Globe article: East-West Rail

the No-Build option, repair only is looking better and better for "Brighton Plaza". If Harvard wants something else they can pay 100%. West Station? Who cares, use Boston Landing next door.

Here's a new idea, the King Solomon solution for South Station; Filet the top off of the "General Mail Facility" or whatever it is called these days. Build an EL station above the GMF and over Dorchester Ave, allowing the Post Office to continue sorting and loading mail trains. Depending on how overbuilt it is for pallets of mail could the existing floors support a passenger train?

There is no US Mail contract with AMTRAK or, AFAIK any rail carrier anymore. Certainly not serving BSS.
if rail service were a consideration, there's no need to have it AT BSS.
Building an EL station above the GMF is a non-starter. You'd need to rebuild the entire building (which, from all reports, should probably happened long ago anyway) so why build it there? It makes more sense to build a brand new facility elsewhere and use the current GMF until a new building is ready for use.
Lastly: there's NO REASON to build an elevated stop/structure ANYWHERE near BSS as there hasn't been an elevated line in that vicinity since the Atlantic Avenue EL came down in the 1940's. Why build one now with nothing to connect to?

Loading mail trains was obviously a joke, albeit still a good idea if there were another mail sorting facility still on line. Note several loading docks (bricked up?) for the mail facility face the train tracks just a pallet truck away. Worcester PO is about a block from the "Worcester Main" although not practical for a siding or for switching! An EL doesn't specify the type of rolling stock, in this case FRA diesel push-pull trains, just like the High Line in NYC. Since I am not in the construction industry I cannot determine the relative cost of span girders vs. new construction. There is allegedly irreplaceable sorting equipment inside the PO that is too large to move.

BandA wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 4:37 pm Loading mail trains was obviously a joke, albeit still a good idea if there were another mail sorting facility still on line. Note the loading docks for the mail facility face the train tracks just a pallet truck away. Worcester PO is about a block from the "Worcester Main" although not practical for a siding or for switching! An EL doesn't specify the type of rolling stock, in this case FRA diesel push-pull trains, just like the High Line in NYC. Since I am not in the construction industry I cannot determine the relative cost of span girders vs. new construction. There is supposedly irreplaceable sorting equipment inside the PO that is too large to move for some reason.

Sorry, it wasn't as obvious to me a it should have been. My bad. My point still stands.
Boston's direction in that area is "office buildings: UP, everything else DOWN.
I'm not opposed to the NSRL (building OR discussing here or anywhere else) and I can see a case for removing the GMF to facilitate that PLUS more tracks. I'm not MAKING the case either way, just sharing the article.

I'm gonna ask a dumb question: Why does the facility need to be at South Station, or close to downtown for that matter?

To bring it back to rail... there had been discussion a number of years ago about relocating USPS to the area of C Street, where there would be Track 61 access.

wicked wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 7:58 pm I'm gonna ask a dumb question: Why does the facility need to be at South Station, or close to downtown for that matter?

To bring it back to rail... there had been discussion a number of years ago about relocating USPS to the area of C Street, where there would be Track 61 access.

Well, ... it really DOESN'T. That's kinda my point.
There's no longer any connection between US Mail and passenger service. Hasn't been for what- 20 years?
If I had a say, I'd try for something like the old GLOBE building in (was it) Braintree (or Quincy?) that has/had it's own siding, or maybe Widett Circle? I'm just spitballing.

Looping back to the subject of this post for a moment... it would be interesting to hear if anyone has any thoughts as to why someone feels that they need more platforms at South Station before east-west rail can start.

Yes, surely they need more platforms, but should this really be a sticking point for east-west service?

MassDOT has said (so far) that they're looking to kick off east-west with two, yes two, round trips between Boston and New Haven via Springfield assuming the can get a few dollars from the feds.

Could it really be that the MBTA has zero platform space at South Station during the AM rush and PM rush for 1 or 2 new east-west trains? (I'm assuming that there is absolutely no issue outside the weekday rush period.)

Or, is someone somewhere simply trying to use east-west rail as a leverage point to move the post office building, for any number of reasons.

Yes, the MBTA says South Station is at or above capacity. Also, there are switching delays - as far back as the 1990s I was experiencing typical five minute delays waiting outside South Station for a clear track.

Would an east-west rail line to Springfield and/or beyond work better or worse if it expressed past most of of the stations between Framingham and Back Bay (and also between the Mass. state line and Albany)?

as long as they make a point to avoid westfield but make sure to stop at chester, i'm sure it is going to be a huuuge success.

Yes, if you are going out to Springfield there needs to be express trains, but also to keep the well-patronized local trains there needs to be more infrastructure built from Framingham east that doesn't exist right now such as station or bypass tracks, more layovers, local trains to say Riverside...

You would also need more crews to operate the trains and enough sets to cover the equipment rotations between trains with spares in case one breaks down

BandA wrote: ↑Sat Mar 25, 2023 12:26 pm Yes, if you are going out to Springfield there needs to be express trains, but also to keep the well-patronized local trains there needs to be more infrastructure built from Framingham east that doesn't exist right now such as station or bypass tracks, more layovers, local trains to say Riverside...

Ba
The third track will add capacity between Framingham and 128 and allow express trains to bypass the local trains stopping at stations. A Riverside transfer is an interesting idea, since there's no way to add capacity between Back Bay and 128. That'd require a slew of improvements on the D to absorb new ridership, things like increasing the max speed between Riverside and Reservoir(right now 30mph), more trains and maybe a schedule pattern change(express from Reservoir to Fenway for example). Difficult and expensive for sure, but actually possible vs taking lanes of 90 to add tracks.

Disney Guy wrote:Would an east-west rail line to Springfield and/or beyond work better or worse if it expressed past most of of the stations between Framingham and Back Bay (and also between the Mass. state line and Albany)?

That depends on who wants to go where. Maybe there's a suburbs-to-Springfield market.

Coordinating schedules and selling through tickets that included transfers would help: a train from Pittsfield would pull out of Worcester and five or ten minutes later a local train would pull out with everyone from the Pittsfield train who was headed to someplace that it didn't stop. But that would depend on agencies cooperating and on CSX dispatching letting the Pittsfield trains be on time nearly all the time.

Safetee wrote: ↑Sat Mar 25, 2023 12:22 pm as long as they make a point to avoid westfield but make sure to stop at chester, i'm sure it is going to be a huuuge success.

Couldn’t agree more. I don’t know why this doesn’t get more play. All the power to Chester for getting a stop but there also needs to be a stop for a city of 40k, a state university, can extend PVTA bus to station, and easy access to the Mass Pike. Makes no sense Westfield isn’t part of this project.