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  • Green Line Extension Lechmere to Medford

  • Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.
Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.

Moderators: sery2831, CRail

 #1272412  by Arlington
 
deathtopumpkins wrote:
Adams_Umass_Boston wrote:looks like a great place to get mugged.
You'd think that, but keep in mind that there's no place for the mugger to flee to. If someone tries to mug you, and you call for help, they can't run or hide, they're stuck there too. You're far more likely to get mugged on a sidewalk, where there are a dozen different directions the guy could run off in, or he could hop into a parked car or duck in an alley.
The mugger will flee on the bike he just took from you.

Socially-active places--the sidewalk or even the Minuteman bikeway through overgrown "backyards"--is safe because it is populated with witnesses and help, both of which will be in short supply in the aerial tube they're proposing.

I think they will have no choice but to put security cameras all along it to provide some sense that witnesses and help are "near".
 #1272417  by Adams_Umass_Boston
 
Arlington wrote:
The mugger will flee on the bike he just took from you.

Socially-active places--the sidewalk or even the Minuteman bikeway through overgrown "backyards"--is safe because it is populated with witnesses and help, both of which will be in short supply in the aerial tube they're proposing.

I think they will have no choice but to put security cameras all along it to provide some sense that witnesses and help are "near".
Thank you,
They will need to install those police call boxes too.
 #1272422  by BandA
 
Looks very unforgiving if you take a tumble. It looks narrow; is it the same width as the minuteman? Security, and getting an ambulance in there? Didn't see any place to plow the snow.
 #1272753  by Arborwayfan
 
The mugging aspect is more compelling than the appearances (but maybe not unrelated). If no one uses it, it'll be deserted and scary. If loads of people use it, it'll be reasonably safe. The sides don't look that high and there are houses etc along part of the route. A few wide spots with grass to attract people like dog walkers would be good; the dog walkers made the Arboretum safe, for example (obviously a more inviting place, but there isn't an equivalent right near this trail).
 #1283571  by Arlington
 
Back in June 2012 we were saying
Arlington wrote:
The EGE wrote:The list of mitigation alternatives is also up. It's mostly pretty uninspired - a lot of reducing headways on the rapid transit lines or on Somerville/Medford bus routes, and plenty of non-transit ideas.
I think they buried the lede: frequent off-peak Lechemere trains combined with a new 87E and 80E buses. Certainly that's how a for-profit enterprise would prototype/test the market for a BILLION dollar line...see if they can even get a blip with buses and admit that, yes, buses arent' great and that with rail you get 10x (or whatever) the lift. The willingness of *some* new riders to take the 80E or 87E to a better Lechemere (I often would) is proxy for the many more who'd ride a real GLX.
Well, MassDOT is out with a final list of "Mitigations" they are willing to do because they've missed their GLX deadlines:
...on Page 18 they conclude:
the following three interim mitigation measures which collectively would meet the emissions reduction target for the [GLX]project:
• Additional off-peak service along existing routes serving the GLX corridor, including
-- the Green Line,
-- and bus routes 80, 88, 91, 94 and 96;
• Purchase of 142 new hybrid electric vehicles for The RIDE;
• Additional park and ride spaces at the Salem and Beverly intermodal facilities

Thumbing back into the proposal from June 2012, and picking out line items, I can't tell what the extra GL service would amount to, but based on the bus routes they chose (geo-targeted) I would guess they picked something like having both the D&E serve Lechmere off-peak and reducing their headways:
Green Line E Off-peak headways reduced from 8 and 14 min to 6.67 min
Green Line D Off-peak headways reduced from 11 & 13 min to 7.5 min
The buses were drafted as follows (and in descending order) I think it significant that they picked lines in Somerville/Medford very close to the GLX stations, but also emphasising connecting to the Red line (if people really wanted to ride these buses just "for the bus", they'd already be riding them). They had proposed:
Route 91 Off-peak headways reduced from 70 & 60 min to 40 min
Route 80 Off-peak headways reduced from 35 & 60 min to 20 min
Route 94 Off-peak headways reduced from 48 & 50 min to 30 min
Route 88 Off-peak headways reduced from 30 min to 20 min
Route 96 Off-peak headways reduced from 48 and 60 min to 20 min
And then there are the Garages at Salem and Beverly which are outside the Medford-Somerville area--why were they chosen? Quick? Taking credit for something they were already planning on the Northside?
 #1283593  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
How in the hell do they get to rebrand a binding transit commitment they entered into 7+ years ago to construct those Salem/Beverly parking spaces on an end-year 2011 completion deadline...as a brand new GLX delay mitigation commitment in 2014 in a separate county with no transit overlap whatsoever. Isn't the perpetual horse-trading over Transit Commitments supposed to be in the same service area? Or within 15 miles of the same service area?

Chutzpah. Somebody at MassDOT's got an overabundance of it they want to share with the world.
 #1283665  by bostontrainguy
 
They don't have enough equipment and personnel to do the present schedules. Headways are constantly being stretched due to operational problems and thinking they can reduce them is laughable. They have done nothing but slow down service which results in trains getting back to their originating points late effecting headways.
 #1283667  by Arlington
 
bostontrainguy wrote:They don't have enough equipment and personnel to do the present schedules. Headways are constantly being stretched due to operational problems and thinking they can reduce them is laughable. They have done nothing but slow down service which results in trains getting back to their originating points late effecting headways.
This, clearly, is the MBTA's thinking. That more peak is not doable, and that the bigger difference that the GLX will make is actually in "whole day" / "whole week" mobility (even 15 min *off-peak* headways on the future GLX to College Ave would be a huge thing for convincing folks they can go "car free")

But still, is there no place to procure, garage, and staff, say 8 buses, such that each of the 6 bus routes in the GLX-shortfall area could get 1 new bus assigned each rush hour? Even 1 peak-hour trip would mean a 20% to 30% reduction in headways on some of these routes.
 #1283837  by Arlington
 
Pulled from various pages, here is the phasing/scheduling. Note that Phase 4 (to College Ave) is now "June 2020"
Code: Select all
July 2014 90% Plans for phase 2/2A Lechmere, Washington St, & Union Sq Submitted
July 2014 60% Plans for "Beyond Washington St" recommence
Sept 2014 FTA submission for Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) under New Starts to be submitted
Fall 2014 Temporary (Construction) easements acquisition
Sprg 2015 Design begins on Vehicle Storage & Maintenance Facility (VSMF / Stage 3)
???? 2014 MBTA is "proceeding" with rehab of eight existing cars to support Phase 2/2A ops
Dec  2015 FTA/Congressional approval of FFGA expected
???? 2015 Construction on Phase 2/2A Begins
Late 2017 Completion of Phase 2/2A Complete
Late 2017 New Type 9 Cars start arriving
Sprg 2018 New Type 9 Cars all delivered
???? ????  VSMF completed (as precondition for "Beyond Washington" ops)
June 2020 Completion of "Beyond Washington St" & "Project Completion"
 #1284545  by rethcir
 
Arlington wrote:Pulled from various pages, here is the phasing/scheduling. Note that Phase 4 (to College Ave) is now "June 2020"
Code: Select all
July 2014 90% Plans for phase 2/2A Lechmere, Washington St, & Union Sq Submitted
July 2014 60% Plans for "Beyond Washington St" recommence
Sept 2014 FTA submission for Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) under New Starts to be submitted
Fall 2014 Temporary (Construction) easements acquisition
Sprg 2015 Design begins on Vehicle Storage & Maintenance Facility (VSMF / Stage 3)
???? 2014 MBTA is "proceeding" with rehab of eight existing cars to support Phase 2/2A ops
Dec  2015 FTA/Congressional approval of FFGA expected
???? 2015 Construction on Phase 2/2A Begins
Late 2017 Completion of Phase 2/2A Complete
Late 2017 New Type 9 Cars start arriving
Sprg 2018 New Type 9 Cars all delivered
???? ????  VSMF completed (as precondition for "Beyond Washington" ops)
June 2020 Completion of "Beyond Washington St" & "Project Completion"
What a joke.
 #1284661  by BigUglyCat
 
bostontrainguy wrote:But the Transcontinental Railroad was built in six years with picks and shovels :)

How far we have come!
"Progression without progress." --J.D. Robb's character Roarke
 #1285886  by Arlington
 
Based on the presentation from July 31st Medford St Bridge meeting, I've added three "Phase 1" completion dates into this schedule. Demo on 21 Water ends soon, Reconstruction of Medford St Bridge to 5 tracks by the end of this year, but Harvard St (to 4 tracks) (and, really, 4-track viaduct construction, which is an expanded scope) doesn't finish until Mid 2015.
Code: Select all
July 2014 90% Plans for phase 2/2A Lechmere, Washington St, & Union Sq Submitted
July 2014 60% Plans for "Beyond Washington St" recommence
Aug. 2014 Demolition complete on 21 Water St[NEW 8/1/14]
Sept 2014 FTA submission for Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) under New Starts to be submitted
Fall 2014 Temporary (Construction) easements acquisition
End 2014 Medford St Bridge Reconstruction (5 tracks wide) complete[NEW 8/1/14]
Sprg 2015 Design begins on Vehicle Storage & Maintenance Facility (VSMF / Stage 3)
???? 2014 MBTA is "proceeding" with rehab of eight existing cars to support Phase 2/2A ops
July 2015 Harvard St Bridge Reconstruction (4 tracks) & expanded retaining wall complete[NEW 8/1/14]
Dec  2015 FTA/Congressional approval of FFGA expected
???? 2015 Construction on Phase 2/2A Begins
Late 2017 Completion of Phase 2/2A Complete
Late 2017 New Type 9 Cars start arriving
Sprg 2018 New Type 9 Cars all delivered
???? ????  VSMF completed (as precondition for "Beyond Washington" ops)
June 2020 Completion of "Beyond Washington St" & "Project Completion"
 #1286556  by Finch
 
Wow, 5 tracks for the Medford Street bridge. They had Medford Street closed maybe last week. Now that it is open again, my friend reports that he could not notice any difference with the bridge...even though I told him to keep an eye out for bridge work. We speculated that maybe they added a few more patches of primer. :-)

Anybody know what the "rehab of eight existing cars" is referring to?
 #1286564  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
What do they need 5 tracks for? PAR's not going to be storing any more empty cars there if the GLX yard sever their around-the-horn access, so existing Track 3 is no longer needed. It's probably not needed even if they do a design change to the carhouse leads to overpass a reinstated thru freight connection.

Did the Union Branch get a recent design mod adding a small storage track? And if so, why smack over the bridge?
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