Railroad Forums 

  • Newburyport Branch Wakefield

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England

Moderators: MEC407, NHN503

 #1299197  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
BostonUrbEx wrote:
2018 Boston Region MPO Transportation Improvement Program

...

WAKEFIELD- LYNNFIELD- RAIL TRAIL EXTENSION,
FROM THE GALVIN MIDDLE SCHOOL TO
LYNNFIELD/PEABODY T.L.

...

$ 7,084,000
http://www.ctps.org/Drupal/data/pdf/pla ... Review.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So, basically, there's $7mil slated to finally build the rail trail from North Ave in Wakefield to Nichols Ln on the Lynnfield/Peabody town line. The construction is programmed to start in 2018.

It is unclear when a project will connect the trail to the Salem & Lowell at Lt Ross Park in Peabody. Also unclear when (or how) this section of the Old Newburyport Branch and the Old Newburyport Branch east of US-1/I-95 will connect between Lowell St and Lt Ross Park. But it's slowly coming together -- a nice network centered on Peabody/Danvers.
The Route 1 grade crossing is the problem, not only because of the speeds, traffic, and location next to the high-speed I-95 interchange but also because the ROW cuts it at a sharp angle. There will have to be an on-street detour to Lowell St. and the Route 1 underpass to connect it all. Same way the Independence Greenway trail on the other side of 95 requires an on-street zigzag using Lowell St. to get over to the existing Danvers trail on that side.

Not much they can do about how roundabout it all is given the mess of highway interchanges and infeasibility of doing a multiple ped bridges or underpasses across that wide an expanse of criscrossing high-speed asphalt. Peabody's going to do the best it can seeking roadway accessibility improvements to make it safer and more straightforward on-street across the trail gap.
 #1299219  by tom18287
 
this used to bum me out that they are taking out the rails everywhere, but honestly a right of way is there, it might as well be utilized. it's not like trains are ever coming back, there are no factories to supply anymore.
 #1299309  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
tom18287 wrote:this used to bum me out that they are taking out the rails everywhere, but honestly a right of way is there, it might as well be utilized. it's not like trains are ever coming back, there are no factories to supply anymore.
And just to be clear...none of these impact potential for a Peabody/North Shore Mall commuter rail extension. That section of ex-Salem & Lowell between Peabody Sq. and Route 128 is presently private-owned for power lines and off-limits unless/until the state buys it specifically to run rail next to the powers lines. Because Danvers wasn't as interested as Peabody was in CR the Danvers Branch heading due-north out of Peabody Sq. is the one that's getting trailed. Town of Peabody is still forcefully advocating for the 1 mile of S&L ROW to the Mall getting rebuilt. In fact, it's pretty much the only way the Independence Greenway trail that currently dumps off at the Mall could ever cross 128 with some halfway-convenient route to the Square, if they grafted on a pedestrian sidewalk onto the side of that would-be rail bridge over the highway.


Trudging any further west of the Mall really wouldn't ever have much passenger potential. The Newburyport Branch stays in the swamp away from most of Lynnfield and offers up no stop locations that could ever have much parking. Then the Wakefield stretch duplicates the catchment area of the existing Wakefield commuter rail station and the fairly decent bus access around town, with a Western Route junction sharply angled to only point south. Danvers you might be able to roll eyes at for preferring the trail over Daversport commuter rail, but there's no potential west of there and Peabody has been locktight-consistent at cheerleading for commuter rail where it most counts.
 #1299425  by BostonUrbEx
 
I don't see how a branch to the North Shore Mall is more valuable than a branch to Danvers Center. Not only does a Danvers branch net more walkshed commuters, but it would net more bike path commuters. The branch to Danvers is already in-tact and fully grade-separated except for Purchase St and maybe Elm St (if they even cross Elm St).

Either way, you hit Peabody Sq, which is the big kahuna here. If you go to North Shore Mall, that's it. You get a park-and-ride and you're done. Going to Danvers, however, you can have a stop between Endicott and Andover/114 to serve that nameless square in Peabody, and then Danvers Center. Three great walk sheds. It also maximizes access via all bike paths, instead of only the ones running west.

I'd also like to point out the potential for restarting freight. It would keep the traffic to the gelatin plant a little more viable for Pan Am, with the state dumping money into half of their remaining line. Plus, with the line running to Danvers again, maybe Eastern Propane and other former customers in the area would be interested in rail again.
 #1299435  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
BostonUrbEx wrote:I don't see how a branch to the North Shore Mall is more valuable than a branch to Danvers Center. Not only does a Danvers branch net more walkshed commuters, but it would net more bike path commuters. The branch to Danvers is already in-tact and fully grade-separated except for Purchase St and maybe Elm St (if they even cross Elm St).

Either way, you hit Peabody Sq, which is the big kahuna here. If you go to North Shore Mall, that's it. You get a park-and-ride and you're done. Going to Danvers, however, you can have a stop between Endicott and Andover/114 to serve that nameless square in Peabody, and then Danvers Center. Three great walk sheds. It also maximizes access via all bike paths, instead of only the ones running west.

I'd also like to point out the potential for restarting freight. It would keep the traffic to the gelatin plant a little more viable for Pan Am, with the state dumping money into half of their remaining line. Plus, with the line running to Danvers again, maybe Eastern Propane and other former customers in the area would be interested in rail again.
Actually, North Shore Mall had the slight upper hand in ridership in the study, though it was a near- statistical tie and both sites had their advantages and disadvantages. But that's all moot now. North Shore's the only option left; Danvers didn't want their branch and did want the trail, so they voluntarily gave it up. Peabody's still charging hard to bait commuter rail to the Square any way they can to try to get its foot in the door. Then try to pin the state into a binding commitment to build the 1-mile extension to North Shore Mall as a Phase 2. The Square would've been an ideal terminus for their DMU plan, but of course the 2024 Indigo Line fantasy map the T released truncated the service uselessly short at Lynn because they didn't want to knock down the unnaturally high zone fares in Swampscott and Salem.


There's no freight potential on the abandoned branches. It died out too long ago, and Danvers was all too happy to see it go. The out-of-service portion of the South Peabody Branch is still a going concern for PAR, though. They and the town want to get some more rail customers out by the industrial park. Whether it happens is going to depend heavily on whether Pan Am can negotiate a Green Line Extension design change so the carhouse doesn't cut their access. Because if that access gets harmed they're probably going to start losing interest in the one customer they do have out there instead of actually making an effort to sign on more.
 #1299539  by Ridgefielder
 
Question here from someone who has a bit of familiarity with the area-- one of my best friends in college was Newburyport born & raised, and I've spent a decent amount of time there over the years-- but who has never lived there.

Now, I know the history of the building of the B&M is equally as convoluted as that of my hometown NYNH&H, with acquisitions galore. I know Newburyport is served by what's left of the Eastern Route (originally the Eastern Railway), which used to continue on across the Merrimac to Portsmouth, NH and Portland, ME. And I know there was once a line (overpass on 1A still intact) that ran from the Newburyport wharves westward, crossing the Eastern Route just south of the location of the current Newburyport station and continuing on to (I assume) North Andover or one of the other milltowns farther up the Merrimac.

So-- what is the Newburyport Branch, and why is it in Peabody, which is adjacent to Salem, a city that has had a direct rail connection with Newburyport since the Stourbridge Lion and the Best Friend of Charleston were in revenue service?

Apologies in advance if this is a stupid question or has been covered already elsewhere.
 #1299546  by ferroequinarchaeologist
 
The line from Salem to Wakefield Junction was called the South Reading Branch Railroad, and you are correct in that there was no reason for its existence other than to allow the Boston & Maine to siphon traffic away from the Eastern Railroad at Salem. This area (where I used to live) was quite possibly the most overbuilt railroad-wise in the whole country. The Essex, Salem & Lowell, South Reading Branch, Saugus Branch, Newburyport City, and Newburyport Railroads all crisscrossed each other in this geography. Add in the trolleys and you were never more than five miles from a clickety clack.

PBM
 #1299560  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
Ridgefielder wrote:Question here from someone who has a bit of familiarity with the area-- one of my best friends in college was Newburyport born & raised, and I've spent a decent amount of time there over the years-- but who has never lived there.

Now, I know the history of the building of the B&M is equally as convoluted as that of my hometown NYNH&H, with acquisitions galore. I know Newburyport is served by what's left of the Eastern Route (originally the Eastern Railway), which used to continue on across the Merrimac to Portsmouth, NH and Portland, ME. And I know there was once a line (overpass on 1A still intact) that ran from the Newburyport wharves westward, crossing the Eastern Route just south of the location of the current Newburyport station and continuing on to (I assume) North Andover or one of the other milltowns farther up the Merrimac.

So-- what is the Newburyport Branch, and why is it in Peabody, which is adjacent to Salem, a city that has had a direct rail connection with Newburyport since the Stourbridge Lion and the Best Friend of Charleston were in revenue service?

Apologies in advance if this is a stupid question or has been covered already elsewhere.
The Andover(-ish) one is the ex-Salem & Lowell. Right now the Independence Greenway Trail only covers West Peabody to the Peabody/North Reading town line. Plans to extend it into North Reading to Route 62 at the end of MBTA ownership. Used to be called alternately the North Reading Branch (MBTA nomenclature) or South Middleton Branch (B&M nomenclature) and the MBTA-owned portion lasted for freight until about 1980. The rest of it to Wilmington Jct. was gone by WWII. It hit Wilmington Jct. about 1000 ft. north of where the Western Route and Wildcat Branch merge, just before they pass under I-93...so it was a staggered junction. The portion to Lowell is kinda sorta traceable from Wilmington to ex-Tewksbury Jct. by following driveways and the street grid, then rest of it west of Tewksbury to Bleachery was active until (late-80's?). Line's 100% intact in the MBTA-owned portion, *mostly* intact with some encroachment between North Reading and Wilmington, partially obliterated Wilmington-Tewksbury, and 100% intact with tracks still in the ground Tewksbury Jct.-Bleachery Jct. Mostly traceable on a map, although a bit harder Middleton-Wilmington and Wilmington-Tewksbury. I doubt they're going to be able to get a trail all the way out to Route 62/Route 125 in Wilmington where it's walking distance to North Wilmington station on the Haverhill Line because of the lapsed ownership.


Newburyport Branch starts at Wakefield Jct., goes through Lynnfield, junctioned with the Salem & Lowell in West Peabody right next to the I-95/US 1 interchange, then junctioned with the Danvers Branch in downtown Danvers. That was the last active section, abandoned by Guilford in 2001. Line continues on the rail trail to Topsfield Fairgrounds. This is the end of MBTA ownership, and the next-most recent active stretch (don't know if it lasted into Guilford, but it was still a going concern for B&M as of the 1976 line sale to the MBTA). From there it's 1930's abandonment with the trail going unpaved and turning into the Topsfield Linear Common. At I-95 it turns into a power line ROW. In downtown Georgetown it junctioned with the Essex Branch, which goes west to Bradford in Haverhill and junctions with the Western Route (small section in Haverhill active to the 1982...rest gone in the 30's and became a power line ROW). From the line split in Georgetown the Newburyport Branch turns from north to northeast as a power line ROW and goes arrow-straight into the current Newburyport commuter rail station. There was a northbound wye leg onto the Eastern Route, and a diamond that ran straight and turned into the Newburyport harbor branch.


So...very convoluted routing that goes east-west, north-south, and east-west again through the biggest population cavity in eastern MA. You can see why the line north of Topsfield was abandoned so early...the route duplication was kind of nutty for the population served. The entire thing (and entire Essex Branch) are almost dumbfoundingly well-preserved for being gone so long...literally 100% intact and unencroached end-to-end. And 100% of it is going to be trailed when the last gaps all get filled in. It's very easy and distinct to trace on a map because it's so immaculately preserved. Whatever portions are crushed gravel or just unmaintained clearings are eventually going to be stepped up to a full paved trail linking Wakefield-West Peabody, West Peabody-North Reading, West Peabody-Georgetown via downtown Danvers, Peabody Sq.-Danvers, Georgetown-Bradford, Georgetown-Newburyport, Newburyport-Downtown Newburyport on that small trailed portion of the Eastern Route, and Newburyport-Newburyport harbor. Quite possibly the largest trail network in the whole state for the number of destinations it hits in wooded country. No loss to the rail network because the only commuter rail potential--the S&L between Peabody Sq. and Route 128--is off-limits. Commuter rail access-to-be at Wakefield, Bradford, and Newburyport anchoring the 3 longest-distance extremes...and with hope a Peabody Sq. and North Shore Mall/Lahey Clinic commuter rail anchor sometime in the hopefully not-distant future.


I don't know why PAR still called it the Newburyport Branch while it was still active. Under MBTA nomenclature it's the Topsfield Branch because that's where their ownership ends and that's where the last passenger service ended in the late-1950's. But B&M/Guilford/PAR have lots of branch names, freight station names, junction and interlocking names that are geographically inaccurate and make absolutely no sense...so that's nothing new.
 #1299637  by BM6569
 
Thanks for that info. Learned a bunch. They finally cut down the crossing protection on the Danvers branch crossing of route 1 earlier this year or last year.
 #1299648  by BostonUrbEx
 
F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:Actually, North Shore Mall had the slight upper hand in ridership in the study, though it was a near- statistical tie and both sites had their advantages and disadvantages. But that's all moot now. North Shore's the only option left; Danvers didn't want their branch and did want the trail, so they voluntarily gave it up. Peabody's still charging hard to bait commuter rail to the Square any way they can to try to get its foot in the door.
Just curious, when exactly is the trail from Peabody Sq to Danvers Ctr supposed to happen? I don't recall ever seeing anything on this before. I figured it was simply in limbo because the commuter rail option was still on the table.

I still feel that people on the state level should be stepping in saying "no, either we truncate this at Peabody, or you take the line all the way into Danvers." If it goes to North Shore Mall, as I said, it's only good for a park-and-ride (which I personally don't think is good policy) and only nets the Indepence Greenway east of I-95. A route to Danvers, however, could net the Independence Greenway with extension into Peabody Sq as well as the Newburyport Branch in both directions and the rest of the line up into Middleton which will be trailed.

I just don't understand how Danvers could be opposed. I have to ask, why? A Danvers Branch could even have a mini-layover point, and it could be placed in Peabody just south of the Waters River, next to an industrial development.

Also, unrelated, as for branch ops, what'd we be looking at? Maybe one through-route round-trip to Boston for each rush hour, and a DMU shuttle to Salem the rest of the day, with timed meets?
 #1299662  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
BostonUrbEx wrote:
F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:Actually, North Shore Mall had the slight upper hand in ridership in the study, though it was a near- statistical tie and both sites had their advantages and disadvantages. But that's all moot now. North Shore's the only option left; Danvers didn't want their branch and did want the trail, so they voluntarily gave it up. Peabody's still charging hard to bait commuter rail to the Square any way they can to try to get its foot in the door.
Just curious, when exactly is the trail from Peabody Sq to Danvers Ctr supposed to happen? I don't recall ever seeing anything on this before. I figured it was simply in limbo because the commuter rail option was still on the table.
The T gave out the 99-year trail lease in 2011. I don't know when construction is supposed to begin.
I still feel that people on the state level should be stepping in saying "no, either we truncate this at Peabody, or you take the line all the way into Danvers." If it goes to North Shore Mall, as I said, it's only good for a park-and-ride (which I personally don't think is good policy) and only nets the Indepence Greenway east of I-95. A route to Danvers, however, could net the Independence Greenway with extension into Peabody Sq as well as the Newburyport Branch in both directions and the rest of the line up into Middleton which will be trailed.
Either extension was going to have a big honking 128 park-and-ride. The Danvers option was a huge parking sink at Endicott Square Shopping Center stopping a mile short of downtown and not even crossing Route 128.

Danvers option: http://mbta.com/uploadedFiles/Documents ... 1x17_3.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Peabody option: http://mbta.com/uploadedFiles/Documents ... 1x17_2.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They're exactly the same thing.

Peabody Sq. was the local stop with the bus access, the 128 stops were to take a load off traffic streaming into downtown Salem and Beverly. That was the whole point of the North Shore Transit Improvements recommendation for doing it...keep the cars from streaming off 128 into the downtowns by trapping them right next to an exit. This was not the T being the evil downtown-unfriendly parking ogre; downtown streets in Peabody, Salem, and the Route 62 area in northeast Danvers all got optimal relief with the stops directly at 128. Not all park-and-rides are a bad thing. When it's right there next to 128 it's a very very good thing. Consider how much a Fitchburg Line 128 park-and-ride would de-clog downtown Waltham or a Haverhill/Reading park-and-ride at Quannapowitt/Exit 38 would de-gunk Route 28 in Reading and Wakefield. Sometimes those things are indeed the best relievers for the nearest downtowns.

North Shore came out slightly ahead of Endicott Sq. Mall on ridership due to the Lahey Clinic being a traffic generator and the closer positioning to the I-95 interchange. Slightly ahead.


As for the trails...the Independence Greenway is never getting across 95 and 1. It's an 800 ft. gash with 2 levels of ramps cutting across either end of it. You are always going to have to go down Lowell St. on a trail gap to get around. But the only chance you ever have of getting the isolated portion of trail east of 95 across 128 instead of dumping off at the Mall is if North Shore commuter rail gets built. A single-track overpass of 128 can use the second track berth for the trail. There is absolutely zero chance that MassDOT would ever build a ped-only bridge, because it not only has to cross 128 but also Northshore Rd. on a 300+ ft. span. No one will fund that, and the wetlands prohibit an underpass. If you do the rail bridge you at least get across, split sides of Proctor Brook with the rail line to reach Warren St. Ext., and be right in the Square. That never happens if you don't build the rail.
I just don't understand how Danvers could be opposed. I have to ask, why? A Danvers Branch could even have a mini-layover point, and it could be placed in Peabody just south of the Waters River, next to an industrial development.
Danvers has 2 buses from downtown, the 435 and 465, which hit both malls and Peabody Sq. They did not want extra station traffic downtown, so a downtown stop was never going to be in the cards. Since the buses from downtown ran to either mall site they didn't have a strong preference either way. When the trail funding came available to do the paved trail on the Newburyport Branch, they inquired about the Danvers Branch and got their lease.

You don't have to agree with that decision, but it doesn't outright transit-deprive anyone since there are preexisting bus routes that could have their frequencies synced with the train. From Danvers' standpoint, they could be supportive of commuter rail in Peabody's city limits and reap similar benefits and let Peabody do the more frothing-at-mouth activism. It wasn't an anti-rail decision...it was the tradeoff of increasing downtown traffic counts when they didn't want to do that, or keeping the traffic counts down and pushing for better bus frequencies whether the station was built at their mall or Peabody's mall. It's a defensible decision for them, and no tragedy. They saw it as win-win if anything got built and decided they had the luxury of not having to choose. Coulda/woulda/shoulda about a downtown stop is totally moot...it was never proposed, never supported locally, and half the alignments under consideration around the Endicott Sq. Mall wetlands wouldn't have been on the correct alignment to begin with for ever continuing downtown. It wasn't ever a possibility.
Also, unrelated, as for branch ops, what'd we be looking at? Maybe one through-route round-trip to Boston for each rush hour, and a DMU shuttle to Salem the rest of the day, with timed meets?
It would be a full local-schedule branch to North Station like Newburyport and Rockport. No shuttles, because the buses already perform that function and a 3-1/2 mile dinky just wouldn't attract riders like the one-seat that attracted a whole lotta riders. One-seat was the must for successfully taking cars off the road and dropping local traffic counts at the intersections the North Shore Study saw as greatest need. They didn't game out schedules because that was dependent on whether layover yards were built at (either) Mall, and the North Shore Transit Improvements study was back in 2004 so DMU's weren't in the picture. Just specced restoration of the southbound wye at Salem (which the new station construction fully permits), 450 ft. full-high platform at the constrained space in Salem, 800 ft. full-high at Peabody Sq. spanning the length of Railroad St., then the Mall station.

If you evolve what they were thinking back then 10 years the addition of a third branch with the same hourly rush hour frequencies Rockport and Newburyport get would boost the Eastern Route main Salem-south to a real clock-facing hyper-dense schedule. So it's basically what you choose to do on the off-peak that makes up the difference with a real Indigo Line schedule. You would have to have much more of the Salem-Boston traffic covered within the Indigo headways by push-pull sets because Newburyport/Rockport service already pretty stiff schedules at peak, and you may well need 5 bi-levels to serve that Peabody 128 park-and-ride on the busiest runs. But as long as everyone's on the same zone fare it doesn't matter what vehicle pulls into the station...it's still Indigo as it was envisioned. Off-peaks I would assume Peabody branch reverts entirely to DMU and that service becomes the primary load-bearer for the mainline between peaks. Because of the pretty decent bus coverage at Peabody Sq. and (less so) at the Malls it would sustain a bit more off-peak ridership than flushing more Beverly short-turns would.
 #1300038  by highrail
 
Some great information in this thread...pretty interesting!

A couple comments...the line to Topsfield was out of service at least by the time of the Blizzard of '78. There was a washout near the Danvers High School that went unrepaired, and I recall that loads for the Agway in Topsfield were being offloaded in Danvers.

I have a reproduction of a late 1800's schedule for the line and it seems clear that the "mainline" focus of the line was the Newburyport to Boston, via Wakefield junction line. The link to Salem was certainly active, but seemed like more of a connector rather than a through route. My theory seems to be supported by the milepost that I found and photographed near Danvers Square reading B (Boston) 18, N (Newburyport) 21. Just about the hallway mark. My hunch is that the next milepost was near rt. 114 and was likely destroyed when they built the overpass by McDonalds.

The T connection at North Shore Mall: This seems much more viable than Danvers Center for a bunch of reasons, including access and parking. Somehow I cannot imagine the cost being worth it though for such a short connection to an existing commuter rail head at Salem. I can recall a light rail connection being proposede along that route, but again, the cost would seem to be prohibitive.

On a side note, I was told that the lifting of the tracks from Danvers toward Peabody was not supposed to happen, but did. Not sure how accurate that was, but there has certainly been no discussion of expanding the rail trail in that direction. Also, the bridge at the Waters River on the Peabody line would need to be re-built...there is not much left.

And a footnote, the existing tracks in Danvers that run through the property of the oil company where the existing station is were covered over last year, apparently with the permission of the T. Covered over and seeded...not sure why.

Steve
 #1300050  by tom18287
 
highrail wrote:
I have a reproduction of a late 1800's schedule for the line and it seems clear that the "mainline" focus of the line was the Newburyport to Boston, via Wakefield junction line. The link to Salem was certainly active, but seemed like more of a connector rather than a through route. My theory seems to be supported by the milepost that I found and photographed near Danvers Square reading B (Boston) 18, N (Newburyport) 21. Just about the hallway mark. My hunch is that the next milepost was near rt. 114 and was likely destroyed when they built the overpass by McDonalds.



that's because it was built to compete with eastern. once the b&m bought eastern, they had no more competition to the area. i think that branch started dying off a long long time ago. i think the last thru train was in the 40s.
 #1300058  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
highrail wrote: The T connection at North Shore Mall: This seems much more viable than Danvers Center for a bunch of reasons, including access and parking. Somehow I cannot imagine the cost being worth it though for such a short connection to an existing commuter rail head at Salem. I can recall a light rail connection being proposede along that route, but again, the cost would seem to be prohibitive.

On a side note, I was told that the lifting of the tracks from Danvers toward Peabody was not supposed to happen, but did. Not sure how accurate that was, but there has certainly been no discussion of expanding the rail trail in that direction. Also, the bridge at the Waters River on the Peabody line would need to be re-built...there is not much left.

And a footnote, the existing tracks in Danvers that run through the property of the oil company where the existing station is were covered over last year, apparently with the permission of the T. Covered over and seeded...not sure why.

Steve
The North Shore Transit Improvements scoping report in 2004 has the construction of a complete line to North Shore Mall with:
-- Rehabbed Peabody Branch to Peabody Sq.
-- Reinstated wye track out of Salem tunnel + commuter rail platform on the wye (note: this space is unaffected by the new Salem garage construcion)
-- Peabody Sq. platform
-- New ROW to North Shore Mall

. . .for $125M grand total. Danversport would've been $119.5M because it didn't have a bridge going across Route 128. So...functionally identical capital cost for either route.

http://mbta.com/uploadedFiles/Documents ... 1x17_1.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://mbta.com/uploadedFiles/Documents ... 1x17_3.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


The North Shore Improvements plan wasn't Peabody-specific. It had a whole list of recommendations including general improvements to the Eastern Route main (station improvements, infrastructure improvements like grade crossing eliminations in Chelsea, an infill station at Salem State U.) and strongly advocating for the Blue Line extension to Lynn, and the crux of the report was lowering car traffic volumes in the affected downtowns. The T basically cherry-picked the massively expensive Beverly and Salem station garages and threw the rest of the report in the trash. Peabody is really impatient at the lack of progress in doing anything whatsoever that's an actual traffic-reducer (since garage capacity and widening all the streets around Salem station makes that problem worse, not better, and the DMU shuttle is now proposed to terminate in Lynn and omit all points north).


So...Peabody's been making repeat overtures to the T to consider just rehabbing the existing Peabody Branch, building a station in the Square, baiting some DMU's or Beverly short-turns out there, and forgetting about the North Shore Mall station until some later phase. They've even tried to pitch a way to bundle in the track work with the downtown floodwater mitigation they have badly needed for decades, since the tracks are grouped among critical downtown infrastructure needing flood prevention work. They're going with an emphasis on cheapness of build as the bait. And then when the trains are turning back in the Square the +1 mile to 128 becomes a much more palatable second phase to separately fund. For one, because the simple turnback in the Square will not have a layover yard...and if it proves popular enough to seek increased frequencies (especially with DMU's) there'll need to be a real facility added later. That's when they figure the second shoe will drop, and what they figure will be the acute need (i.e. the layover siting ) that justifies the cost of reaching for the extra ridership at the Mall and Lahey Clinic. Obviously none of that matters until the T has some interest in serving Salem with more trains instead of uselessly truncating the DMU at Lynn...and then being convinced to bring the DMU to Peabody Sq. after they've relented on Salem. But it's a fairly smart strategy by Peabody to work the bait and eventually get what it wants in stepped-out fashion. They know what state-level indifference they're up against and that there's nothing on earth that's going to get them pulling that whole Transit Improvements report out of the trash and start building the top recs whole-cloth. It's all arm-twisting to get the state to give an inch...then arm-twisting after they've gotten that inch to get the state to give another inch.