BandA wrote:What's the payback time for electrification?
One advantage of electrification is you can place a rail yard, or electric locomotive service facility, in the basement of a development such as Beacon Park or Widett Circle.
That's why it might make sense to electrify the south side 1st and go forward from there, simply because there's more redevelopable property like Widett and Beacon south of the Charles than there is north of it.
The easy way to do it would be to purchase a mix of dual-modes and bilevel EMUs, using the bilevel EMUs on the Fairmount, Providence, Needham, and Stoughton lines (and maybe the Worcester line out to Riverside or Framingham) while electrifying only out to 128 or so, running dual-mode hauled consists on the outer portions of the south side lines with the changeover happening at Braintree for the OC lines, Readville for the Franklin line, and Riverside or Framingham for the Worcester line. With a modest rollout like that, MassDOT could damn near pay for it in full from the cash for redevelopment rights at Beacon Park and South Bay alone.
At least with dual-modes, it'd only be a matter of replacing the F40/GP40 fleet with an ALP-45DP order (or whatever Charger/ACS-64 hybrid Siemens bids) of about the same size as the HSP-46 order, while the EMU fleet could be piggybacked on to whatever NJT is buying and be pushed out to replace either the remaining single levels and oldest K-cars on the roster, or the Brokems, depending on which ones MassDOT wants to get rid of 1st. Once that's done, the EMD-engined fleet can be sent off to be turned into Hyundais while the North Side becomes exclusively HSP-hauled bilevel consists.