Yawkey Gets New Platform

I clipped this article from the Weekend Boston Metro. (weekend of Oct 16-18)

Please click the link to read the article.

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/2807/1 ... 1847pm.jpg

The Red Sox ownership group is paying for this? And there will be two platforms, one on each side, rather than just one as it is now?

Now, the next question would be, are they going to start running additional Red Sox trains on some of the other lines? Maybe they could make an arrangement with CSX to leave one or two tracks open in the Cambridge yard on game days (is that possible?) so they could leave the trains therer during the game, then pick up the people, turn at South Station, and go back down the other lines. I don't know, just an idea....

trainhq wrote:Now, the next question would be, are they going to start running additional Red Sox trains on some of the other lines?

For a while after Yawkey Station opened, the MBTA ran a baseball special out of South Attleboro for weekend games. I don't know how well the train was patronized but it didn't last too long.

They used to have an arrangement on the Providence line that a specific train goes into South Station and turns around to become a Framingham-bound Yawkey stop Red Sox train on weekends. That probably didn't last long.

The problem is we have no information.

I dont get why this is a secret, its been in the works since 2006.

Will we be getting one full level platform or two? If two, dont they have to move the tracks?


As for the red sox, all playoff games get a train at yawkey that waits until the game ends. Even if it runs past 1am.

This topic is related to this(link below) on the MBTA site, right?

http://www.mbta.com/about_the_mbta/news ... nth=&year=

Looking at the diagram on the MBTA site (linked in the post above), they will build a station building and a parking garage (probably to reap a monster profit from game-day parking) and stairs from an overhead walkway down to the platform(s) (looks like there may be 2 platforms, but I can't really tell). Looking at how the track curves south a bit near the station, it looks like they may be realigning the tracks, and the current Yawkey platform is to be green-space, which may suggest that it will have 2 platforms.

If it does have two platforms, then maybe Fram/Worc trains would stop there regularly after it is built.

The solar panels are a good idea, but are they going to be visible? Or is this another "Kenmore Busway" project where it becomes an eyesore when you see a "modern art" canopy designed to look like it's falling down, next to a hotel which was built to appear rustic?

diburning wrote:
The solar panels are a good idea, but are they going to be visible? Or is this another "Kenmore Busway" project where it becomes an eyesore when you see a "modern art" canopy designed to look like it's falling down, next to a hotel which was built to appear rustic?

No, they will be on the roofs of the new buildings, itll be impossible to see.

Also, the majority of the project has nothing to do with the MBTA. They just demanded a nicer station in return for a private developer building above it.

More trains are supposed to stop there, but its unclear if all of them will.

I was talking with a friend about the Yawkey proposal today and how ridiculous it sounded for a station only used for games, but then he told me it was also a part of a relocation of the D Line's Fenway Station so that it is closer to Fenway Park, plus an additional C Line Fenway stop. I cannot find any information at all on this at all, but he said he just heard it from someone last week so maybe it's a new additional proposal. I sure hope it's true, that would be quite awesome, just a walk across Brookline Ave and there you are.

Can anyone confirm this though?

BostonUrbEx wrote:I was talking with a friend about the Yawkey proposal today and how ridiculous it sounded for a station only used for games, but then he told me it was also a part of a relocation of the D Line's Fenway Station so that it is closer to Fenway Park, plus an additional C Line Fenway stop. I cannot find any information at all on this at all, but he said he just heard it from someone last week so maybe it's a new additional proposal. I sure hope it's true, that would be quite awesome, just a walk across Brookline Ave and there you are.

Can anyone confirm this though?

So many problems with this post!

1) It is NOT a station only used for games. It was at first, but since...2005? It's been a regular commuter stop. Trains stop year round regardless of games. The new platforms will make it so more trains stop, as there is demand from the longwood and BU areas.

2) The plan is part of the buildings that will go in the parking lot and over the station. It's not an MBTA project, it's a private project that includes station renovation as part of the deal to win approval.

3) The C line could not possibly get another stop, nor could the D line. What is possible (but extremely unlikely) is an underground pedestrian walkway between Kenmore and Yawkey. It's been talked about as a cool project, but no money exists, and I doubt this project will include anything to help that.

What IS being done to the D line Fenway stop is the addition of a much nicer bike and pedestrian path along the tracks. That is a Boston, not MBTA project. It will make walking from Yawkey to Fenway station nicer.

You can read about there here
http://www.cityofboston.gov/transportation/flk/

It's not very well organized, 4 different projects are under the same banner, and terribly out of date.
The projects are:
-Brookline Ave one way (cancelled)
-Audobon circle pedestrian enhancements
-Boylston ave remake
-Bike/pedestrian path (relevant to MBTA discussion)

ags wrote:They used to have an arrangement on the Providence line that a specific train goes into South Station and turns around to become a Framingham-bound Yawkey stop Red Sox train on weekends. That probably didn't last long.

That actually still happens. Ive taken that train from Providence to Yawkey a good amount of times last season. Trains 1806 and 2806 (mainly 2806 since Fenway usually doesnt have Saturday afternoon games at 1:35PM). I wonder how there gonna build another platform across the tracks seeing that I-90 is like 10 feet from the tracks

jamesinclair wrote: 1) It is NOT a station only used for games. It was at first, but since...2005? It's been a regular commuter stop. Trains stop year round regardless of games. The new platforms will make it so more trains stop, as there is demand from the longwood and BU areas.

Yawkey debuted in 1988 as a "Red Sox only" stop, but by 2001 service was expanded to year-round, peak and off-peak.

According to today's Boston Herald, construction begins today.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regio ... y_station/

ags wrote:According to today's Boston Herald, construction begins today.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regio ... y_station/

Does this mean they have plans soon to reconfigure the tracks through Beacon Park to a full 2 running tracks by the time this opens? All outbound trains that don't skip Yawkey come out of the Back Bay tunnel on the platform-side rail only, and even if they continued on to the Pike viaduct crossover before going single-rail it's going to make that choke point much worse to run a full schedule stopping there. Yawkey today is still skipped on almost half the weekday trains in both directions.

They needn't wait until Beacon Park is vacated in 2012 or whenever to do the work. It's only 1 yard track with no operational effect on the yard leads (not even during construction since there's multiple crossovers and multiple lead tracks on the west end, the Grand Junction connects inside the yard, they don't go any further inbound to ever use the east crossover, and Amtrak and the T can temporarily use one of the west crossovers for Grand Junction moves). CSX is rarely close enough to capacity that they'd be anywhere close to crunched for space if the T acted now, and they'll be on gradual draw-down of Allston operations soon (if not already beginning) as soon as the double-stack upgrades go far enough east to hit Springfield or Palmer, nevermind the new Beacon Park replacement yards. Good time to at least get the funding house in order on that construction, since I don't see how Yawkey's going to support a full schedule slate without it.