Mass. legislature new rail-related earmarks

As reported today in the Boston Globe, the legislature will shortly vote on an economic stimulus package that includes, among other things, earmarks for transit related projects in the Fenway/Longwood/Kenmore area. The full report is available here on the legislature's website. Highlights include:

• *$12 million for design, planning and construction of upgrades to the Yawkey station, including service improvements, modifications to allow for bi-directional service, a crossover between the two Boston live tracks, and other related improvements
  
  *$500,000 for a study and preliminary design of a multimodal commuter rail and bus facility in North Allston (including creation of a "Turnpike Authority" access ramp -- meaning a ramp to/from the turnpike?)
  
  *$16 million for improvements to the Longwood, Fenway and Kenmore stops on the Green Line, and for construction of an additional commuter rail platform at Ruggles. (Appropriations of $5 million and $11 million are listed for the same projects in different section of the report, and I don't have the time to figure out exactly how they relate.)
  
  *$90,000 for a study on the benefits of a transit tunnel between Ruggles and the Fenway area
  
  *$8 million for enhancements to the Green Line, including installation of eastbound cross-over tracks at Park Street and and "dynamic double berthing information system."

dynamic double berthing information system

What?

"double berthing" means stopping two trains on the same track and platform in a station. I don't know what the information system is.

My guess is rather than what you currently have westbound at Park, where each line is assigned a specific platform location for the trolleys to stop at, where one trolley can delay another from the platform, the "dynamic information system" would tell you what line will stop where with the next set of trolleys.

That is, if a B train is going to arrive ahead of a C train, the B train would be listed at the "lower" part of the platform and the C train at the upper, and both trains can come in and load simultaneously.

I forget the pattern now, but say the C is always posted for the lower portion and B is on the upper, and a B train arrives first, it stops at the upper portion and blocks the C from entering until it clears the platform.

And if they install the eastbound crossover, then they can do the same for eastbound trolleys, using both platforms and being able to load GC, North Station and Lechmere trolleys simultaneously.

I would think that given the problems they've had in the past with double-berthing, that they'd want to devise more advanced safety systems to make it more feasible. I hope this is what they're doing, given the capacity advantages inherent in double-berthing. MBTA people have long loved to point to their failure to do this successfully as a constraint on Central Subway capacity precluding any Green Line expansion.