Recent Streetsblog MASS posts about Rail

Use of the "emergency access ramp" illustrated above eliminates the need for outbound Silver Line buses to drive an extra half a mile through congested Seaport streets to get to the Ted Williams Tunnel. Courtesy of the MBTA.

Transit Dispatches: Updates From the September MBTA Board Meeting

By Christian MilNeil | Sep 16, 2019

The MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board met for the first time in over a month today, in a joint meeting with the MassDOT board of directors. Here’s a roundup of what they discussed: Successful Seaport Shortcut for Silver Line In a test run on August 29, the MBTA ran its Silver Line buses down […]

An Amtrak Vermonter train arrives at the John W. Olver Transit Center in Greenfield, MA. Courtesy of the Franklin Regional Council of Governments.

Pioneer Valley Rail Advocates Celebrate New ‘Valley Flyer’ Service

By Christian MilNeil | Aug 30, 2019

Rail advocates in western Massachusetts are celebrating the inaugural run today of a new Amtrak service that will afford Pioneer Valley residents and visitors better daily connections to and from New York City. The new “Valley Flyer” service will triple Amtrak’s daily frequency through the Pioneer Valley. It supplements the existing Vermonter route, which runs […]

The "Grand Junction" rail line near the MIT campus photographed in June 2019. The corridor is being redesigned to include a new dedicated bike and pedestrian pathway and a possible new rapid transit line.

Cambridge Has Grand Plans for the Grand Junction Rail Line

By Christian MilNeil | Jul 24, 2019 | 1 Comment

The City of Cambridge has kicked off a public design process to build several key segments of a new bike and pedestrian pathway that would cross the city from the BU Bridge to the Somerville city line along the Grand Junction rail line. The Grand Junction today is a little-used freight rail line, but with […]

In June, the MBTA issued a solicitation for bids from private developers for the use of this mile-long rail corridor in East Boston. The corridor connects the Logan Airport area to the doorstep of Suffolk Downs, where builders have proposed 10.5 million square feet of new development.

Why Is the T Trying to Sell Off an East Boston Rail Corridor?

By Christian MilNeil | Jul 16, 2019 | 2 Comments

Two former state Secretaries of Transportation are raising serious concerns over the MBTA’s attempts to sell easement rights to private developers for the use of an abandoned mile-long rail corridor along the Chelsea Creek waterfront in East Boston. The former railroad right-of-way, which extends from the Chelsea Street bridge northward into Revere, runs parallel to […]

The proposed Red/Blue connection would extend the downtown terminus of the Blue Line a few blocks westward to link with the Red Line, and a major transit destination, at Charles/MGH.

Transit Advocates Press State to Build Long-Awaited Blue Line/Red Line Connection

By Christian MilNeil | Jun 7, 2019 | 3 Comments

A quarter of a century ago, Massachusetts promised environmentalists a broad array of transit improvements in order to mitigate air pollution impacts from the “Big Dig” highway expansion. Among those commitments was a short extension to the Blue Line, tunneling a few blocks westward under Cambridge Street, to enable direct transfers to the Red Line […]

A new Orange Line car on a flatbed truck in early 2019. Courtesy of the MBTA.

New Orange Line Cars Have Been Just a Few Months Away for Nearly a Year

By Christian MilNeil | Jun 3, 2019 | 2 Comments

The Orange Line’s vehicles were built during Jimmy Carter’s presidency, between 1979 and 1980, and they are overdue for retirement. In 2016, the T ordered new cars to replace aging fleets on the Orange and Red Lines (the new Orange Line vehicles are coming first, with the new Red Line cars scheduled to start rolling about […]