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This is great news, and I hope it passes! But this one line from the Globe article isn't quite right. There will still be huge piles of regulations limiting what can be built. The proposed bill remains to be seen, but they'll have to make sure to fix lots of other requirements related to lot...

Even if you very generously count the progress of electrifying Caltrain,* she said California is "best in the world." That's quite a claim. For some comparison, India recently electrified half of its entire national rail network in 5 years. I also want to be fair and generous in interpreting...

How much do you think decision makers actually believe we can innovate our way out of problems? As a cynical outsider, if often looks like a way for them to not have to fund a project or accomplish anything. If they admitted that electrification is the one and obvious solution, they might feel...

Yeah, the idea that the PNW is better with funding, that might be true. But that's me guessing, and it's hard to give her the benefit of the doubt, here. Do you know much about that? And as for Quebec, yes, they've got that train. But looking at hydrogen powered trains for the MBTA is one of...

I like to think this is true. I mean, Austin has no subway, and they're not building any. But I like to think that Austin is secretly the best in the world at building new subway lines. Just innately. They know they're the best and don't need to prove it to anyone. They could if they wanted to...

If it's any consolation, the city sets a kinda low maximum height.... sigh It looks like city zoning sets a max height of 120ft for this site, but can anyone tell for sure? I'm not sure I'm reading the exceptions to the exceptions to the exceptions correctly.

Wait, is that actually moving forward? That seemed like it was proposed a few years ago, then forgotten. In the flurry of recent Penn Station proposals, Penn Station South hardly seemed to even get mentioned.

Yeah, it would be sad to see it go. If they can, I hope they can keep that arched entrance. It still has pieces of the original, elaborate façade.

I agree this could be better, and there's more the city could do to allow/encourage densification. But just some slight optimism, it seems like that densification is happening, especially in the past 10-15 years. There are a bunch of new apartment buildings, especially right around Jackson...

This came up in another discussion recently (and that goes on intermittently for a couple of pages). I might be the one most enthusiastic about the idea, only because it's interesting, not because I think it's feasible. In short: the northern and southern parts of the NB tunnel are 5% grade...

I've used the census block data you can download here. It's just census data that I think Massachusetts has cleaned up and simplified a bit. I think this is the same data @Teban54 is pointing you too, just easier to find. Really really, great map! FWIW, I don't think you need a north arrow or...

None that I've ever come across, no. Sorry

I can't give you exact numbers, but the Southbound is much shallower there than the Northbound tunnel. The deepest part of NB is about 120 feet underground at Summer Street, where the highway goes under the Red Line (which is under the Silver Line). It then starts rising slowly to go over the...

I don't really know where to stick this, but here are two pieces of public art that include transit that no longer exists. It's just weird it happened twice

I'm not sure I follow. To be clear, this was all based on a god-mode proposal to repurpose the CAT tunnels for trains as much as possible. So the trains would be in the current tunnels, following whatever grade they are. I was saying that's maybe remotely possible between South Station and...

Yeah, that's roughly the problem section we're talking about: going from a high point as the highway goes over the Blue Line to a low point under the Callahan/Sumner ramps. That should be the steepest part of the CA/T between South Station and Haymarket, but I'm pretty sure it's still less than...

Yeah, it's been a while since I was reading about this, and I was trying to piece all this together from really incomplete snippets of data, but: Yes, it's close, but I am pretty sure it never goes above 3%. That's piecing together lots of partial diagrams, construction photos, and planning...

@BosMaineiac that all sounds about right, but a couple of things The north and south entrances to the tunnel are too steep. But I think everything in between (basically Summer Street to North Washington) is under 3%, which is what the FRA was allowing in other NSRL plans. If @Hooledeli 's plan...

That's pretty cool. I've also thought a lot about repurposing the tunnels for trains, for the same reasons you mention, and just that the Big Dig engineering is fascinating. I don't think it's at all feasible, but it's fun to consider. Did you give any thought of what the trains would do north...

It will be a bit sad to lose that last bit of street running. It's quaint. It looks neat. It feels very old time-y Boston, especially running along those row homes. But also, thank god, separate the tracks, speed up the trains, do it, do it now