Expanded Worcester Line Service

Anybody know what the holdup is here?

http://www.nationalcorridors.org/df/df1 ... l#CSXholds

In a word: MONEY!

There's two issues at work here. First is rail capacity -- CSXT (rightly, I might add) wants capacity improvements to allow more commuter rail service. Its their railroad, and the do run a fair amount of traffic, including locals and switchers, over that line between Framingham and Worcester -- a good deal more than east of Framingham. I think that the MBTA understands this, but remember that most of the politicians spouting off don't understand things like freight railroad ownership and track capacity. What's going to have to happen is:

(a) the state is going to have to pony up and buy the line as far west as Worcester, or
(b) the state is going to have to put up money for additional capacity (third track, passing sidings, more crossovers, etc.), or
(c) both.

Secondly, Framingham does not want to see more rail traffic over the grade crossings in their town. They do have a point that the grade crossings in town do create problems, but unfortunately this stands to turn the whole issue into a town versus town squabble.* One thing that may cause the price tag to skyrocket is if Framingham holds up expansion demanding grade seperation in the downtown area -- which is no easy feat considering all the yard connections.

*Of course, Framingham may or may not yet fully grasp the fact that a lot of the service increase west of town would no doubt consist of extending current Framingham turns all the way to Worcester -- which wouldn't increase the number of train movements much, since the station is already west of the crossings -- the Framingham turns are already passing through town as it is!

yea, when a train goes through downtown framingham, its crazy, espically if it is a long CSX train coming off the Framingham secondary, it blocks the road for a long time, when i was there this past august, B725 came off the secondary, and blocked the 2 main roads in downtown for a good 8 minutes because it was so long and going at restricted speed

octr202 wrote: *Of course, Framingham may or may not yet fully grasp the fact that a lot of the service increase west of town would no doubt consist of extending current Framingham turns all the way to Worcester -- which wouldn't increase the number of train movements much, since the station is already west of the crossings -- the Framingham turns are already passing through town as it is!

I don't think there are enough Framingham turns to bring the total number of Worcester trains to double the number there are now, and that's the goal. At least a few more passenger trains would have to be added, it seems.

That's part of the rationale of the 33 new bi-levels. Others are increased Providence service (with five cars being funded by RI); plus upcoming Greenbush service.

The traffic issue in Framingham an excuse. Yes, the trains do make a bad situation worst, but go through Framingham on a Saturday/Sunday when the # of trains is much lower ( both commuter rail and freight ) and traffic is still a mess.

You have to realize, you have two major highways 126/135 crossing. On Rt 126, you have two squares North / South of the crossing. You have a busy downtown with lots of on-street parking. You have tons of jaywalking. Framingham just introduced last year a rotery to resolve the merge a one of the squrares in front of town hall.

Yes, the train makes things worst, but without the grade level crossing in Framingham, it would still be terrible.

The train serves as an excuse to residents of the town to pay for a very large reconfiguration of the Rt 126/Rt 135 crossing.

Rockingham Racer wrote:

octr202 wrote: *Of course, Framingham may or may not yet fully grasp the fact that a lot of the service increase west of town would no doubt consist of extending current Framingham turns all the way to Worcester -- which wouldn't increase the number of train movements much, since the station is already west of the crossings -- the Framingham turns are already passing through town as it is!

I don't think there are enough Framingham turns to bring the total number of Worcester trains to double the number there are now, and that's the goal. At least a few more passenger trains would have to be added, it seems.

I thought the plan the MBTA was looking at was extending the Framingham line to Framingham State College and running additional trains through Framingham to Worcester. So, I think instead of the current 19 or 20 trains, Framingham would be looking at 30 trains.

MBTA F40PH-2C 1050 wrote:yea, when a train goes through downtown framingham, its crazy, espically if it is a long CSX train coming off the Framingham secondary, it blocks the road for a long time, when i was there this past august, B725 came off the secondary, and blocked the 2 main roads in downtown for a good 8 minutes because it was so long and going at restricted speed

One better than that is when a local is coming off the Framnigham Secondary and another train is travelling between CP-22 & the CP Yard, then you have another section of Waverly Ave blocked.

There has been some discussion about the T buying Westboro Yard for train storage. Ashland is the only station on the line with underutilized parking. Initiate some trains in the AM from Westboro, attract passengers to Ashland. Additional service without parking would serve Worcester and only Worcester.

One thing I have been confused about is service to Framingham State. Is it possible to do this without significant upgrades of the existing line, or would major
work be needed?

claytor wrote:There has been some discussion about the T buying Westboro Yard for train storage. Ashland is the only station on the line with underutilized parking. Initiate some trains in the AM from Westboro, attract passengers to Ashland. Additional service without parking would serve Worcester and only Worcester.

That's a good sounding plan that I hadn't heard of. Should help cut down on the need to deadhead Framingham locals from Boston as well, since there's no layover yard in Framingham.

Its easy to see why Ashland is lagging...Framingham is only a short distance away, but has twice the service.