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Roszo21 t1_j5wcvvo wrote

Except the Needham line, which is one of the densest and most traveled but can't be electrified.

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jbray90 t1_j5xjll4 wrote

Orange/Green. Amtrak already has claimed capacity max on the NEC in the next 15 years so Needham will become forced transfer at Forest Hills. Don’t take your time legislature

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HistoryMonkey t1_j5ye6eb wrote

It would be nice if Needham ran 15 minute headway shuttle all day and then trains to South Station at rush hour peak.

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jbray90 t1_j5yljc7 wrote

It would, but Needham is being sacrificed (necessarily) at the altar of bigger fish with more passengers and more room for passenger growth. An electrified Regional Rail with 15 minute frequencies is going to eat up even more slots than Amtrak had provisioned for. There is no future where Needham doesn’t become a shuttle service to Forest Hills at rush hour. If the whole line wants high frequencies to downtown, they are going to have to switch to rapid transit over the commuter rail.

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Roszo21 t1_j5z7jj4 wrote

It's really embarrassing that West Roxbury and Roslindale are about to be even more grossly underserved by public transit and Wu is saying nothing publicly (despite it being her own neighborhood) because white people.

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Roszo21 t1_j5yf6r7 wrote

An OL stop at Roslindale Village is a viable option within that timeline (or much earlier), but any other expansion seems highly unlikely even though the alternative is screwing over thousands of commuters.

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SkiingAway t1_j5ytpow wrote

Uh, why?

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Roszo21 t1_j5z6g00 wrote

Can't be electrified may not be the right term... there's a shared track issue where it essentially can't run any faster than 60 minutes no matter what so the goal of electrification is moot for the Needham line and in fact will only become worse as other lines run more frequently. Others have explained it on here better than I can. Essentially the MBTA's only plan for better serving the line is to sunset it; extending the OL from Forest Hills through West Roxbury and extending the D line from Newton through Needham. The OL extension would be expensive but fairly doable; the Green line would be a nightmare and is highly unlikely anytime soon. Needham would rather limited service than no service for some long period of time... they know the legislature allocating huge funds to serve one millionaire town is slim in this climate. And they have the power to cock block West Rox/Roslindale.

Essentially the most likely and least expensive 10 - 15 year solution (which would also serve the greatest number of workers, particularly lower income workers) is expanded rapid bus service through West Roxbury to Roslindale Village and extending the OL one stop to RV. I'm actually surprised elected officials haven't yet begun loudly clamoring for it.

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SkiingAway t1_j5zdwnu wrote

Ah, yes, no arguments with anything you've said there, just wasn't sure what obstacle to electrification itself you were seeing.

That said, it may be cheaper to just electrify it rather than deal with a unicorn in terms of equipment if we are at the point of full electrification elsewhere and still can't make a decision on the extensions. I agree it'll likely be one of the last to do anything with.

Being a low-frequency branch doesn't inherently mean it can't be electric - NJT's Gladstone Branch runs a relatively similar operation that way. (mostly single-track, often requires a transfer to a different service to get to where you likely want to go).

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