MBTA Commuter Rail (Operations, Keolis, & Short Term)

[HenryAlan]

I also wonder if Eng is perhaps more aware (as someone coming from outside the system) how utterly obscene it is that multiple stations (including Lynn) were allowed to fall into such disrepair as to be closed on an emergency basis, and is pushing for ways to create temporary solutions as conciliatory compromises in the mean time. The speed with which the new Lynn platform was built would be another example.

I think we also have to consider Eng's background with the Long Island Railway. I know there are some valid criticisms of the LIR, but overall, it provides a significantly more robust service level than we have with MBTA Commuter Rail. Eng probably understands the possibilities far better than any of his long list of recent predecessors. I have big hopes for change in that area, much of it simply driven by having a man in charge, who understands regional rail, making a few suggestions about what is possible and what should be changed.

 

[Longfellow]

I agree that if we weren't going to get Byford it seems like he is the best we could get. Unfortunately NY transit people do not care about cost, they have the same blinders our guys do on that front. Maybe one day Transit Matters will see the light on cost disease and start pushing that... but we'll see.

It also kind of raises the question of what Poftak's goal was with the transit system. Was he deliberately lying by omission about the state of the system? Was he instructed to do a managed decline of sorts until it could be sold for parts? The more we find out the more odd it all seems.

 

[TheRatmeister]

It also kind of raises the question of what Poftak's goal was with the transit system. Was he deliberately lying by omission about the state of the system?

"Here is your budget for this year, it's smaller than last year. Don't have a big disaster, good luck!"

What happened next is entirely unsurprising.

 

[TheRatmeister]

Thoughts on including the state border on the CR map?

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

$250,000 MBTA sound study of the area around Readville train yards concludes that nearby residents live near train yards

Frustrated residents from Readville, Dedham and Milton told the MBTA and state Rep. Rob Consalvo (D-Hyde Park) this evening they are fed up with the overnight vibrations, humming and train horns from Readville's two train yards that they say have especially bedeviled them since 2020. Read more.

www.universalhub.com

Residents living next to 140-years-active Readville train yards shocked...shocked!...that train activity happening around yards, demand "solutions".

 

[Teban54]

$250,000 MBTA sound study of the area around Readville train yards concludes that nearby residents live near train yards

Frustrated residents from Readville, Dedham and Milton told the MBTA and state Rep. Rob Consalvo (D-Hyde Park) this evening they are fed up with the overnight vibrations, humming and train horns from Readville's two train yards that they say have especially bedeviled them since 2020. Read more.

www.universalhub.com

Residents living next to 140-years-active Readville train yards shocked...shocked!...that train activity happening around yards, demand "solutions".

The title looks like it's straight out of The Onion:

$250,000 MBTA sound study of the area around Readville train yards concludes that nearby residents live near train yards​

 

[TheRatmeister]

Pending a couple minor changes when I inevitably get disatisfied with the fare zones and any flag stop/express service changes that weren't announced, here is the map for the spring CR scheduleView attachment Revised_CR Map 5-20-24 Prerelease.png

Changelog:

• Added the East Boston Ferry
• Remade Foxboro to avoid the weird double-back and apparent throughrunning of the previous version
• Added local only dots to stations past Framingham with restoration of Heart to Hub train (In the morning anyways)
• Boston landing now gets the dreaded "weird service pattern, look at the timetable" circle
• South Attleboro now gets the limited service circle as well, welcome back
• Added Zone numbers going North and West
• Fixed the "1A" zone text missing on the last version
• Remade the Cape Flyer MB/L version with special green fare zone
• Added the Mass/RI state line
• Redid Readville to be more accurate and match the new schedule
• Completely reworked the fare zones around the Haverhill Line
• Cleaned up the fare zones around the Providence/Stoughton Line
• Moved the B/C/D branches so they don't interfere with Ruggles text.
• More minor fare changes, like the Roslindale Village text so it plays nicer with the zones

yes I'm a pedant how could you tell?

 

[aquaticko]

The title looks like it's straight out of The Onion:

I can sympathize...ish. I used to live a literal block away from a freight rail line going through central Beaverton, OR (have moved elsewhere in the city), and it can be genuinely disturbing--though only in the most literal sense. The FRA regulations about freight train horns are really too loose: 2 long, 1 short, 1 long, no stipulations on how long each is, at each grade crossing.

Readville's not nearly as bad as it is here, though. There are 5 crossings in just about a mile, here, so it ends up being an almost continual blast, and while there is a volume range--96-110db--the distinction is kind of meaningless when you're this close; f***ing loud is f***ing loud, either way. With all the grade crossings here, it often ended up being a continual blast; I counted one that sounded for a literal minute--at 3am. However, I did also willingly live in that neighborhood for four years because the location was otherwise very good (everything walkable; an even truer rarity out here), and the apartment was cheap. I don't miss the noise now that I can't see the freight train from my front window, but it's obviously a compromise I was willing to put up with.

Really, it's not anything someone can fairly complain too loudly about because, especially in this neighborhood in Readville, people could likely afford to move if it really bothered them, and as far as I can tell looking at Google Maps, there aren't even the grade crossings that cause so much annoyance here. Even more, imagine the commotion all these freight loads would cause if they were being hauled by truck....

 

[Riverside]

^ I didn't read the article carefully but my impression was that the complaints are from engines idling in the Readville yard during the night? And the core of the complaint seems to be "it didn't used to be this bad and something changed 4 years ago"... which IMO is a somewhat more reasonable complaint than "I live near a train yard and it's loud".

Was it unusually/unexpectedly quiet 4+ years ago? Very possibly, and I'm not saying the T should be obligated to somehow recreate that exceptional situation. But choosing to live somewhere and then having the the ambient conditions change significantly, I think it's reasonable to have your grievance heard (even if nothing ultimately should be done about it).

Also -- if the complaint is "something changed and now it's loud," then a noise study of current conditions isn't what I would focus on; I would focus on an audit of CR ops around the time of the change. Of course, there are many parties on the MBTA/Keolis/MassDOT/Baker side who have strong incentives to avoid such an audit.

TBH, I'm more inclined to believe residents than I am the T on this matter.

 

[HenryAlan]

The title looks like it's straight out of The Onion:

Adam Gaffin does a great job of highlighting the absurdity in local news, but unlike the Onion, his stories are quite real.

 

[ritchiew]

^ I didn't read the article carefully but my impression was that the complaints are from engines idling in the Readville yard during the night? And the core of the complaint seems to be "it didn't used to be this bad and something changed 4 years ago"... which IMO is a somewhat more reasonable complaint than "I live near a train yard and it's loud".

Was it unusually/unexpectedly quiet 4+ years ago? Very possibly, and I'm not saying the T should be obligated to somehow recreate that exceptional situation. But choosing to live somewhere and then having the the ambient conditions change significantly, I think it's reasonable to have your grievance heard (even if nothing ultimately should be done about it).

Also -- if the complaint is "something changed and now it's loud," then a noise study of current conditions isn't what I would focus on; I would focus on an audit of CR ops around the time of the change. Of course, there are many parties on the MBTA/Keolis/MassDOT/Baker side who have strong incentives to avoid such an audit.

TBH, I'm more inclined to believe residents than I am the T on this matter.

Agree 100%.

I'll add, too, that even if the residents are mistaken, it's a good idea to keep incrementally making this infrastructure nicer for the people around it. (It's lower priority at the moment, but still.) First, it's just a good thing to do. We shouldn't be needlessly dumping negative externalities on people. And second, if our public transit infrastructure is a loud f'n nuisance, it will get less support. People will be justifiably wary of any kind of expansions, and might fight against it. A similar thing keeps coming up in any discussion involving elevated rail, which many people oppose because they associate it with the loud, banging, screeching els of the past. Having good counter examples (like the new Lechmere) is probably important for swaying people.

The main benefits of public transit compared to cars is it can move far more people with far fewer negative externalities. It can be safer, take up less space, pollute less, and be far quieter. We should play to those strengths.

 

[JeffDowntown]

Agree 100%.

I'll add, too, that even if the residents are mistaken, it's a good idea to keep incrementally making this infrastructure nicer for the people around it. (It's lower priority at the moment, but still.) First, it's just a good thing to do. We shouldn't be needlessly dumping negative externalities on people. And second, if our public transit infrastructure is a loud f'n nuisance, it will get less support. People will be justifiably wary of any kind of expansions, and might fight against it. A similar thing keeps coming up in any discussion involving elevated rail, which many people oppose because they associate it with the loud, banging, screeching els of the past. Having good counter examples (like the new Lechmere) is probably important for swaying people.

The main benefits of public transit compared to cars is it can move far more people with far fewer negative externalities. It can be safer, take up less space, pollute less, and be far quieter. We should play to those strengths.

For CR idling noise, isn't the solution electrify the lines? We hear that complaint a lot here on the North Shore when they short turn the Newburyport and Rockport lines for track and signal work -- extended idling in locations that normally don't experience it (like Swampscott).

 

[ritchiew]

For CR idling noise, isn't the solution electrify the lines? We hear that complaint a lot here on the North Shore when they short turn the Newburyport and Rockport lines for track and signal work -- extended idling in locations that normally don't experience it (like Swampscott).

Absolutely. And that's another big reason I wouldn't want to be dismissive of noise complaints. We could tell residents to just deal with the noise. Or we could tell residents there are plans for electrification that would make the rail yard orders of magnitude quieter than it's been in its 140 year history. The engine rumbling could be eliminated completely, so please support the project. That course seems better for everyone.

 

[Koopzilla24]

Aren't the complaints of idling noise and horn sounding primarily directed at the CSX yard? The MBTA yard is separated from the nearest home by 400' of other industrial buildings and trees, and those trains are typically hooked up to off-board power so that they don't idle unless they're actively moving in and out of the yard. I understand annoyances with idling Fairmount trains and they will have seen an increased presence post-pandemic though.

After this video was taken that CSX train spent the next hour or so maneuvering the cars into the yard and sitting idle. With there being typically 2 daily freight moves on the Franklin Line (idk down the NEC) one midday one after dark, I can see where it would become an annoyance to those less familiar with it.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

The only thing that has changed since 2020 is that the F40PH fleet has undergone full rebuild, and the GP40MC fleet that used to be split north/south has been moved almost exclusively northside. Southside fleet is now about 70% newer HSP-46 locos, and 30% F40 rebuilds. The HSP's aren't known for having any rep for excessive low-frequency noise, and the F40's are a 37-year known-known for what noises they make. I suppose it's *possible* that the new emissions control systems on the F40 rebuilds are contributing to something different that would only manifest itself in the last 4 years, but if that were true you'd be hearing complaints from abutters of a spread of layover yards on the system...not just Readville.

Actual layover practice hasn't changed. The sets are plugged into onsite power during layovers so the engines can stay off, and there has been no reports that that practice hasn't been followed (and indeed if it's not being followed it's more likely not to be followed on a spread of system layover yards, again not just Readville). Yes, there's switching activity that takes place on the overnight as they pry apart and recombine sets, and yes there are FRA-mandated horn blows for such yard movements in case of workers on the tracks. But that too wouldn't have changed with the pandemic.

CSX...their ops are a little more variable. A little. Their freight schedules are not set in stone, the weekly volumes in Readville Yard are not set in stone, and more importantly...the locomotive power they cycle in/out of New England from Albany is incredibly varied by make with some that idle louder than others. They don't have plug-in pads in their yard, so there would be idling when the locomotives aren't in immediate use. So it's possible that something more variable is happening there that the T cannot control. Possible, but not incredibly likely as CSX ops have always been pretty steady at Readville with no earth-shattering change. But I don't see why all the blame should be shouldered by the T, including paying for the mystery solution, when they aren't the only rail game in the neighborhood by a longshot.


It's also possible it's none of the above. Low rumbling sounds can come from a variety of sources. A poorly-shielded building fan can do it. I remember growing up in Bristol, CT in the late-1980's and being shaken awake by the smokestack fan for the (then newish) trash-to-energy power plant in town about 3 miles away from my house. Panicked community meetings abounded about the low rumble. Ironically you couldn't even hear the fan from the plant's own parking lot, but it shook the hillsides all around because of how the sound projected. And did so until they completely changed the shielding on the fan unit after a couple years of constant complaints, bad publicity, and threats. It could be something like that...some large building's HVAC nowhere near the train yards amplifying a very specific frequency range. All the T's sound tests conclude is that the ambient noise from the train yards is not anomalously high. So maybe it isn't the train yards at all?

It also should be noted from the UHub comments...only a couple of the abutters who complained at the meeting live particularly close to the yards. Addresses were public in the meeting, and some of the lurid stories shared at the meeting were from residents who didn't live particularly close to the yards. So that needs to be taken with the appropriate grain of salt.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Absolutely. And that's another big reason I wouldn't want to be dismissive of noise complaints. We could tell residents to just deal with the noise. Or we could tell residents there are plans for electrification that would make the rail yard orders of magnitude quieter than it's been in its 140 year history. The engine rumbling could be eliminated completely, so please support the project. That course seems better for everyone.

As @Koopzilla24 said, the yards are already electrified with plug-ins. There's usually no engine idling for the midday and overnight layover sets when the plugs are working correctly. Now, there have been cases at various outer layovers where the plug-ins haven't been working correctly (a big problem at antiquated yards like Bradford) and locos were idling illegally to neighbors' chagrin. But there are ordinances that are supposed to limit that, Readville has a lot of plug-ins (12) to go around, and it isn't a particularly old layover yard (26 years) by state-of-repair. Only the locomotives assigned to overnight switching duties would be expected to have engines on. So again...whose yard is doing this? All the blame seems to be directed at the MBTA who says that practices haven't changed, but CSX is right there and they don't plug-in for the night.

Line electrification isn't a panacea. There's still going to be horn blows and shunting-move clanging from nocturnal switching activity even if the capability for engine idling more or less goes away, as well as the soft sound of the cars' plugged-in HVAC cycling throughout the night. And Readville is slated for the southside's heavy maintenance facility, which means clanging from the shop and more nocturnal switching than today and fan/HVAC noises from the shop building. And CSX isn't changing ops-anything with its yard. It's not like you're suddenly going to be able to hear the deafening roar of the Neponset crickets with the yards going stone silent the second the overhead wires get strung up. It'll always be a rail yard doing rail yard things, embedded within the urban fabric.

 

[TheRatmeister]

View attachment Revised_CR Map_5-20-24_MBL.png
Map for the new timetable

...and the SCR version: View attachment Revised_CR Map_5-20-24_SCR.png

For now I'm taking the lazy route and not adding more symbols and/or text to show the weird RL transfer at Braintree for the last Inbound Kingston train.

 

[KCasiglio]

I’ve been taking the CR during the red line shut down and…wow the Quincy center CR station does not impress. Dark, dank, very univiting. Would it kill them to add some lighting?

Edit: I feel obliged to add that the riding experience was superior to the red line in every way.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

I’ve been taking the CR during the red line shut down and…wow the Quincy center CR station does not impress. Dark, dank, very univiting. Would it kill them to add some lighting?

Edit: I feel obliged to add that the riding experience was superior to the red line in every way.

Because of the diesel fumes, the fixture lenses at QC get quite grimy which makes the overall lighting quality pretty poor. The fixtures are original 1997 installation, with screw-in LED replacement bulbs that don't directionally focus the light that well. They'd be well-advised to replace the fixtures with true downward-pointing LED arrays when they hit end-of-life (which is probably pretty soon given that '97 was 27 years ago!).

Beyond that there's not much you can do with the enclosed bunker that still has to vent the diesel fumes. The ceiling is taken up by the exhaust fans, so you're not getting any splashy lighting beyond the post-top fixtures currently there. And you'll still be staring at a beige concrete wall, not some art fancy exhibit that has to be constantly power-washed before it turns brown.

 

[Longfellow]

Am working on a cleanroom where we actually are venting like 40000 cfm of air through return panels in relatively small voids we are building around existing columns. No idea if that actually prevents grime buildup on the ceiling and obviously you’d a retrofit like that is not worth it or possible, but worth considering that you don’t necessarily need the ceiling.