Join the discussion on the following article:
Refurbished MBTA Green Line vehicles return to service
This is a band aid project. The T has to re-equip when the federal government is running a transit equipment program. This is akin to fixing up an old chair until the store has a sale and you can afford a new one.
Agreed…these are refurbs of 1986 Kinki cars. But that’s all the money the T has; and it does nothing to make the Green Line faster or more efficient other than make the travelers more comfy in the new AC. It’s just real congested when a 3 mile ride takes 20 minutes, but the tracks and tunnels are 100 years old.
Where else in the country can you ride state of the art (1890’s) light rail system.
I hope at least the new air conditioning actually works…
And the system needs much updating, especially on the green line, there are no ‘express’ trains from the outer ring, and then it becomes a string of stop and start stations, the T (all lines) only extend to the 128/95 belt and makes the commuting ridiculous from the 'burbs. In order to make any ‘real’ difference one would need to spend massive dollars (but given the fact that a decade of construction and billions of dollars on the big dig made no actual difference to traffic it’s an up hill battle). Extending the Red line North, outward right in the middle of Rt2 to a major parking center built at Rt 128/95 and smaller extension into Concord. (Not to mention that Alewife is a mess with a mucked up intersection from the station to Rt. 2 west. In the south Red line extension to Hingham south on Rt. 3. and an extension to Rt 24 east to pick up that traffic. A new line down the middle of Rt 93 from Boston to 495 with serious parking in Woburn and 495/93 intersection. Green line needs ‘express’ tunnels or passing tracks at the station. Seriously when trains in tunnels are slower than surface traffic? The next phase would be to put a line right down the middle of Rt 128, all the way around. The existing spoke and hub system makes any sort of circular commute impossible. Trying going from Woburn to Waltham for example.
Even with all this, don’t let it SNOW!
(Rambling post off)