MBTA Service to Fall River, New Bedford Set to Begin March 24

Proposal Calls for Moving Madison Square Garden to Make Room for a new Penn Station

MBTA commuter trains like this one at the station in Foxboro will soon be taking passengers between New Bedford, Fall River, and Boston.

New developments on three stories I previously covered:

New Bedford, population 101,000, and Fall River, population 94,000, are about to lose their status as the largest cities in Massachusetts without passenger trains. Pending Federal Railroad Administration final approval, MBTA Commuter Rail service will start service on its new Fall River/New Bedford line on Monday, March 24. The two cities have not had passenger trains since the New Haven Railroad discontinued its remaining runs in 1958.

Rail service will make the two cities more desirable places to live and work. It could spark an influx of new residents buying or renting homes at a fraction of what they would pay in or and around Boston. Might even make for a good retirement destination.

Since I wrote about this project previously, I’ll spare you a rehash and focus on what is new. For starters, more service than originally planned. There will be 16 round trips .during weekdays and 13 during weekends with hourly service through much of the day.

Previously, the proposed schedule had three inbound trips in the morning with three outbound trips in late afternoon / early evening plus infrequent (every 3 -4 hours) midday service. In addition, previously there were no provisions for weekend service. The changes suggest MBTA leadership has signed onto the regional rail concept, which recognizes that railroads have to serve more than just commuters on a 9 to 5 schedule.

The other change is the use of shuttle trains between East Taunton and the two termini. This will allow one train to or from South Station Boston to carry passengers for both Fall River and New Bedford. Inbound, passengers from Fall River will make the connection. Outbound, people going to New Bedford will have to transfer at East Taunton.

While the shuttle trains are new to MBTA, all three regional railroads in the New York metro use them. On the Long Island Rail Road they run between Atlantic Terminal and Jamaica, Huntington and Port Jefferson, and Babylon and Patchogue, Speonk, or Montauk.

They cover Metro North’s New Canaan, Danbury, and Waterbury branches on the New Haven line and run between Southeast and Wassaic on the Harlem line. The best-known shuttle may be NJ Transit’s Princeton Dinky between Princeton and Princeton Junction. NJ Transit also runs shuttles between Long Branch and Bay Head Junction.

With the onset of service MBTA will open six new stations: Fall River, Freetown, New Bedford, East Taunton, Church Street, and Middleborough. The last station replaces an existing one called Middleborough / Lakeville that served as the terminus of the eponymous rail line. Going forward, only seasonal trains for Cape Cod will stop there.

One-way weekday fares to/from Boston will be $12.25 full fare with a $6 reduced fare for seniors and persons with disabilities. On weekends the one-way fare will be $10. MBTA will be providing free weekend trips March 29 through April 27 as well as on Patriot’s Day, April 21, to promote sampling. I plan to ride the Fall River – New Bedford line next month and write a review of my trip.

Moving Madison Square Garden Off Penn Station

A new proposal has surfaced for what to do with New York’s Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden. The Garden has sat atop the station since the mid-1960s when its above-ground elements (waiting room, concourse) were demolished. It has been a seemingly intractible impediment to rebuilding Penn Station.

The plan, created by a group called the Grand Penn Community Alliance, calls for building a new Madison Square Garden on the footprint of the now-demolished Hotel Pennsylvania across Seventh Avenue. This would allow the existing MSG to be knocked down to make way for a new Penn Station that would incorporate many design elements from the original, which opened in 1910.

The new station would feature a free-standing colonnade along Seventh Avenue in front of One Penn Plaza that replicates the original station’s Seventh Avenue façade. Behind that office building a new train hall with a 125-foot high glass ceiling would be built for commuter service.

Shops and restaurant at street level would make the structure more of a destination than a place to quickly pass through. A single-level concourse would improve passenger egress and ventilation and help the station handle the 48 trains an hour forecast in the future.

The new facility would be set in a park that would run between Seventh and Eight Avenues. It would provide much needed green space for the neighborhood as well as a place where commuters could relax and enjoy a beverage before the trip home. Alexandros Washburn, an urban designer who is leader of the Grand Penn Community Alliance, contends both the new station and arena could be built for $7.5 billion.

Moving MSG to the Hotel Pennsylvania site retains one of the current location’s best assets: excellent transit access that includes three railroads and 14 heavy rail (subway) lines. Given that the famous facility is almost 60 years old and has infrastructure issues that inflate operating costs, it is high time for a change, IMHO.

Before anything happens, however, many powerful organizations and people will have to get on board. They include Vornado, which owns and plans to redevelop the Hotel Pennsylvania property, the MTA, NJ Transit, Amtrak, numerous federal, state and city agencies as well as MSG’s owner, James Dolan.

I like this concept a great deal but the Hotel Pennsylvania site might not be large enough to build a facility worthy of “The World’s Most Famous Arena.”

Atlanta Mayor Wants Streetcar to Go South Instead of East

In Atlanta, GA, a proposed extension of the Atlanta Streetcar along the Atlanta Beltline could be heading in a new direction. Mayor Andre Dickens told MARTA’s Board of Directors they should build first along the Beltine’s Southside Trail rather than the Eastside trail, as planned.

Instead of extending the Atlanta Streetcar from Jackson Street to the Ponce City Market, the mayor wants it to go to Murphy Crossing, a planned infill station on Atlanta’s southwest side

The Beltline is a 22-mile linear park built on the rights of way of abandoned railroads that once circled Atlanta’s downtown. The park has attracted real estate development along contiguous streets, but a promised light rail line has yet to come to fruition.

Mayor Dickens, who previously favored the Eastside Line, said the decision was based on equity. “Because Southside communities have — are the most — they have the most without cars and the most transit-dependent, and we want to make sure they have the most access, the quickest,”

The advocacy group Beltline Rail counters that the Eastside light rail line would be the quickest way to address the equity gap since infill stations can take 15 years to build. But business owners along the Beltline’s east side opposes the project, which is expected to cost $200 million. In addition, MARTA would have to acquire 23 land parcels, including parts of Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Ponce City Market, to build the line.

I can’t say which route would be better, but the new secretary of transportation included “racial equity” on a list of objectives not to be included in funding applications that were contained in a directive issued January 29. Consequently I don’t expect the project to be advanced in the near future.