Iron Horse OCC Billerica

MBTA is seeking bids for an "Operations Control Center" , value approximately 28 million, 2 story building and other " related work". Not sure what this is going to "control".
More info from T website-

http://bc.mbta.com/business_center/bidd ... /?cbid=334" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I wonder: why Billerica? Might PAR dispatchers be located in the facility as well?

Keolis/T Northside dispatchers and PAR...More freebies for PAR...

d

Where are the Keolis/T employees located now? I'm guessing this might be relocation because of GLX work.

Will hopefully be some nice new jobs in Billerica! Iron Horse starting to turn itself around.

Keolis Northside TD's are in Somerville in a MBTA owned building off New Washington St.

The relocation doesn't have much to do with GLX and seems to be Mass DOT driven.

D

For those that are unfamiliar with the Iron Horse reference (as I was until I Googled it) Iron Horse Park was the name for the former B&M repair shop located on this site in Billerica, which is also where Pan Am's headquarters are located.

Jon

It's weird that the MBTA subway ops & CR aren't colocated. Also, if you are building a new dispatch facility you would want it to control or be capable of controlling all the south side CR too, including Tower 1 & NEC.

BandA wrote:It's weird that the MBTA subway ops & CR aren't colocated.

Not really if you think about how CR evolved out of the railroads, B&M then Guilford and the strike, and then under Amtrak's operation for a long time with the T really wanting nothing to do with it other than own it that entire time to preserve the service the railroads didn't want to run. It's not been since the last 8-10 years or so where the T itself has taken more of an interest in CR, notably with the newest operator. CR is really a large operation and the T doesn't run it, their operator does. Besides, the operations are wholly independent anyway.

BandA wrote:Also, if you are building a new dispatch facility you would want it to control or be capable of controlling all the south side CR too, including Tower 1 & NEC.

At $28 million and 2-stories it might just be able to do that - or at least have provisions to. Centralized Traffic Control makes it easy to locate dispatchers anywhere - the big roads are sometimes thousands of miles away. You just need to have the space to do it.

SeaportMike wrote:Will hopefully be some nice new jobs in Billerica!

Oh yes, everyone is just dying to work in Billerica. Great location, so close to everything! Especially Iron Horse Park, a mere 1.5 miles to infrequent transit. Sounds splendid.

BandA wrote:Also, if you are building a new dispatch facility you would want it to control or be capable of controlling all the south side CR too, including Tower 1 & NEC.

The new facility will be able to accommodate all Amtrak (BOS), Keolis (North and South), and Pan Am desks, with room for a few more. The plan is to move Keolis North Side and Pan Am in immediately. There will also be room for a couple clerk desks. The PTC hub in Somerville will also have to be rebuilt and relocated here.

A - REDACTED
B - Iron Horse is walkable/bikable to/from N. Billerica Commuter Rail station (trains every 30 mins to the hour weekday). 2 miles to I495 and 3, 5 miles from 93 and 8 to 128. From a geographical perspective, it is very easy to get to and fairly centrally located for northside operations. Many of the people who currently work in Innerbelt live up north as well.

You want to locate your back-office facilities in low-cost areas, not in downtown transit accessible locations

Operational hubs are typically centrally located. The MBTA’s OCC is across Atlantic Ave. from South Station, while NYCT’s is in midtown Manhattan. As the transmission which converts executive power working in downtown offices to physical production in the field which concentrates centrally it makes sense for a number of logistical reasons that these operational hubs are not located remotely. The dynamics are different for vast operations with several divisional hubs, which commuter and transit operations typically don’t have.

What's wrong with the current thing in Somerville? Will PAR contribute to the construction cost?

PAR does not have to contribute. I was manager of B & M property records on 12/27/1976 when most of the B & M property in Eastern Mass. was conveyed to the MBTA for $39.5 million. The terms of the deed allow the B & M to use the property. If, the MBTA takes over a property for its exclusive use it has to provide PAR (formerly B & M) with replacement facilities. One example was when the Freight Cutoff was taken for the Alewife Red Line Extension, the Boston-Lowell route was reconstructed to remove height and width clearance restrictions on freight cars as a replacement for the Cutoff. Probably the MBTA figures a new building to be fitted with the latest electrical and communication gear is a better idea than trying to rework a 1913 structure. Maybe....the MBTA is long range planning to take over dispatching from the RI line to Boston from Amtrak...someday.