Red Line to Brockton

I had never heard of this possiblity before, until I read this wikipedia page:

In 1968, letters were assigned to the south branches - "A" for Quincy (planned to extend to South Braintree) and "C" for Ashmont. "B" was probably reserved for a planned branch from Braintree to Brockton.

Taking a look at a map, it seems as if it wouldn't be a hard thing to do, and it would serve a relatively dense, urban area - Brockton was even the first city to get electricity in America. What do you guys think?

I think that the city (Brockton) would defiantly benefit from an extension. I just wonder if it would be economical to build it. It would have made sense back in the 60's and 70's but now with commuter rail it might not be needed. Also, there are a few other extensions that would be better than a Red Line extension.

Yeah I think the Red Line ought to be extended to Assinippi Park at the Rockland/Norwell Line, or even better yet, the Hanover Mall. Hanover/Norwell could really use the Red Line to accomodate more and more folks, especially those from Pembroke, they have no nearby service as with Norwell.

There is a distance from the center city that makes rapid transit impracticle and commuter rail more ideal. When the subway was built the distance was 5 miles from the State House. Today that has been pushed back to 10-15 miles. Brockton is around 20 miles out. However, this is a section of the state that would benefit a lot from better transportation. Perhapse more frequent commuter rail would be more economical than the Red Line.

And Brockton Area Transit (BAT) operates frequent service with it's route 12 from Ashmont to Brockton as well... Rapid Transit to Brockton would hurt BAT significantly...

CS wrote:And Brockton Area Transit (BAT) operates frequent service with it's route 12 from Ashmont to Brockton as well... Rapid Transit to Brockton would hurt BAT significantly...

Better to provide better service to the people of Brockton than help their local transit agency, no?

I think a Red Line extention would be useful. And heck, the T can take over BAT!

AznSumtinSumtin wrote:I think a Red Line extention would be useful. And heck, the T can take over BAT!

My sentiments exactly. If we extended most of the rapid transit lines out a few more stops, then the commuter rail would no longer have to stop there. By eliminating those stops, you save large amounts of travel time for many of the commuter rail passengers, and on the Middleboro Line you could run all the trains express and have them only stop at Middleboro, Lakeville, and Campello. With more trains leaving these stops every day, the lines would have much bigger capacities and be more convenient to many people who would take the commuter rail if the schedule was more in line with their own.

While the idea I have is to extend the Red past Braintree to Hanover or even Pembroke, neither town has direct Old Colony Commuter rail, and it would be ideal to end the Red line at the Hanove/Norwell line, also near the Hanover Mall, which would be great for them.

Also, a bit O/T, but it would also be great if they could make the Franklin/Forge Park Commuter line a Rapid Transit line, most likely an Orange Line extension from Forest Hills, which would be a milestone for Rapid Transit in Boston, since this would be the first such line to go near 495, and would benefit the people of Franklin and Bellingham with more frequent and faster trains than the Commuter Rail, since Franklin and Bellingham are starting to grow.

Robert Paniagua wrote:Also, a bit O/T, but it would also be great if they could make the Franklin/Forge Park Commuter line a Rapid Transit line, most likely an Orange Line extension from Forest Hills, which would be a milestone for Rapid Transit in Boston, since this would be the first such line to go near 495, and would benefit the people of Franklin and Bellingham with more frequent and faster trains than the Commuter Rail, since Franklin and Bellingham are starting to grow.

Wow... never heard that idea. You realize that would be adding 25-30 miles onto a line that is only 11 miles long, don't you?

Wow... never heard that idea. You realize that would be adding 25-30 miles onto a line that is only 11 miles long, don't you?

Yeah, 30 to be exact. And yes, I think it'll work for the Orange Line, and would then be 41 miles long!! From Oak Grove to Franklin, and imagine if in the late 60's they went ahead with the extension to Reading rather then Oak Grove, it would make the OL be 50 miles long!

So in respect, I would like to see the Franklin Branch become an Orange Line extension.

Don't ya think?

Robert Paniagua wrote:Also, a bit O/T, but it would also be great if they could make the Franklin/Forge Park Commuter line a Rapid Transit line, most likely an Orange Line extension from Forest Hills, which would be a milestone for Rapid Transit in Boston, since this would be the first such line to go near 495, and would benefit the people of Franklin and Bellingham with more frequent and faster trains than the Commuter Rail, since Franklin and Bellingham are starting to grow.

If you want to do thatt Rob you might as well make the West Medford extension all the way too Lowell. I would love 10-15 min headways it would make it easier to get too school.

dudeursistershot wrote:

CS wrote:And Brockton Area Transit (BAT) operates frequent service with it's route 12 from Ashmont to Brockton as well... Rapid Transit to Brockton would hurt BAT significantly...

Better to provide better service to the people of Brockton than help their local transit agency, no?

LOL,
You are very correct! But if Brockton gets Rapid Transit, Lynn better as well...

If you want to do thatt Rob you might as well make the West Medford extension all the way too Lowell. I would love 10-15 min headways it would make it easier to get too school.

Yeah, that would be nice if the Rapid transit lines all someday grow all the way out 20-30 miles away, the Green from Lechmere to Lowell, the Northern Orange from Oak Grove to Reading/Woburn, the Southern Orange, already mentioned above, and of course, the Red Line all the way down to the Hanover/Assinippi area to accomodate more South Shore Riders, even with the Greenbush Line

Robert Paniagua wrote:If you want to do thatt Rob you might as well make the West Medford extension all the way too Lowell. I would love 10-15 min headways it would make it easier to get too school.

Yeah, that would be nice if the Rapid transit lines all someday grow all the way out 20-30 miles away, the Green from Lechmere to Lowell, the Northern Orange from Oak Grove to Reading/Woburn, the Southern Orange, already mentioned above, and of course, the Red Line all the way down to the Hanover/Assinippi area to accomodate more South Shore Riders, even with the Greenbush Line

The problem is that rapid transit/subway lines are much slower than commuter rail and they stop more often. It would take hours to run the length of the route.