The Boston Big Dig - Was connecting South and North Stations ever considered?

[daveklepper]

North Station and South Station were connected for passengers by the Atlantic Avenue Elevated, a branch of what is now the Orange Line, until 1937, with the structure torn down in 1940. The freight railroad on Atlantic Avenue and Commercial Street was dieselized after WWII and operated until around 1970. Amtrak advises passengers coming up on the Corridor or from the west on the Lake Shore to use the Back Bay Station, not South Station, and then use the Orange Line subway service directly to North Station without change. Allow a half hour and you will make your connection. May I ask every railfan reading this comment to write Candidate Kerry as to why the very necessary and overdue rail connection was not included? The Corridor logically should extend up to Portland, ME, and Maine is subsidizing the Downeast Portland - Boston service which would be even more successful if the connection was in place. Also, the MBTA is talking about spending a billion or so for a circumvential rapid transit to tie suburbs together which would not really be necessary if commuter trains ran through from Newberryport to Franklin and Framingham or Worcester to Providence. Philadelphia did the right thing by tieing the old Reading lines with the old PRR lines and communter service improved greatly with their Center City Connection (4-track!). Kerry was a Massachusetts Senator who lobied for the money for the Big Dig. Kennedy had the major role, but now is the time to write Kerry and see what he has to say about the matter.

[MP57313]

I lived in Cambridge in the early 70s. There is a connection but it is not direct; I believe they use it for moving the Amtrak Downeaster over to North Station (no passengers on this leg though). A former B&A/PC branch left the mainline somewhere near Back Bay station and cut through East Cambridge near M.I.T. It joined with the B&M (actually extended to East Boston) near the North Station Yards.

There was once a more direct line too. Around 1971 I walked along Atlantic Ave/Commercial St, which passes along the wharves in the area between the North and South Stations. There was a switching line in the middle of the street with a lot of sidings to wharves, but it must have been abandoned only a few years before as most of it was intact.

The switches were still in place, but not a freight car in sight. The south end of the line actually ran past South Station and connected with the yard. The North end of the line was paved over (somewhere near where the Orange Line elevated MBTA line ran). This line was likely never used or intended for passenger service.

[halifaxcn]

The North & South stations have NEVER been connected. The MBTA Green and Orange lines serve the North station and you would have to change to the Red line and get off at the South Station stop, go up stairs to the station itself.

About ten years or more ago, a north south rail link was floated. It was the ideal time since all teh construction of the Big Dig was gearing up. Then the woes of money started and politics started and that was the end of the project.

BTW The Brigham Ice Cream Company of Arlington, MA. (my old hometown) make sthe Big Dig flavor ice cream. Its yummy, but then I grew up on Brighams ice cream and may be some what loyal to the hometown brand:-)

Regards
Frank San Severino
CP-198 Amtrak NEC
Attleboro, MA

[ericsp]

Careful, it is against the Code of Federal Regulations (or maybe just the California Penal Code, it has been awile since I have been outside of the People's Banana Republic of California, so I don't remember what traffic is like elsewhere) to have traffic management projects or signalling that makes sense. Can anyone say "Traffic Calming"?

[Anonymous]

I live in Boston and the Big Dig (now an ice cream flavor and a way for the headache medicine companies to make more money) is a big annoyance. North and South stations arent connected and I don't know why they should be. South station handles most of the Amtrak service and some commuter trains, while North station handles most of the commuter trains and the very rare Amtrak. I've actually never seen a train other than a Commuter Rail train.

I was wrong. They are connected, except not directly. You have to take one commuter train and switch to the trolley line that goes by the North Station/Fleet Center( home of the DNC ( oh god what a mess this will be). It's definatly not for the out of towner.

[Anonymous]

Have been reading some info about this road project through central Boston- 14.5 BILLION dollars. Does anyone know if any consideration was given to tying north and south by rail for (if nothing else) commuter train service? As part of the project, an artificial reef was built for the lobster, crab and finfish populations.