Railroad Forums
FatNoah wrote:I would agree. The design schematics of the Haul Road show this thing could be widened into a 4-lane road if need be if the Urban Ring ever comes through. Which makes sense because this had to have been at least a 4-track ROW some decades before 1A and Logan got built up. They shift around the embankment fill in this build, but don't get rid of it entirely. Widening the 1A-era Bennington St. and Saratoga St. overpasses and doing a full retaining wall in lieu of the embankment fill lets them put whatever bus lanes or later tracks they want traffic-separated from the trucks. It's also a scant 3-4 blocks of ROW length that the Haul Road uses, and it doesn't join the ROW at all until south of the Curtis St. overpass. Not a big deal, not too expensive to widen if/when they ever do go ahead on the UR, and a very beneficial environmental justice project for getting the trucks away from the residences on those critical 3 blocks of Eastie neighborhood. The Haul Road was designed at the same time as the UR when it was last a front-burner project, with the current road design unchanged from then for accommodating the future full-blast Phase II BRT and Phase III rail plans.Anyone's rail dreams for the Everett-Chelsea-Airport Urban Ring have just been set back:I argue that this is actually a step TOWARDS rail version of the Urban Ring. Most of the work being done to widen the ROW, shore up walls, improve drainage, etc. would all have to be done for rail anyway on this stretch of dedicated ROW. When the time comes to implement later phases of the Urban Ring, less work will be required in this area.
Charliemta wrote:A station on the CR line at the casino could be built, when and if the casino opens.Where? No commuter rail ROW there.
Elcamo wrote:Hopefully the extension will also mean a new CR and bus station for Lynn, as central square station is falling apart right now. To be honest I don't think expanded blue line service will really be that big of a deal for the casino, as I can't understand why anyone would want a 3 seat ride to get to and from the casino, especially with luggage.The facility isn't that old, ~20 years or so. From what I recall, it was pretty much neglected from Day 1.
BostonUrbEx wrote:If we see anything, they'll take the cheap way out... A Wonderland CR station, with a moving walkway over to Wonderland Blue Line station. A stretch, but maybe you could see a train from Worcester going to North Station, then going to Wonderland. A stretch, but a potential attraction for metro-west. Especially with Murray in there at the moment.What about the casino going in to Springfield? Wouldn't it be easier for Worcester train riders to go that casino?
Elcamo wrote:Now if the T wanted to get really crazy, could they operate commuter and blue line trains on the same track? What if the blue line switched onto the CR past wonderland, and then the current CR line was electrified until Salem, with a yard for the blue line at the current freight yard there. With this line electrified for the blue line, you now have the option of fully electrifying that CR line in the even further future, for when you decide to electrify other lines and buy a EMU roster and build facilities to maintain them.No. The FRA will only allow rapid transit equipment to share tracks with regular railroad equipment if the two are time-separated, i.e. rapid transit runs during the day, and freight trains at night. This is obviously impossible with commuter trains.
