Crighton's Senate bill sets some unfunded mandates around electrification with the following deadlines:
The entirety of the Providence/Stoughton and Fairmount lines, and the Newburyport/Rockport line up to Beverly must be electrified by December 31, 2024
- Construction on Fairmount and Newburyport/Rockport must begin by November 1, 2023
Framingham/Worcester shall be electrified by December 31, 2026
Middleborough/Lakeville shall be electrified by December 31, 2027
Remaining lines shall be electrified by December 31, 2035
LOL, I'll believe it when I see it. Also, why is the Middleborough/Lakeville Line supposed to be electrified by 2027? Why does it get priority over other lines such as the Lowell, Haverhill, and Franklin, which all have higher ridership than it.
You just hope that the inherent expectation that the T will complete a design and construction procurement in under six months doesn't cause the conversation to be laughed off Beacon Hill entirely.
That's exactly what is going to happen, giving the MBTA 6 months to complete a design, construction, and financial plan for system-wide electrification by 2035 (with some lines being much sooner), while they can't even get their act together maintaining what they already have is something no logical person would ever take seriously.
What I have a problem with is legislating how many trains should be running.
The expectations are laughable, but they are worded as "shall be capable of" instead of "shall run at frequencies of", so technically they aren't mandating that trains run at the frequencies listed above, although they clearly would like them to.
Photo by Alan Thomas: NYNH&H I-4 Pacific #1372 proudly thunders through Forest Hills as it makes its way to Providence R.I.