Recent Streetsblog MASS posts about Rail

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

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.

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

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 […]

The base of a proposed new skyscraper above South Station would sit atop a foundation of arches suspended over the station's commuter rail platform. Architectural rendering courtesy of the MBTA.

More Transit-Oriented Parking Is Coming To South Station

By Christian MilNeil | Jan 15, 2020 | No Comments

Is a parking garage an "amenity" if its users have to stuff their motor vehicles into the gridlocked heart of one of Boston's worst traffic bottlenecks?

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

Amtrak Wants To Compete With Planes And Roads

By Aaron Short | Nov 12, 2019 | No Comments

Amtrak could become profitable as soon as next year as it beefs up short-distance service across the country as more Americans explore cost-efficient, less-polluting alternatives to driving and flying between cities. The railroad company carried a record 32.5 million customers in the fiscal year that ended in September, a 2.5-percent increase from the previous year, […]

An outbound MBTA Fairmount Line train stops at the Talbot Avenue station in December 2012. Photo by Wikimedia Commons user Pi.1415926535, CC BY-SA 3.0.

MBTA ‘Rail Vision’ Comes Into Focus

By Christian MilNeil | Oct 21, 2019 | No Comments

Electrifying the commuter rail network could have profound effects on transit ridership and transportation emissions in the region, according to the MBTA’s formal analysis of possible capital improvements to the commuter rail system. For the past year, the MBTA’s “Rail Vision” study has convened state transportation planners and a public advisory committee to analyze the […]

A view of the Allston I-90 tollbooths and Beacon Yards in 2015. Photo by Nick Allen, licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0.

A Rough Guide To Boston’s Allston/I-90 Megaproject

By Christian MilNeil | Oct 15, 2019 | No Comments

Since 2014, the state's leading transportation agencies have been planning a massive reconfiguration of Interstate 90, Soldiers Field Road and the Framingham/Worcester railroad line along the Charles River waterfront in Allston.

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