Effective Monday, December 14, 2015, new Commuter Rail Winter Schedules will go into effect. All lines have designated Severe Weather trains which will not operate when reduced service for severe weather is announced. Only two lines have changes to the train schedule. The Fitchburg Line has added two new trains and the Worcester Line has modifications to two trains. All other trains remain the same as they are today.
ST214 wrote:A golden opportunity missed on the Fitchburg line. A Littleton turn has been added, running 10 minutes in front of a Fitchburg train. They could have implemented the Fitchburg reverse commute train instead with the first, or even second Littleton turn, but did not. Guess we will wait until spring to see that train, which would also plug the over 3 hour inbound morning gap.
Trinnau wrote:ST214 wrote:A golden opportunity missed on the Fitchburg line. A Littleton turn has been added, running 10 minutes in front of a Fitchburg train. They could have implemented the Fitchburg reverse commute train instead with the first, or even second Littleton turn, but did not. Guess we will wait until spring to see that train, which would also plug the over 3 hour inbound morning gap.
Not sure what schedule you are comparing, but the two new trains on the Fitchburg Line are at 6:30am outbound to Littleton - just over an hour earlier than the existing 7:32am departure, and at 8:20am inbound from Littleton, which has a train 30mins on one side and 35mins on the other. The Littleton turn you reference has always existed, it got moved closer to the Fitchburg train over a year ago due to the single-tracking caused by the construction project.
Considering there were no other changes made to this schedule or any other North Side schedules after the original "big-change" schedules were pulled, it is likely this train pair was added under political direction. I believe one of the goals of the Fitchburg project was to provide reverse commute to Littleton, so that could explain it.
ST214 wrote:I guess I never realized they were that close. Honestly, I do not pay much attention to the Littleton trains, as they are no use to me.
One of the big things that was supposed to come out of these improvements was a reverse commute train to Fitchburg. Even if added under political direction, it could have been extended to Fitchburg. Move the first outbound a little earlier and move the other two a little earlier so you don't get too far off the existing schedule and the return from Fitchburg can pick up the third slot east of Littleton.
Just my two cents....
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