Fitchburg Line Upgrade Discussion

Aug 4 changes are coming. All South Acton turns become Littleton turns and there are tweaks to the times of several peak and off peak trains.

sery2831 wrote:Aug 4 changes are coming. All South Acton turns become Littleton turns and there are tweaks to the times of several peak and off peak trains.

Are the new schedules out yet? I'm hoping they aren't as drastic as Keolis proposed in their bid (swapping expresses around and such). That's way too little notice for that type of change.

7 hopper cars filled with ballast just passed here (outbound). Didn't see the power. Trailing was the C-1.

8 hoppers, not 7, as it just headed back the other way. Appeared empty, but one of the middle hoppers was dropping ballast along the tracks with a couple track walkers on either side making sure it shut off before it hit South Street. 3247 providing power.

The old Waltham B&M freight house is gone. Earlier this week crews demolished the one-story commercial structure that curved adjacent to the former Watertown Branch track merging right onto the Fitchburg line.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/87614014@ ... 525767097/








I guess crews were taking advantage of the weekend service suspension.

It was part of some big downtown redevelopment plan that collapsed when the developers pulled out. Now they're just cleaning and landscaping the property as part of the downtown streetscaping, and will take a second go at attracting development $$$ after the area is prettied up. From what I gather the demo part of the redev plan was paid for, so they don't need to have new developers in tow to clear that work away.

Bemis Branch trestle over the Charles behind the station and next to the old mill building got demolished 3 weeks ago. Structure was in too poor shape to rehab into a walkway or bypass but leave standing like the second trestle further downstream, so they took it down and will build some sort of simple ped crossing of the river in its place.

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:Bemis Branch trestle over the Charles behind the station and next to the old mill building got demolished 3 weeks ago. Structure was in too poor shape to rehab into a walkway or bypass but leave standing like the second trestle further downstream, so they took it down and will build some sort of simple ped crossing of the river in its place.

Yep, lots of demolition in that quarter of Waltham, combined with the MERC development at Moody and Main.

New signal bridge was sitting on the tracks yesterday evening and is now eirected with signals just east of Shirley Station. Signals are on the bridge and seems like it could go live quickly.

I saw the new schedule Friday, it's quite annoying it's not on MBTA's site yet though. Mornings are mostly untouched, afternoon outbound rush is quite a different story, and not all in a good way.

The express (now to south Acton) leaves 10 minutes earlier 4:20 out of north station) which puts it out of reach of many 8:30-4:30 workers unless they work near north station or porter.

The next train (full local) is now departing 15 minutes later at 5:05 and the semi-express to Waltham and Lincoln going local to points west, is pushed 10 minutes to 530 out of North Station

There might have been other changes, but I didn't hold the copy, we were short of them (3 copies for the whole train). Does anyone know when the T will post the notice? It seems short notice for these changes.

As one who drove past the Waltham freight house every working day I'm sorry to see that bit of history obliterated. Unfortunately the building was in rough shape and probably just waiting for vandals to torch it some night. The last commercial tenant moved out a while back, and even with the demise of the proposed condo project on the site there wasn't any likelihood that anyone would take it over and fix it up. At least Waltham tower is still used by the signal department and apparently safe for the immediate future.

tvachon wrote:
I saw the new schedule Friday, it's quite annoying it's not on MBTA's site yet though. Mornings are mostly untouched, afternoon outbound rush is quite a different story, and not all in a good way.

The express (now to south Acton) leaves 10 minutes earlier 4:20 out of north station) which puts it out of reach of many 8:30-4:30 workers unless they work near north station or porter.

The next train (full local) is now departing 15 minutes later at 5:05 and the semi-express to Waltham and Lincoln going local to points west, is pushed 10 minutes to 530 out of North Station

There might have been other changes, but I didn't hold the copy, we were short of them (3 copies for the whole train). Does anyone know when the T will post the notice? It seems short notice for these changes.

Your info is a little incorrect. The super express leaves at 4:30p from 4:40p. The schedule should be posted sometime this week. There are several tweaks at night.

Spotted this machine at the Brandies/Roberts station heading inbound https://www.flickr.com/photos/25664139@N06/14567857078/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looked like crews were still working just east of the Beaver Street crossing again this weekend. 2 Hi-Rail dump trucks and 2 front end loaders were parked near Beaver and a large Yellow crane (probably a 300 TON) was on the ROW next to Waverley Oaks Road.

Culvert replacement at Clematis Brook...this weekend was the No.2 Track side.

D

tvachon wrote:
I saw the new schedule Friday, it's quite annoying it's not on MBTA's site yet though. Mornings are mostly untouched, afternoon outbound rush is quite a different story, and not all in a good way.

The express (now to south Acton) leaves 10 minutes earlier 4:20 out of north station) which puts it out of reach of many 8:30-4:30 workers unless they work near north station or porter.

The next train (full local) is now departing 15 minutes later at 5:05 and the semi-express to Waltham and Lincoln going local to points west, is pushed 10 minutes to 530 out of North Station

There might have been other changes, but I didn't hold the copy, we were short of them (3 copies for the whole train). Does anyone know when the T will post the notice? It seems short notice for these changes.

The new schedule is now posted.

The other huge one is that 6:20-7:50 PM gap in the evenings. Run a bit late from the office and you're really getting home late!

Signals are screwing up the inbounds all day. Of which Train 424 seemed to get the worst of it which I almost had my wife and one year old on. 424 is 45m+ late due to signals, but hard to confirm the "+" as PTIS is down, again. Train 466 is starting at Littleton to help with the 424 issues, and then running inbound. In the AM rush, Trains 408 and 412 were also reported as 10-20 minute delays due to signals.

My guess is this is related to the new signals between Ayer and Shirley but they still looked dark this morning. Luckily I drove in today...