produce more power than it consumes.

I was inadvertently there... I stepped off an inbound train into the face of a half dozen cameras, Mayor Menino, Gov. Patrick, etc. I feel insulted that I wasn't formally invited...

They're claiming to double the amount of stops there I think. Not sure if where they'll fit 2 platforms, maybe closer to Brookline Ave in an offset fashion like the Copley Green line station. I'd certainly appreciate more inbound stops... there's nothing between around 8:45am and 1:00pm.

[ohalloranchris]

I don't ride the train through Yawkey regularly, but have a question about its setup:

It appears that when it was reconfigured, two platforms were constructed, and one of them was positioned as an island platform.

1. Does it function as an island platform, can trains be boarded from both sides?
2. Why did they bother constructing two platforms when a single island platform would theoretically do the job?

Thanks.

[dbperry]

The 'island' platform is only for the 'outbound' track (track #7). Track 5 boards on the parking lot side platform only.

The island platform is not wide enough to accommodate boarding on both sides of it AND the stairways and elevator structures. The island platform could not be designed to be wider due to the curve and the limited space available for moving track 5 further 'into' the parking lot due to the bridge abutment and the length of the right of way.

In other words, the track geometry doesn't work to have a single wide island platform that can be used for boarding both tracks.

Dave

[The EGE]

Also significantly, because the station is on a tight curve, there would be large gaps between the doors and the platform for a train on track 5.