Some changes that the rollout of this fall's schedules includes the start of the Foxboro pilot program service and adding nighttime trains to the old colony lines. Current train times will be tweaked, especially on the Franklin line to adjust for additional trains coming from the fairmount line as well as the extension of the Norwood Central and Walpole runs. Schedules will either be released next week or the week after according to the commuter rail folks on twitter.
Railroad Forums
Fall 2019 Schedules Effective October 21st
- Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.
The T posted a deck on the Foxboro pilot that included a proposed schedule: https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/file ... ssible.pdf
The changes have been posted since last Thursday and includes train 715 leaving at 3:40, 8 mins earlier than scheduled now, 717 leaving at 4:40, 3 mins earlier than now and will become an express just like the 715 is, the former Walpole local which will now be train 751 leaving a minute later at 5:03. The 6:30PM readville shuttle has been extended to Foxboro adding an additional train to express stops at Dedham and Norwood Central after serving all Fairmount line stops. It will not stop at back bay and ruggles. This is the impact for the evening rushour. All Norwood central and Walpole locals will be shifted and extended to Foxboro along with one readville train for each peak rushour will be the major changes occurring on this line. Most off peak trains will head back to south station on the fairmount line which means they will not stop at hyde park, ruggles, and back bay. Schedule can be seen here: https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/file ... ssible.pdf
A little odd that the schedule is up on a publicly accessible website but not announced. You can also access the other lines by replacing franklin with the names of the other lines in the URL.
I live in East Walpole and commute via Norwood central (the same drive as going to Walpole but then less time on the train). I actually went to Norwood Depot for years, then the 2016 schedule changes reduced service there and I instead went to Norwood Central. I am concerned that a significant number of the 100 or so people that used to board the 708 train at Walpole (looking at the 2018 cps) are going to instead go to Norwood Central (Norwood Central is the same distance from Walpole Station as Foxboro, but offers 16 mins less time on the train). Or that other riders from Walpole will instead go to Norwood Central because it offers more flexibility in the PM commute as well. The Norwood Central lot is near capacity by 8:20 already and may start reaching capacity if there is any significant diversion to Norwood Central. Perhaps my concerns are unfounded.
All it would take is a 5-10% diversion from Walpole (1000 riders per day) to cause parking issues at Norwood Central. The hardest part for me to swallow on this pilot is why they messing with a 1000 rider per day station in a downtown area (albeit a limited downtown area of Walpole) to hopefully gain 190 riders per day at a station that no one can walk to and is travel time noncompetitive with other options. Perhaps there are lots of people who can't park at Mansfield or Sharon that will go to Foxboro? Or that many existing or new riders from Foxboro that will want to spend 55 minutes on the train from Foxboro.
Honestly, I hope I am wrong and the pilot goes great and spurs future investment into a Walpole station that can support both track configuration (ala Canton Junction). It was just originally conceptualized as an extension of the fairmont line which had unused capacity, and it instead it's not clear to me that even with the increased service to the inner franklin line stops, that the pilot is going to be a net positive to Franklin line ridership. Hopefully when they complete the double track from Walpole to Norfolk that will give them enough operational flexibility to run true express/local service which I think is what the line needs to attract ridership.
I live in East Walpole and commute via Norwood central (the same drive as going to Walpole but then less time on the train). I actually went to Norwood Depot for years, then the 2016 schedule changes reduced service there and I instead went to Norwood Central. I am concerned that a significant number of the 100 or so people that used to board the 708 train at Walpole (looking at the 2018 cps) are going to instead go to Norwood Central (Norwood Central is the same distance from Walpole Station as Foxboro, but offers 16 mins less time on the train). Or that other riders from Walpole will instead go to Norwood Central because it offers more flexibility in the PM commute as well. The Norwood Central lot is near capacity by 8:20 already and may start reaching capacity if there is any significant diversion to Norwood Central. Perhaps my concerns are unfounded.
All it would take is a 5-10% diversion from Walpole (1000 riders per day) to cause parking issues at Norwood Central. The hardest part for me to swallow on this pilot is why they messing with a 1000 rider per day station in a downtown area (albeit a limited downtown area of Walpole) to hopefully gain 190 riders per day at a station that no one can walk to and is travel time noncompetitive with other options. Perhaps there are lots of people who can't park at Mansfield or Sharon that will go to Foxboro? Or that many existing or new riders from Foxboro that will want to spend 55 minutes on the train from Foxboro.
Honestly, I hope I am wrong and the pilot goes great and spurs future investment into a Walpole station that can support both track configuration (ala Canton Junction). It was just originally conceptualized as an extension of the fairmont line which had unused capacity, and it instead it's not clear to me that even with the increased service to the inner franklin line stops, that the pilot is going to be a net positive to Franklin line ridership. Hopefully when they complete the double track from Walpole to Norfolk that will give them enough operational flexibility to run true express/local service which I think is what the line needs to attract ridership.
Commuterrail1050 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 02, 2019 11:20 am ... and adding nighttime trains to the old colony lines.Unfortunately they didn't add any trains to those lines, they simply delayed the last train of the day by about an hour (Kingston's last run on weekdays is now at 11:40 instead of 10:40). While it's nice to have a later train, we also now have gaps of 2 hours for service in the evening. Weekends are worse as those gaps are now 3 hours. https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/file ... ssible.pdf
mirage wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 10:22 am A little odd that the schedule is up on a publicly accessible website but not announced. You can also access the other lines by replacing franklin with the names of the other lines in the URL.They're all linked off each line's page on the MBTA website as well.
Yeah I just realized that they pushed all of the old colony lines nighttime trains an hour or 2 after the last trains of the rushour. Very stupid tbh, they should have added one or two more nighttime slots using the existing equipment instead of laying them over right away like 021-025 for example. Maybe turning 021 and 023 to inbounds as well and then returning them outbound for their final trip. In terms of the Foxboro pilot, I hope that goes well enough to the point where it extends all fairmount line trains to Foxboro and the Walpole and Norwood central locals, but adjusting the station so both Foxboro and Franklin line trains stop there at some point in the future.
mirage wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 10:22 am ...The hardest part for me to swallow on this pilot is why they messing with a 1000 rider per day station in a downtown area (albeit a limited downtown area of Walpole) to hopefully gain 190 riders per day at a station that no one can walk to and is travel time noncompetitive with other options. Perhaps there are lots of people who can't park at Mansfield or Sharon that will go to Foxboro? Or that many existing or new riders from Foxboro that will want to spend 55 minutes on the train from Foxboro...Because Bob Kraft is putting $600,000 and change into the project, and there's no way to get to the secondary without bypassing the Walpole platform.
Could they potentially in the future build a plat form along the secondary and parking lot and direct people there via the digital signs if the next train boards there?
I assume it would be possible, but at the expense of the current parking lot that the wye dissects.
troffey wrote: ↑Wed Oct 23, 2019 5:23 pmThis why the original plan was to extend fairmont lines trains (and their extra seating capacity) to Foxboro. That would mean 100% of service being retained at FP-->Walpole and increase service from inside of WG. But once they got into the details the main ridership trains are peak Franklin line trains. It was also supposed to relieve parking congestion but now people who used to park at Walpole (and dont anymore due to the reduced service) now park at Norwood Centreal and that lot is full for the first time in its history on a daily basis.mirage wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 10:22 am ...The hardest part for me to swallow on this pilot is why they messing with a 1000 rider per day station in a downtown area (albeit a limited downtown area of Walpole) to hopefully gain 190 riders per day at a station that no one can walk to and is travel time noncompetitive with other options. Perhaps there are lots of people who can't park at Mansfield or Sharon that will go to Foxboro? Or that many existing or new riders from Foxboro that will want to spend 55 minutes on the train from Foxboro...Because Bob Kraft is putting $600,000 and change into the project, and there's no way to get to the secondary without bypassing the Walpole platform.