Franklin Line Discussion

Commuterrail1050 wrote:Are they going to finish fully double tracking between Walpole and Norwood central? I know that’s a bit more complexed but I was just curious once they finish extending from west of Walpole to east of Franklin dean station.

Yes, that's Phase 3.

MBTAVideoClips wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2024 9:35 pm Are they going to build a second platform at the stations getting a second track, or are they going to have people cross the tracks "Kendal Green Style" in the interim until they can fully rebuild the stations

For Norfolk, there is a crossover from the old track to the new track about 1800' west of the Main Street bridge, in addition to the one from the old track to the new track about 300' east of Route 115. So I'm going to speculate that in the interim the MBTA will switch onto the old track to serve the existing platform while using the new track for any outbounds that don't need to stop at Norfolk until a second platform can be built.

For Walpole, I imagine that it initially will be a similar to Norfolk. I'm going to speculate that they will add a crossover to the new track somewhere east of the Route 27 bridge and turn the existing switch west of the station into a crossover back to the new track.

For Windsor Gardens, it looks like they will move the current platform back and add the second track there. Then they'll add a second platform on the other side, hopefully with a connection over to Ryan Drive for the residents over there.

Eventually, however, they will have to come up with a solution for Walpole. Here's what I imagine is going to happen:


So in this case Walpole will get relocated to east of Route 27. The new track will run east from the current switch across the Framingham Secondary to the wye coming from Framingham. The switch for that will be just before the Route 27 bridge, and the switch will be converted into a crossover to allow the Framingham-Readville trains to access the inbound track. From there the new track will continue on to Norwood Central and there will be a crossover somewhere behind CVS. All Foxboro trains will stop at the inbound platform (outbound Foxboro trains will use the new crossover, stop at the new platform, and continue down to the Lewis Wye. This is the cheapest and easiest way the MBTA can build new ADA-compliant platforms for both Franklin and Foxboro trains once the double-tracking is complete.

BTW, here is Transit Matters's proposal for the Franklin/Foxboro line: https://transitmatters.org/s/TransitMat ... n-Line.pdf. Service through Foxborough into Mansfield would be cool and there does appear to be room for a layover right before the Framingham Secondary reaches the Northeast Corridor. I wonder where a layover for Franklin trains would go. Milford has space, but would the MBTA want to extend the Franklin Line all the way there?

Actually, on second glance, if the crossover is between the Route 27 bridge and the Neponset River, Foxboro trains can use the outbound platform.



The MBTA will have to add two new platforms anyway, so this allows them to do so without touching anything in the diamond. I'd like to see the current headhouse remain used, but nothing says it can't be.