Recent Streetsblog MASS posts about Rail

Advocates say that these upgrades to the commuter rail network would allow trains to run every 15 to 30 minutes on most lines. Courtesy of TransitMatters.

TransitMatters Issues Detailed Game Plan for Regional Rail Upgrades

By Christian MilNeil | Jun 22, 2020 | No Comments

Advocates from TransitMatters have released a detailed, $2.6 billion strategy for upgrading key commuter rail lines to attain 15-minute, all-day service to Beverly, Providence, and along Boston’s Fairmount Line. Last November, the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB) endorsed an aspirational vision to electrify the MBTA commuter rail network to provide all-day, rapid-transit-style service […]

Central Square in Lynn. Photo by Wikimedia Commons user Kcboling, licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA-4.0.

Lynn Will Get Subway Fares From Its Commuter Rail Station This Summer

By Christian MilNeil | Jun 16, 2020 | No Comments

Though it’s just a 20-minute bike ride from the end of the Blue Line, catching an MBTA commuter train from downtown Lynn has traditionally cost nearly three times more than a subway ticket. That will change for a 2-month pilot this summer, when one-way fares from Lynn to North Station will be reduced to $2.40 […]

The Blue Hill Avenue Fairmount Line stop, pictured in spring 2019. Courtesy of the MBTA.

T Restores Early-Morning Commuter Rail Trips For Health Care Workers

By Christian MilNeil | Mar 23, 2020 | No Comments

Responding to issues raised in a StreetsblogMASS report last week, the MBTA has announced that it will bring back early-morning commuter rail trains that will allow health care workers to get to work for their 7 a.m. shift change, even as the rest of the transit system continues to run on a reduced schedule. Last […]

An Amtrak Lake Shore Limited train passes through Chester, Mass. Photo by Benjamin Turon, licensed under the Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license.

MassDOT Will Revisit Its East-West Rail Ridership Projections

By Christian MilNeil | Mar 2, 2020 | No Comments

A coalition of regional planning groups wrote that the East-West passenger rail study's low ridership projections "require more explanation, clarity and re-analysis."

Advocates Spotlight Strange Math In MassDOT East-West Rail Study

By Christian MilNeil | Feb 7, 2020 | No Comments

MassDOT believes that adding more passenger rail service between Springfield and Boston would cost more than twice as much – and attract fewer than one fifth as many riders – as a similar higher-speed rail upgrade on the Hartford Line between Springfield and New Haven.

MBTA Board Updates: More Fairmount Line Service, Action On Bus Garages

By Christian MilNeil | Jan 28, 2020 | No Comments

Today’s meeting of the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB) advanced several initiatives to improve bus and commuter rail service, and also discussed Governor Baker’s new budget proposal. More Fairmount Line service approved The FMCB unanimously endorsed a one-year pilot project, proposed by the City of Boston, to add additional service to the Fairmount […]

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