A brand new report makes the case for remodeling a part of the commuter rail right into a regional community that will be electrified, have frequent all-day service, and prolong to New Hampshire.
“Modernizing the Lowell Line,” a brand new report from advocacy group TransitMatters, lays out some great benefits of updating the MBTA’s fifth-busiest commuter rail line and its second-busiest feeding North Station.
The undertaking would price roughly $340 million, together with $90 million to impress the road and $250 million to replace stations and supply excessive platform stage boarding, the report discovered.
A value estimate for the steered extension to Manchester, N.H. was not included, the report mentioned, as it might contain elements corresponding to observe restoration and doable right-of-way enlargement.
“The entire line from North Station to Lowell should be electrified,” the report said. “Electrification allows for significantly faster end-to-end trip times.”
For instance, the Lowell Line connects North Station with Lowell in 46 minutes, which is roughly the identical time it took continuous trains to make the journey when the road first opened within the 1830s, the report mentioned.
“Modern operations using electric multiple units,” or EMUs, which is what the report calls the self-powered electrical trains, “high track standards and level boarding at all stations could reduce the end-to-end trip time to 31 minutes,” the report said.
This would all be a part of the shift to a regional rail system and would come with extra frequent, all-day service extra akin to fast transit.
TransitMatters additionally makes a pitch for “mode-neutral fare integration,” the place buses, subways and trains would cost matching fares inside the identical zone to maximise ridership.
The report envisions two situations: an early funding one with simply electrification and excessive platforms, however no additional enlargement and with 30-minute frequency per department.
The next-investment state of affairs would enhance frequency to 15-minutes per department and would come with service to New Hampshire.
“Restoring passenger service to Nashua and Manchester, one of New England’s largest job centers, has long been a priority for rail advocates and the Manchester Chamber of Commerce,” the report said.
The report additionally suggests including new stations at UMass Lowell and Tufts University, the place the brand new Medford department of the Green Line Extension opens subsequent month.
The present Lowell Line’s straight trajectory would enable EMUs — in the event that they have been to exchange present diesel-powered trains — to attain very excessive speeds, the report mentioned.
EMUs might journey 80 mph south of Winchester, and 100 mph north of Winchester. Speeds could be slower between North Station and Lowell, at a median of 49 mph, as a result of terminal pace limits across the station.
Overall, a median pace of 55 mph between Boston and Manchester is “feasible.” A visit from Boston to Manchester with fast-moving EMUs would take just a little over an hour, the report mentioned.
An MBTA spokesperson didn’t have up to date info to supply this weekend.
A presentation given at a June Board of Directors assembly indicated the T is exploring a hybrid strategy to electrifying the commuter rail “to reduce cost and accelerate delivery.”
According to the presentation, overhead catenary strains would cost battery-electric trains whereas transferring to allow them to transfer offline in tunnels and over bridges, the place the T deemed it was too costly to put in wiring.
The T estimated the shift from diesel- to electric-powered trains, which would come with putting in overhead wiring throughout the system, would take till 2032, when the present fleet’s lifespan expires.
“The MBTA remains strongly committed to regional rail transformation,” a presentation slide said.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”