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LightBound t1_j9vpnbp wrote

Reply to comment by Ksevio in A man was shoved onto Blue Line tracks in Revere. He landed on his feet and just barely missed getting hit by an oncoming train. by _Hack_The_Planet_

I'm cool with that

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McFlyParadox t1_j9vt8qw wrote

At this point, I'd be cool with them ripping all the hardware - rails, ties, switching, everything, even concrete in places where it needs to be repoured - out of the tunnels, and replacing it all with modern gear, one line at a time. And then they do the red line and orange line, dig another tunnel or two to connect the commuter rail between North Station and South Station. Would probably have to replace entire lines with bus service for years, while the line was being gutted and rebuilt, but it's honestly getting to that point. There is only so much you can do when you need spend half your maintenance time just getting equipment in and out of the tunnels. And maybe if we're really good, we can finally have the yellow line. As a treat.

Big-Dig-it-up, but for public transportation this time.

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free_to_muse t1_j9y30px wrote

Sounds good. T grand reopening summer of 2038.

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McFlyParadox t1_j9y3azx wrote

As I said: one line at a time.

So, yeah, it probably would take a couple of decades to do all the work. But it wouldn't be a couple decades of "No trains".

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free_to_muse t1_j9y3zri wrote

Ok great. Just 5 years for the line that goes to your home. And then the next 5 years for the line that goes by your work.

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MgFi t1_j9y827f wrote

You can suffer waiting for the line to be rebuilt, or you can suffer waiting for the line to be rebuilt. It's your choice.

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free_to_muse t1_j9yx8wd wrote

So flippant. If you shut down a train for 5 yrs, people just don’t keep doing the same thing until it reopens. You’ll destroy countless businesses and communities, perhaps permanently. People will move, and change their behavior to not need the train. So when the train comes back, it’s a different world.

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MgFi t1_ja0yjhw wrote

My comment was meant to imply that whether they degrade service to rebuild the line while keeping it running, or they shut the line down to rebuild it faster or more completely, it's going to impact people either way. The same effects you mention will happen, regardless of which option is chosen, although if the line is kept running in some reduced capacity, there might be less of it. When the line is brought back up to full service, the world will be different either way.

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PassCommon1071 t1_ja09wm1 wrote

And design/re-fit so the system won't be drowned in sea level rise in 30 to 50 years.

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User-NetOfInter t1_j9w0qqt wrote

You’re talking ten billion. Easy.

Probably tens of billions.

MBTA annual budget is 2.5 billion

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BradDaddyStevens t1_j9wnxfm wrote

It should be done at some point, regardless. Also, could you elaborate on your $10bil number?

If we manage to do all that, then it will be possible to run trains without drivers and we’ll be able to run trains a lot more frequently.

Speaking long term, one of the biggest recurring costs to transit systems in expensive, modern cities like Boston is paying for operators of the system. Eliminating that when we can would be quite nice.

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