South Station Expansion

Last week there were a couple of articles in the Globe about a proposed expansion of the commuter rail facilities at South Station. The first article described the collapse of the initial deal involving the Postal Service, MBTA, and a private developer that was going to develop the property and allow the MBTA to expand with 5 more tracks and platforms at South Station to relieve congestion. The next day, another article was published saying that the T was now thinking about purchasing the entire 15 acre site and adding as many as 11 additional tracks to South Station. The major concern is that with the private developer dropping out, the MBTA, already $4 billion in debt, may not be able to secure the financing to make the deal work.

The MBTA can't afford not to make the deal the work. As the articles point out, next year commuter rail service is scheduled to be expanded to Worcester now that the state has worked out a deal to purchase the tracks from CSX that run between the state's two largest cities. Additionally, the long-proposed South Coast commuter rail expansion to New Bedford and Fall River is slated to occur in 2015 or 2016. Add to that anticipated increases in ridership on other commuter rail lines and on Amtrak in the Northeast and there is certainly a need to expand Boston's busiest rail station. Located in downtown Boston, there is certainly limited room adjacent to South Station so an opportunity to pick up prime real estate such as this should be seen as a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity and the state and MBTA should make all efforts to complete the deal. David D'Alessandro, who recently completed a top to bottom financial review of the troubled agency stated in the Globe that the T still has certain assets that it could sell to possibly finance such a purchase. In addition, development of the rest of the property could easily pay for some of the up front costs. This is more than just a nice opportunity for the T, it is an essential expansion project if sustainable rail travel is going to be allowed to continue to grow in the Boston area and throughout the Northeast.

MBTA Efficiency Opportunities

With the suspension of public hearings and withdrawal of the fare hike proposal for now, things have quieted down a bit on the MBTA front. The big news today is that Secretary of Transportation James Aloisi has been forced out and will not be taking over the reins of the new state transportation agency that will be formed this November.

That said, I think it's important to mention a couple of important service changes proposed during the fare hike saga. These changes would save money and improve service efficiency on the T, thus providing a better experience for a vast majority of T riders.

Service Change - Net Cost Savings
Close Low Ridership or Redundant Commuter Rail Stations - $650,000
Eliminate Redundant Green Line B Branch Surface Stations - $27,500
Eliminate Redundant Green Line C Branch Surface Stations - $27,500
Total Annual Cost Savings - $705,000

The reason I say this should be a no-brainer in terms of reform is because rail lines operate more efficiently when stations are better spaced. Everyone who rides the Green Line knows the B and C lines are bad because they have so many stops. Removing a couple of stops that are 1/4 of a mile or less away from other stops would decrease travel times while not really inconveniencing the vast majority of riders. The commuter rail is even more inefficient with too many stops. The trains are driven by large diesel engines and have so much weight that it takes a long time to slow them down. Ideally, the trains should reach their top speeds of 60-70 mph between stops. However, when stations are less than 2-3 miles apart, it becomes impossible to really get going. Taking the Fitchburg Line everyday, I see this when we have to stop at both Belmont and Waverly, which are only a mile apart. The train hardly pulls out of one station before it starts braking for the next. Waverly is recommended to close in this report, which I would fully support. It may inconvenience the few people who use the Waverly stop, but they could pretty easily switch to Belmont. These people would be better served by a convenient local bus system that could bring them to and from the commuter rail stations while keeping the train running quickly for the entire line.

Let's hope the MBTA can take small steps such as these to improve efficiency across all of its operations and provide better service at a lower cost for its riders.

Train Simulator

This came up in my news feed today and I felt I just had to share it. It is a train simulator that has been done on the major US transit networks. It shows each train trip as a white dot as it travels along each line simultaneously. At one point on the MBTA, there are over 110 trips in progress. It really makes for a cool demo. This comes from the MA EOT blog and shows the MBTA subways and you can follow links to the Commuter Rail or other transit networks.

Good News for High Speed Rail

In case you missed it, last week Obama and Biden came out with their plan for implementing high speed rail in the US. I am very excited by this proposal and feel that the US is far behind other developed countries in implementing inter city rail. Admittedly, our continent size geography and urban history make inter city rail less practical than most European countries or Japan, but I feel that there is already enough demand to utilize it in certain parts of the country and Obama's 'corridor' plan takes this into account.

It appears to me that the initial $8 billion will go towards improving existing infrastructure to let current generation trains run at their top speeds (around 110 mph). Normally, I would say this is a waste, but it only seems practical since we're so far behind and it will probably require an investment 10 times as large to implement a comprehensive high speed system. My only complaint is that I would prefer to see the focus made on a couple of high priority corridors instead of eleven. In particular, the Northeast Corridor (Boston to DC; I now I'm biased!), should be a model for the country due to its high density cities and relatively short distances. Getting the Acela up to 150 mph for the entire route could virtually eliminate air travel among several of the US' largest cities. I also think California needs a high speed line between the Bay Area and LA and their plan seems to be very well thought out and could accomodate train speeds up to 220 mph.

For more details go here (thanks to Sanjay for sending me the links originally).

Public comment and project info

A couple weeks ago, I was fortunate (I think) enough to attend my first public meeting for a major transportation project. The meeting in question was an information session about the Green Line Extension that was held at Somerville High School. The presentation was given by the Executive Office of Transportation, which is the state agency responsible for transit expansion projects. The Green Line Extension is the long overdue expansion of the light rail Green Line beyond Lechmere station into East Somerville and Medford. I thought the presentation was very well done and this is a project that will directly benefit a large number of currently underserved metro Boston residents while improving local and regional air quality. The tracks will follow the existing right of way of the Lowell and Fitchburg commuter rail lines and provide an additional seven stations to the Green Line in these communities.

It must be stated that I did not hear a single comment that was entirely negative about the project. Most every politician and resident that stood before the group commented on how happy they were this project would be getting done. (As a follow on to the Big Dig, the state is legally obligated to complete this project by 2014 in order to mitigate the environmental air quality effects of that highway expansion.) However, starting with the politicians, every person who spoke complained about the location of a maintenance facility in yard 8, adjacent to the Brickbottom station. It took a while to find out what about this they were against, but the basic argument was that this facility would hinder the economic development of this area for perpetuity. I don't want to discount legitimate concerns, but having driven through this neighborhood, it is currently an industrial area adjacent to a rail yard. Nowhere else in the project could a maintenance facility be housed and one is certainly required if this project is going to be successful. What amazed me most was the ridiculous analogies people (almost exclusively Brickbottom residents) would draw to show their opposition to this facility. One person said that "Developers don't like to build near three things: Nuclear power plants, chemical waste dumps, and maintenance facilities!" Another compared this project decision to the decision to send an elevated Interstate 93 through East Somerville.

I must say that I understand concern about a major project in your neighborhood. However, looking at the big picture, they can only be thankful for such a development. As I mentioned, this area is almost completely industrial and is one of the poorest parts of the city. Having access to reliable public transit will result in economic dividends on an order of magnitude greater than what will be lost by the location of a much needed maintenance facility.

Green Line Extension - www.mass.gov/greenlineextension

Other MBTA and Transit Documents
Capital Investment Program - 5 year plan outlining transportation needs and detailing planned investments. Interesting to skim through if you want to learn more about the financials of the MBTA

Program for Mass Transit - Long range plan for expanding and preserving transit infrastructure

Stimulus funded transit projects

Fitchburg Commuter Rail Improvement - Very near to my heart, this project would improve travel time and reliability on the Fitchburg Commuter Rail line primarily by improving the tracks to allow train speeds of up to 80 mph.

Gas Tax & Transportation Reform

So I came across the website describing Governor Patrick's transportation reform plans. It's actually a well designed, informative website. I feel more confident that real steps will be taken to reform the agencies and not just glue them together into some huge inefficient mess. Also, all of the key rail projects are listed in there, including the Fitchburg Commuter Rail improvement project. As this is the line that I ride and sometimes struggle with every weekday, it would be great to see some real improvements. More details on their plans here.

Acela

So my girlfriend and I are going down to New York this weekend and we are going to be traveling in style: on the Acela Express. I'm excited because I'm a big fan of train travel and this is my first time on America's only high speed rail line. I must admit the 3 hour 37 minute travel time from Boston to New York is a little disappointing for a high speed train, but from what I've heard and read, it should be a very comfortable trip. I really hope that with the $8 billion of stimulus geared towards improving and expanding high speed rail in this country, we can make the simple improvements necessary to increase speeds and cut down travel times along the Northeast corridor. The Boston to Washington DC line has the potential to showcase the potential for true high speed rail in this country. In any event, I'll have to take some pictures and share my experience when we get back.