Haverhill Line Upgrades (Western Route)

davesnothere wrote:So perhaps you can educate us? Who do the track constructors work for?

This project Keolis.

davesnothere wrote: gives out the contract?

MassDOT/MBTA

davesnothere wrote: is receiving the contract?

Keolis/CR Operator

davesnothere wrote:Who's driving the show?

MassDOT/MBTA

All of which goes to show why this job is being run to keep commuter rail track maintenance people off the normal budget, rather than improve service or the Feds' intent of stimulating the economy: AS is untouched since my last report: the assembled turnout rusts, the 10 MPH wow in the easterly E of the grade crossing remains. High speed turnout parts rust at I-495. The catch basin at Essex St., which a competent project engineer would have put on the schedule back when the grant application was being written, might as well be the Black Beast of Aaarrggghhh (Python reference) for all that's been done about it since 2009. The easterly track hasn't been reconnected at the Andover Shawsheen River bridge.

Instead the track crews are assembling track east of WJ, which can't be used until 1) WJ interlocking is rebuilt, which I don't think can start till the microwave tower foundation is demolished, 2) the retaining wall by NStar is removed, 3) the signal control boxes & switch stand blocking it are moved and 4) it can be connected to something at the Ballardvale end. Is there going to be a crossover at LJ to connect it to the westerly track? if not, this track won't be used till both Ballardvale and Andover get second platforms.

My MBTA eastbound met a westbound Downeaster at Frye the other day. But that and track 17 in Lawrence are all we have from the stimulus grant (I appreciate the bridge repairs, but we've been told that was a different pocket). Are they really going to draw this out till 2017?

Agreed....painfully slow and plodding. The Fitchburg Project is slightly better. Hearing
the T would much rather focus Andover & Ballardvale to a super station at/near Lowell
Jct. than do anything with those two stations as they exist.

Sadly, when the Green Line project starts affecting the Lowell mainline and possible
reroutes of some Amtrak trains via Reading, this debacle of the restoration of double
track will rear its ugly head tenfold.

D

GP40MC1118 wrote:Hearing the T would much rather focus Andover & Ballardvale to a super station at/near Lowell Jct. than do anything with those two stations as they exist.

Lowell Jct. is some politician's (Tierney?) perpetual obsession. MassHighway's been pressured for years to fast-track a new exit off I-93 to Lowell Jct. Rd., and now they're talking giveth-and-taketh-away with CR stations. Pfizer is stuffing somebody's pockets full to the point of exploding. A train stop and an Interstate driveway all to themselves...but screw the towns of Andover and Tewksbury.

One word applies here: ridiculous. Can you see octr202 driving down to Lowell Jct. from Essex St. in Andover?!

Too bad there is not a Warren Buffet "type" in MA government. He would
have the trains humming on the double track by Labor Day 2014.

Rockingham Racer wrote:One word applies here: ridiculous. Can you see octr202 driving down to Lowell Jct. from Essex St. in Andover?!

I'd be moving.

Talk about assinine. Two stations that serve traditional town/village centers, yet still have ample parking* for those not within walking distance. With the always drawn out but still theoretically happening Andover DPW garage relocation, there's a golden opportunity to create a station complex with transit-oriented housing on that property, all while (finally!) creating convenient pedestrian access to Main St (*gasp* People walk to the train station?).

All so that they could make more park & ride spaces, when Anderson is just a little further south, has much better service, and rarely if ever fills up? Another solution in search of it's problem.

I'll get off my soapbox now...see what you started, RR?

just an update, not much going on but did notice the new rail (easterly side) connected to the LJ bridge rail.

Yep. The only other change I noticed in two weeks is that there is now assembled track on the easterly RoW from Ballardvale grade crossing to Wilmington Jct., with gaps at LJ and the two industrial spurs that cross the easterly RoW. Not connected to anything and no prospect of it being used this year or next, but it kept some MoW workers off the main MBTA budget a little longer.

I still haven't actually ridden on the easterly track between Frye and AS (not since a trailing unit cab ride on LM-1 in 1977 anyway), and don't expect to unless I happen to catch it on a Downeaster trip.

As almost two weeks of silence suggest, there has been no visible progress. The contractor continues to assemble pretty masonry at the Shawsheen bridge closest to Andover. The T (or someone) decided it needs granite parapets, where the original arch bridge was all below railhead level.

jbvb wrote:As almost two weeks of silence suggest, there has been no visible progress. The contractor continues to assemble pretty masonry at the Shawsheen bridge closest to Andover. The T (or someone) decided it needs granite parapets, where the original arch bridge was all below railhead level.

Perhaps related to the conversion to ballast bridge decking?

Both reconstructed Shawsheen River bridges were originally ballasted deck, with the top of the masonry/concrete about level with the ties.

I wonder if it's being done to conceal the modern steel and concrete bridge within the structure?

I would buy that. I've heard of stranger things.

Considering the effort that went into rebuilding them with the stone arches intact, that's got to be it. Would have been a lot easier to just replace the old bridges and be done with it.

In other news, there did appear to be a white pickup truck gathering this morning at the Lowell Jct staging area as I went by on 202.