What I’d Improve on the MBTA Fairmount Line
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- Опубликовано: 13 июл 2024
- Some commuter rail lines are good. Some are bad. All can be improved. And the Fairmount Line in Boston is a great example of a line that could be transformed into a great product, with little effort.
It’s short length, recent modernization, and low fares could make it an attractive option to travel, if a few more upgrades are made.
Join us as we ride the Fairmount Line from Blue Hill Avenue to Boston South Station. We look at the history, and we dream about the future.
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Chapters
0:00 What is Commuter Rail?
1:41 About the Fairmount Line
3:40 Riding the Fairmount Line
9:09 The Issues and the Solutions 
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The Fairmount Line has improved quite a bit over the past few years. They’ve lowered fares and greatly increased service to encourage ridership which has been successful. I think electrification and new rolling stock would help immensely.
Glad to see the improvements, hope to see even more in the future!
The Fairmount line should really be a lot more like the London Overground with how short it is.
I agree! Some sort of service like that. Doesn’t have to be a metro, but something close is very feasible!
@@Thom-TRA is the best
My friend made SO much fun of me in high school for pronouncing it Red-ville, so I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who thought that pronunciation made sense! 🤣 In all seriousness, great video - the Fairmount Line runs through super dense and transit-dependent neighborhoods that are served by many of the busiest bus routes in the city. Taking the pressure off of those buses by making the Fairmount Line an actually useful service would be huge (they're making good strides with fare integration, but I think the frequency is the biggest barrier right now).
Hey, if even the local Boston transit nerd got it wrong, I’ve got nothing to worry about 😂
Thanks, again - - - just subscribed today - - enjoying all - - - - A few months ago as a retired Senior I started using my Senior Charlie Card to explore the MBTA - - - - the first time I ever did that was in 1980-81 when I arrived in Boston via motor-canoe from Mississippi on a circumnavigation of the Eastern US - - - - spent a year in Boston then - - - and time in Chicago - - love both cities and their transit systems. Thanks ESPECIALLY for THIS video. The Fairmount Line will be my NEXT adventure. I was not aware I could use my Charlie Card on it - - so - - - - here we go! Keep up the good work.
I've really come to enjoy this channel, Thom. Particularly the Boston-oriented episodes, which always manage to tell me something I don't know about lines I've been riding all my life. One thing YOU should know, though -- "Readville" is pronounced "REED-ville!" lol
Unless something has changed since I moved, Readville is pronounced REEDVILLE.
I give up on Massachusetts. Y’all need to figure out some rules for pronouncing stuff.
@@Thom-TRA That's the best part - there are no rules! Unless you've grown up here you'll never be able to pronounce half of the place names.
That's what I was going to say!
@@Thom-TRA well I guess the lack of rules for pronouncing town names in the Commonwealth is why Reading, California is spelled Redding instead. 😉
@@LVRugger like Scituate, where I grew up.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your wife and family, and thank you for another awesome video!!! Thankful for Trains are Awesome!!!
Happy thanksgiving! Thankful for your support and encouragement!
Quite interesting, i made the same trip when visiting Boston: Red Line - Mattapan trolley - MBTA Fairmount Line (as I found the station on the map to be nearby and the next train was running soon) 😊.
The boarding process was quite awkward in my eyes, too. In Europe, especially Germany you enter and leave trains through every available door and i suppose it wouldn't be allowed to run them when only one door can be used in multiple units 🤔.
I would definitely electrify the line, maybe merge it with the South Shore Red Line rerouted into South Station proper as a new color line.
The Fairmount Line should be converted into a branch of the orange line subway, it could then run along the Fairmount Line route from Fairmount to Newmarket and then run underground from Newmarket to Tufts New England Medical Center with stations at Unversity School of Medicine, Franklin Square and Peter’s Park, serving some of the area that was once served by the Washington Street Elevated.
One of my favorite things about riding trains is seeing the rail yard to. When I ride to Los Angeles on the Orange County line, I usually can see the Amtrak 8th Street yard when I ride either Amtrak or Metrolink. I can see the Commerce train yard and station when I pass by sometimes to. And when I ride on a train from Oceanside north, I can see the Stuart Mesa yard where I can see Metrolink, Coaster, and some freight locos and freight cars. I also the Amtrak yard in Philly in July 2023, passed by the Amtrak Adams yard in New Jersey with 2 RTL Turboliners store, and I even saw a NJT yard in New Jersey the same month as well. I do agree with this video, I wish MBTA would electrify their trains, and buy EMU’s. It is frustrating that the Providence/Stoughton line is electrified and MBTA runs diesels on that route, when Amtrak runs electric trains on route for the most part. The frequency can be changed to 15 to 20 minutes one day and I hope it can. Even though MARC runs a lot diesels from the Washington to Baltimore and Perryville Route when there is overhead wires, even they have more electric equipment than MBTA has, MARC has the HHP-8, but I do agree that MARC is not a good commuter rail as of rn (mostly) and it has potential. I do like the accessibility and low fares on the line, and even though the frequency is not the best, it is better than other commuter lines I have seen like the Metrolink Perris, Riverside, Ventura County, and Orange County Line for example, not counting the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner. Good review as well.
I am a conductor for the MBTA commuter rail and the Fairmount line or "the shuttle" as we call it is a dangerous line. We have crew members who regularly get assaulted by vagrants as well passengers on that line. Keeping everyone in one car alleviates the need to start chasing passengers and fare evaders from one end of the train to the other looking for tickets and fares. During peak hours you would see that the entire train is open and a conductor is located at the front and rear of the train to assist with boarding. During non peak hours the second car from the rear going outbound is used and that same car becomes the second from the head going inbound. The problem with those older coaches or "flats" as we call them is that the passengers are able to open their own doors and jump off the train at station stops rather than walking up to a door staffed by a crew member. And the FRA forbids us to lock any doors so it's safer for us to keep everyone in one car and have them exit from the same door they entered. Hope you enjoyed your time in Boston and feel free to reach out next time you're up this way.
I'd imagine the length of the train has to do with signaling so that the sensors dont treat a one or two car train as an error or defect.
The MBTA should follow SEPTA's lead and re-brand the Commuter Rail network as Regional Rail. As someone who lived in Philadelphia for a long time, I've always felt that the "commuter rail" term is outdated with a lot of systems - MBTA, Metro-North, LIRR, NJ Transit, SEPTA, METRA and Metrolink - especially since those systems in particular are multi-line railroad systems with seven day service on most lines. I wouldn't put single-line systems such as South Shore Line between Chicago and Indiana, TRE in Dallas-Fort Worth or Tri-Rail in South Florida.
I don't know if a rebrand is what's needed but the MBTA needs to proactively maintain their system like SEPTA (which is closer to me), because regardless of diesel or electric, commuter or regional rail, I remember a video from a local channel up in Boston using SEPTA's network as a comparison to MBTA (both systems have Subway, Trollies, Commuter/Regional Rail, and Buses), and they emphasized on proactive maintenance as the Green Line and Orange Line seems to be having a lot of problems, I had been on a few Green Line trollies that broke down briefly last month, and Orange Line's signal system seems to be problematic. MBTACR, Red and Blue just seems to be hanging in there.
OMG!
These would be great improvements!
And An Au bon pain!
No wonder it smells good in there!
Also, some of the train yards look like the one at E55 in Cleveland!
Surprised that such a short line would get such long trains. And that off-peak instead of opening first modern car behind loco (or last car on train), they open an old comet car.
BTW, in 1987 Bombardier purchased Pullman-Standard Technologies which had been spun off from Pullman Standard in 1981. MBTA was the first order of Comet cards under Bombardier's onwership, followed by what is now EXO in Montréal and an order from NJtransit. Amtrak placed large order for them but kitted out as Horizon cars in early 1990s. And that's it.
Interestingly, the Comets, due to being such an old design, were grandfathered by FRA and continued to be built light and aluminium. Replacements are all heavy steel due to FRA. (steel commuter coaches accelerate much mroe slowly on diesels, but NJ transit has powerful electric locos to compensate)
On metro vs commuter train: low frequency, and method of fare collection makes a big difference between the two. (controlled access to platforms vs honour system with conductors checking on board). There is also the issue that as it operates on FRA regulated tracks it is a "train" and must abide by 1950s train rules, train unions etc, so for the operator very very different than a subway.
You should come back to Boston and check out some of the old colony lines! I would say that they are a bit better than the fairmount line
And I thought boarding and detraining from the MARC Camden line was awkward, lol
Yeah this was bad. Like, “I need to get back into shape” bad. lol
I like the way the rail service fare system is integrated into the subway. I'd like to see Metra do this.
I'm surprised by the boarding confusion. I would expect frequent users to know what to expect, if the MBTA operates consistently.
I don‘t think it‘s worthwhile getting all-new electric trains for one line, especially when the terminus (Wickford Junction) is not connected to said electrification. That being said, I hope the MBTA chooses Alternative 6 of their Rail Vision.
The RMV, one of three transit agencies in Hesse, Germany ordered 27 hydrogen trains (world‘s largest fleet of hydrogen trains so far), which will enter service soon. Some of them run on completely electrified branches, others on partially electrified branches and lines.
The worst contender is RB11 that runs on the Sodener Bahn. A 6.6 km long, fully electrified line that used to be served by electric S-Bahn (commuter) trains, then diesel trains, then electric (regional) trains and now hydrogen trains. Probably not unique to that region, since half of the German network is not electrified.
starting may 20th, all trains will depart every stop, 7 days a week in each direction on the fairmount line every 30 mins but i rlly think it should go down to 15 mintues, after all, dorchester has 1/5 of boston's population
30 minutes is a step in the right direction at least
Let's just convert it to subway and add a new MBTA subway line! The Fairmount is better off with it and it solves every issue you mentioned
What a odd way this service is run with just the one coach open is this common on the u s never heard of this here in Britain
It is quite common in the us to only allow boarding where there is a conductor present. But there are usually multiple conductors. This was my first time seeing it only be one car…
One of the worst parts of the commuter rail is the door opening procedure. Like it boggles me that a full train leaving south station can sometimes literally open only two doors at the front and back of the train, leading to insane amounts of time boarding and whatnot. This leads to people opening the doors manually, which is literally just a lever, but this can be unsafe as idk if theres a way for the driver to know if the doors are open before they start moving. The newer type cars literally have an "open door" button. Like, just let us press it, other cities do it all the time and it makes it so much easier to board and deboard.
Electrify Fairmount Line with 25kv 60 hz that way NEC trains can be diverted there as an alternative route to Boston South Station and build tracks there
I stayed at a Hotel by Newmarket last month while my Islanders were visiting the Bruins (also a fan or railroads myself), took this line interchangeably with the Red Line from Andrew, and also walked from Hyde Park to Fairmount to complete more of the line after I did a quick trip to Providence. I did notice that even during Peak Hours, the conductor still opened that sole set of doors so perhaps the ridership isn't as high in comparison to other lines, and I feel the boarding/offloading nature has something to do with the flag nature of the line as well.
A resolution for the boarding process is that they should probably place signage so people can know where to board, especially for Blue Hill, Newmarket, and similar stops as the platforms are quite generous. I do think the equipment is kept together for logistical purposes so it doesn't have to be rearranged at the yard or station before perhaps being sent on a different line, which I am okay with even so it seems grandiose for that specific line and I've thought of if it is more economic to run a shorter commuter rail set on that line, but retired that idea.
I took mostly the Providence/Stoughton, Framingham/Worcestor, and Newburyport/Rockport Lines when I am in Boston so definitely this line was a unique one. And thank you for the history refresher course, I definitely forgot about that as college has eroded some aspects of my railroad knowledge, I was wondering if it was a line set up for an alternate route between Readville and Boston South. I also agree with your depiction of the map as I tried to find a train to get to Dedham Corporate Center but realized I have to go to South Station anyways so skipped it. Awesome video!
I appreciate you sharing your experience and perspective. Thanks for the comment!
Hope your team won haha
@@Thom-TRA Unfortunately the Bruin beat the Islanders 4-3 in OverTime, but TD Garden is pretty awesome for concerts and sports, haha! And anytime!
I think that the Silver Line should be converted into Light Rail, and they should have a branch going to Castle Island, as well as converting the Fairmount Line to Light rail, and have that be part of the silver line. The Nubian/Dudley silver line route would be converted to the “F” branch of the Green Line.
Very nice video. LIKES
Many thanks!
Frequencies on the line arent the worst, but they arent the best. I think atleast every 15 minutes would be more logical, but not sure if they have the right equipment.
Thank you for a fascinating video. I agree with all that you say about that route, but as a rail enthusiast, the local trains that MBTA operate with diesel locos in push-pull format are wonderful for me compared to the constant procession of DMUs or EMUs in Europe ! Your computer image of a Siemens Desiro is very appropriate, for they are very popular in Europe with their partial.bi-level formation. MBTA are keeping very quiet on any plans for electrification of any of their routes, so I guess the diesel locos will be around for some time ! By the way, I really like the MPI locos, and when paired with a whole rake of bi-level stock look really good !
I totally share the feeling that a loud and mighty diesel locomotive has a lot of charm. However, when you live in the states, everything around you is already diesel, and it honestly becomes frustrating to see perfectly good urban lines running with some archaic technology.
I heard some rumor about MBTA considering KISSes, but I think the American version of a KISS is ugly-dugly compared to the European version. So I hope they don’t get those but get something else, if they do order EMUs.
@@Thom-TRA of course I agree with your thoughts, though as a rather elderly rail fan, please excuse my great love for American diesel locomotives ! The sight and sound of a CSX or BNSF freight powering along with a two mile consist is truly awe inspiring (!), and there is nowhere else on earth like it. As for the passenger diesels, I cannot see enough of them, and hope they remain for many years yet ! I wish you and Lindsey a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, and look forward to your next adventure. Very best wishes.
From what i read, is that MBTA is planning to use electric trains on the Providence/Stoughton Line
It's weird seeing double decker and single level cars on one train
I've always wondered why they mix one and two-story cars.
And the two story cars were closed off for some reason too
@Trains Are Awesome in non peak times it's easier to keep everyone in 1 car to keep track of tickets
Readville should be in the same zone as Fairmont
Even more confusing on the map is Franklin trains also stop at readville not just Fairmount trains
Yeah that part is just very poorly drawn
seru sekali mister
"Fare gates" would never work outside. I say "fare gates" cause alot of people follow behind a fare paying customer even in the subway stations. The bad thing about is that Ive seen "people" go up to the attendant tell them some sob story or act like they are lost or dont know what theyre doing and get in for free! This pisses me off cause i always pay for my fare and wouldnt even dream of trying that!
I know countless places where fare gates are outside.
Sorry but as an MBTA railfan myself, 10:35 is downright horrifying. I can agree with you, however, making it up to 15 minute wait is impossible as they barely have the equipment now to keep it hourly lmao.
Oh god, imagine using modern and aesthetic equipment like the rest of the world instead of ugly, designless gas guzzlers from a previous era. What a nightmare!
Choosing to make trains that are battery-powered instead of just electrifying the network is a really, really stupid idea. Sure, putting up wires is expensive in the short term, but it will be well worth it.
I agree. Electrification is such a lasting investment, but nobody seems to want to make it.
@Trains Are Awesome not worth it for the mbta when most of the lines run in non electrified territory. Besides the mbta has more pressing issues then electric equipment
@@joshw1687 that’s a weird argument. Saying electrification isn’t worth the investment because there’s no electrification is like saying the house can’t afford a roof because there’s no roof.
Real electrification also greatly reduces locomotive maintenance costs.
A all diesel systerm should plan on prohgressive upgrades to electric. By this I mean pantograph-battery trains. Put OCS in stations where train can charge enough to get to next station. Progressively link each station with OCS until the whole line is electrified. Then those hybrid trains go to the next lime that gets electrificed while the now fully electrified one gets proper electric trains.
Flag stop one car open Transit doors open by conductor ••••• I like there no Railroad Crossings unless your city that hate horns
I’m a kid that likes trains so people that bully him you should stop