Globe has an article today citing soaring fairmount ridership, mainly Red Line refugees. They also mention this bill that's out there to try and dedicate equipment to the line and plan electrification. https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/H3908
Railroad Forums
Arborwayfan wrote: ↑Mon Oct 16, 2023 3:43 pm Readville is a looong way out from South Station for still being inside Boston--about as far out as Winchester and Waltham are from North Station.On top of this, also consider running rapid-transit headways with partial electrification (or DMUs like the Stadler FLIRT) to places like Boston Landing, (west station if that ever gets built), down old colony to Braintree, down the corridor to Readville (using the Franklin platform), etc.
Just because in greater Boston all rail transit that's on the national rail network consists of fairly infrequent diesel push-pull trains using a mix of low and high platforms with conductors in pillbox hats lifting tickets doesn't mean that the only choices are that or non-FRA transit service. Look at New York (if FRA requirements scare you off of looking at London or Tokyo).
It would be possible to make the Fairmount line into something as frequent and convenient as a subway line while still keeping it as a replacement route for CR and Amtrak:
Electrify the line, install full high platforms at any station that doesn't have them, install faregates or set up a POP system so no need for conductors to lift tickets, buy a suitable fleet of FRA compliant EMUs with lots of automatic doors (piggyback on a Metro North order?), and run frequent subway-style service along the line. Make the platforms long enough that when the line is needed for detours the EMUs can be run as double drafts on headways twice as long as normal to make slots for the detouring trains. Isn't something kind of like that even in some long-range plans?