by Rockingham Racer
How's the new Andover platform on the #1 track coming?
Railroad Forums
Moderators: sery2831, CRail
Arlington wrote:How free is Pan Am to load those new trips onto the line without regard to how much congestion such trips will cause and without paying enough that the MBTA could finance upgrades from expected freight fees?Pan Am dispatches their mainline segment of MBTA property, so they can send as many trains as they want, so long as they don't bang up commuter service "too much." But ask people how much "too much" is and no one can really tell you anything concrete — there's no performance metric with a cut off on dispatching rights or any penalties for delays. It would likely take a lot of pressure to force the MBTA's hand at seizing dispatching rights.
Rockingham Racer wrote:That's a very good synopsis. And moving the Lawrence station to the middle of nowhere was a very bad move that took away a two-track station operation.How is it in the middle of nowhere? It's closer to downtown, New Balance is right across the street and all the Development done by the Sal Pizza guy next to New Balance. There is also better parking. There is nothing going on at the old station.
F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:Pretty much the only trigger for putting that infill on the planning board as a realistically inexpensive possibility is gaining the ability to finally increase end-to-end Haverhill schedules with a full-scale replacement for constrained Bradford layover. Combination of that and more liberal schedule-balancing with increased NH Main-Wildcat use for covering the outer-half Haverhill schedules will do the trick. If you had the layover and sheared Haverhill and Reading entirely off running all Haverhill schedules via the NH Main like its pre-1979 routing you'd probably have the gained oxygen to add both South Lawrence and Ward Hill/Industrial Ave. infills onto a schedule that clocks in at 1 hour to Haverhill. Say:Keep in mind the Worcester Line runs a ton of service with a 4-train layover. Service expansion is certainly not limited by the layover. Double-track from Reading to CPF-Vale would allow for it without moving or rebuilding the layover, and "true" double-tracking would offer more service at more stations - otherwise some would need to be skipped by certain trains much like the Newton stations on the Worcester Line. This would serve more benefit because that track is available 24/7 - not just a layover.
NORTH STATION <--> West Medford <-->* Winch Ctr. <-->* Anderson <--> Wilmington** <--> Salem St.*** <--> Ballardvale <--> Andover <--> S. Lawrence <--> Lawrence <--> Ward Hill <--> Bradford <--> HAVERHILL
Rockingham Racer wrote:That's a very good synopsis. And moving the Lawrence station to the middle of nowhere was a very bad move that took away a two-track station operation. Oh, I know: the commuters had to cross an active track to get to the parking lot there. [The tunnel to the old station went away about 40 years ago??] But this occurs elsewhere too, with crossing signals to warn the pedestrians crossing the tracks.Not anywhere they build new. It happens elsewhere because that's the way it's always been done there. Look at all the infill stations on the Worcester Line (between Worcester and Framingham plus Boston Landing), Fairmount Line, Wachusett - all taking great pains to not have a crossing at grade. It's a simple matter of safety, especially in today's age of people buried in their phones.
swist wrote:So that stairway at the end of the old platform leads to? Nowhere?Down to Parker St., but I believe it was boarded up years before they moved the station.
Red Wing wrote:It is not closer to downtown. In fact, it's closer to North Andover probably than it is to Essex St. in Lawrence, such as poor Essex St. is these days.Rockingham Racer wrote:That's a very good synopsis. And moving the Lawrence station to the middle of nowhere was a very bad move that took away a two-track station operation.How is it in the middle of nowhere? It's closer to downtown, New Balance is right across the street and all the Development done by the Sal Pizza guy next to New Balance. There is also better parking. There is nothing going on at the old station.