Southcoast Rail

Wouldn't building a busway on the old right-of-way raise all of the same enivronmental issues as rebuilding the train tracks?

Ron Newman wrote:Wouldn't building a busway on the old right-of-way raise all of the same enivronmental issues as rebuilding the train tracks?

My thoughts exactly.

A busway is going to take up as much, if not a little more space than two rail tracks and their ballast "spread" on either side.

A busway may also present drainage issues. A railbed is very porous, and rainfall more or less ends up exactly where it would have if the tracks were not there (Projects such as the Southwest Corridor are exceptions to this). An asphalt busway is another matter entirely, and one constructed through a sensitive wetland would likely end up redirecting some of the rainfall elsewhere.

I was in New Bedford recently and I noticed that train yard in the downtown section looked like it had a fair amount of work done to it. Is this a sign of progress?

No it isn't much to do with commuter rail. The yard was rebuilt by the
city of New Bedford two or three years ago, primarily for the Harbor PCB
remediation project by the EPA. Shipping out sludge from a dewatering
plant off Melville Blvd.

Work is seasonal, so I suspect the yard will rust over until the EPA gets
more money next year for a few months of sludge shipments.

Dave

The latest twist and turn in the New Bedford / Fall River service is a recent story in Jack Spillane's blog on the Standard-Times website revealing that the Mayor of New Bedford now wants THREE passenger stations in that city, not the ONE that was originally proposed. According to the article, in addition to the station at the downtown rail yard, the mayor wants a station at the shopping centers at King's Highway, and another at the New Bedford Industrial Park. I don't believe SRTA even bothers to run a bus out to the Industrial Park, so making it a stop for commuter rail seems pretty silly when you consider it is a big area and there is no transportation to individual businesses once you get off the train (unless of course they decide to run a bus out there to take the train passengers to their destinations).

Of course this is just the beginning of everybody and anybody with a "wish list" trying to add their wants to the project, exactly the same process that drove the price of Greenbush right into the stratosphere.

MX

I'll have to check that out....I see His Honor in the local Stop &
Shop on Dartmouth St in New Bedford every now and then.

Temptation is to attempt to reason with him abouting forgetting
the Middleboro routing. Nah............

D

Dave, it is a bit difficult to find this on the Standard Times website, as it is in an article that covers some other topics too, so here is the direct link. Look partway down the page in "the Lang News":

http://blogs.southcoasttoday.com/n/blog ... nbpolitics

I can't believe Mr. Mayor wants to use commuter rail equipment sets to do the job of a city bus. This entire thing just gets more and more incredible.

MX

Before ridiculing this idea, let's first ask where the stations were located when service last ran (in the 1950s, I presume).

Lots of towns around here have multiple stations: Belmont, Waltham, Concord, Winchester, Beverly, Gloucester, Attleboro, Norwood, Franklin, Needham, Newton, Wellesley, Natick, ..... Not to mention several reasonable proposals for additional ones such as West Fitchburg and South Salem.

And not to mention Brockton, Montello is in that city's northside, while Brockton itself is at Brockton Centre and Campello is in the South Side of Brockton.

Mayor Lang wants one thing, and one thing only;...commuter rail for His City, and he wants it NOW!. That's it! He doesn't care about any other cities and towns around him.

He wants to use the Middleboro route despite the fact that the line from Braintree to Boston is single tracked. His solution... (believe it or not;..seriously!).... simply dig a "tunnel" (remember Hingham?) under the existing main line for installation of another track between Braintree and Boston;....bingo, no problem! My friend who works for SERPEDD spoke with him about this subject and Mr. Lang is deadly serious about his proposal!

Do I hear the theme for "The Twilight Zone".......??

Paul

Seemingly perfect for New Bedford, continuing the traditions of a long string of administrations that have been out in the ozone somewhere....

And they wonder why the city is in so much trouble all the time.

It's the mayor's job to advocate for his city. No different from Joe Curtatone wanting to make sure we get the Green Line extension in Somerville.

If NB/FR where to go through Middleboro, is there any room to double tracking between Braintree & Boston?

I would think for the Old Colony lines alone, there must be a plan to put a second track in.

Problem is that since 1959, the Red Line was built in much of the former right-of-way.

I think the MBTA runs should focus on BOS service and the "other" "regional" sets should link FR, NB with Providence and those could stop at the multiple stations, etc.

just my 2 cents