The EGE wrote:I think Brighton badly needs this station, and I think overall it's good for the line. But it's going to make a lot of people unhappy - either they only serve it on trains that are already locals inside 128 (and Brighton only gets partial service), or they stop most trains (and slow down passengers from further out). Hopefully, once the station is in service (and Beacon Park is no longer a bottleneck) we'll see more inner-belt locals. Perhaps we'll see some short-turns at Natick so as to avoid grade crossings at Natick.
The trip on local trains from Worcester are already long enough at an hour and a half. I would guess (hope?) that once CSX moves out and line capacity is no longer an issue, trains will be rescheduled so that Worcester trains run express to West Natick and only Framingham/West Natick trains make all local stops. Off-peak trains would continue to run as all-stops Worcester locals, but during rush hour these epic Worcester-Boston locals are split into two different trains.
If the scheduling and dispatching is done right, express trains should be able to scoot around the local trains with ease. Once Beacon Park Yard is gone, the entire line will be double-track Rule 261 territory with plenty of crossovers.
As for Framingham VS West Natick, both stations are tied with Worcester for the busiest stations on the line at around 1000 daily inbound boardings. Natick, one stop east, has about 700 daily boardings. Framingham has two grade crossings just east of the station, the eastern-most ones on the line, which could pose a problem for increased train traffic. But I digress, as this issue is off-topic.
