Southcoast Rail

correkt answer

Commuterrail1050 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 03, 2024 6:04 pm Are they ever going to plan on extending stoughton line service once this starts or will it stay like this forever?

I would like to see it but Easton and Raynham are full of NIMBYs who don't want the trains. Stoughton is opposed as well, but I think you can get Stoughton on board with an easy pitch. At the Current Station, Wyman street is completely blocked while the train is stopped. If the extension happens, then the platforms would be south of Wyman street, meaning that Wyman street would not be blocked when Trains are stopped, which is better for Stoughton and everyone involved.

Easton just doesnt want the trains in their town. Raynham has used Environmental arguments in the past, saying that restoration will somehow damage the Hockomock swamp. I don't buy this at all, but I read a lot of letters in opposition to this in the past, and this was the main argument made, not grade crossings or any additional noise.

Folks may plan for the Hockomock swamp route to happen and there are conceptual plans for it, but that’s different from it actually happening.

It might happen if they change the plans up a bit, NIMBYs are just an annoyance that can be overcome, just like they were in Greenbush

For a ridiculous cost.

The elephant in the room is the consent agreement between the state DCR and the US Army Corps of Engineers, including the ridiculous and unprecedented requirements baked in for "phase II". Which will never occur in the lifetime of anyone on this website. The NIMBYS have taken over the state government itself, along with their allies in environmental groups like the CLF and Sierra Club that wish to impose novel restrictions regardless of cost. Recall, this was a double tracked railroad main line established in the mid 1800s. Before the Shore Line was completed it was the primary route to NYC via steamships!

Here is the thing about those enviornmental groups. This is blatant hypocrisy. All the enviornmentalists out there say we have too many cars on the road and if you add more train it would take cars off the road and cut down pollution. But in this case, with a project that does everything they claim to purport, they say can't do it because of the enviornment. Which is it for goodness sakes? You can't have it both ways.

bostontrainguy wrote:For a ridiculous cost.

And then some of the townspeople in Hingham reportedly COMPLAINED that no one on the train could see the town and therefore shop/stimulate the local economy…

You really cannot fix stupid.

Wish this group had like buttons. So many remarks that are dead-on.

Test trains or the mock runs have started on phase 1 according to the Mbta.com website. Just got updated today.

Anybody know specific times of when they test? I'd love to go check it out.

Commuterrail1050 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 01, 2024 7:13 pm Test trains or the mock runs have started on phase 1 according to the Mbta.com website. Just got updated today.

haven't heard a peep yet about test trains. I'll ask tomorrow. Don't believe everything you read on that site, a lot is just "for show." Check the Mass Coastal forums to see if they are chirping about test trains. None of our Keolis crews are qualified down there yet, so if there are "test trains" testing the crossing circuits and cab signals, it'd be MC at the moment until our people get qualified on the NB/FR lines

A friend told me this morning that the signal heads at Coggeshall Street in New Bedford were no longer turned to the field.

South Coast Rail: MBTA says stations nearly done, bridge halfway there - 4:00 a.m. ET Feb. 5, 2024

South Coast Rail is gaining steam, with key stations in the project almost complete, according to officials at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

The project, which will connect Fall River, New Bedford and Taunton with Boston by MBTA commuter rail, is still on track for a summer 2024 opening.

From the maps at South Coast Rail | Mass.gov I find this route for Phase I: from Middleborough station, westward to East Taunton, then south to Fall River and southeast to New Bedford.

The full buildout includes an additional line: from Stoughton station southward with some new stations to East Taunton station. I can't find this route on either OpenRailwayMap or Massachusetts - Abandoned Rails though OpenRailwayMap has the Phase I lines.