Express trains on the green line

Why aren't there express trains more often on the green line?

Occasionally, I've seen trains express from St. Paul (B) to Kenmore, or Coolidge Corner (C) to Kenmore. It actually makes the trip more bearable.

Is it fair to assume that this isn't by design, but rather to make up for poor scheduling/dispatching/train bunching?

If two trains are near each other, why don't they send the one ahead of it express? Who makes the decision to do so? I think in morning rush hour it would be very helpful.

jumbotusk wrote:Why aren't there express trains more often on the green line?

Occasionally, I've seen trains express from St. Paul (B) to Kenmore, or Coolidge Corner (C) to Kenmore. It actually makes the trip more bearable.

Is it fair to assume that this isn't by design, but rather to make up for poor scheduling/dispatching/train bunching?

If two trains are near each other, why don't they send the one ahead of it express? Who makes the decision to do so? I think in morning rush hour it would be very helpful.

the CTA in chicago runs "random" expresses very often. i think the all local service is ok, and that the current system is fine.

jumbotusk wrote:Why aren't there express trains more often on the green line?

Occasionally, I've seen trains express from St. Paul (B) to Kenmore, or Coolidge Corner (C) to Kenmore. It actually makes the trip more bearable.

Is it fair to assume that this isn't by design, but rather to make up for poor scheduling/dispatching/train bunching?

If two trains are near each other, why don't they send the one ahead of it express? Who makes the decision to do so? I think in morning rush hour it would be very helpful.

Its usually done if there are "extra" cars, but "extra" and "mbta" usually are not in the same sentence!

Most of the time they express trains on the Green Line is when there is some sort of delay that bunches them together and to get everything back to normal

Why aren't there express trains more often on the green line?

Because in 99.44% of the time it makes no sense to do so, even if you are physically able to run "express", which is highly unlikely. You either get a brief good run until you catch up to the train ahead and then begin a stop-and-go routine as you follow its signals (while it makes every stop), or, given the lack of preemptive traffic signals in Boston, you end up having to stop at every intersection anyway, so why not open the doors at the stations while you wait for the light to turn green?

maybe skip-stop on the D, but otherwise, no.

Again, that's only in emergencies even with the Riverside Branch. However, I rode on a train to Riverside once during afternoon rush, and ran express from Kenmore to Reservoir.

I know that during the baseball season, some trains will run express from Fenway to Reservoir immediatley following a game. However, this is probably just to recycle the trains so they can get back up to Kenmore more quickly.