Worcester rail riders neglected

[Lowerdeck]

http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti.../NEWS/706170489

An argument brought up in the Connecticut section, why not have improved rail service from Worcester towards Hartford? Well, service as is right now in Massachusetts between Boston (more especially Framingham) and Worcester is in pretty bad shape. Current line owners CSX prefer freight over commuters, and make things difficult for the MBTA to expand Worcester service.

[Recchia]

My dream for the MBTA would be to have a rail line that functions as a loop around Boston, like 495 does. I'd start it in Wareham and run it through New Bedford, Fall River, up to Taunton, into Providence then up to Worcester, Lowell, Lawrence, etc. Then I could use it to get to work in Taunton from Providence as well...

[Lowerdeck]

I'm curious how much travel there is between the outer cities in the region. A Worcester to Providence to Fall River to New Bedford line might work, but only because they seemingly line up together. The same can be said for Lowell, Lawrence, Nashua, and Haverhill. However, I don't think there's that much connection between Lowell and Worcester.

May as well build the line there anyway, in case there ever becomes one.

[Cotuit]

If you were to create a system that strung together the second cities, you also need to look at what is beyond either end. connecting Providence to Worcester to Lowell might not seem like much of a traffic generator, but if you also connect to T.F. Green Airport, and the NH Seacoast, and Portland, and Ski Areas up north, you increase demand. Stringing together the MetroWest cities and connecting them to RI, NH, and ME creates a way to fill the north-south gap left in Boston. Living in Providence, I'd love to hop on the train for a weekend trip to OOB or Ogunquit or Portland. But I would have to take the Commuter Rail to Back Bay, jump on the Orange Line, then take Amtrak from North Station, its cheaper and easier for me to rent a car. I still may need to change trains in Lawrence or something, but I no longer need to go all the way into Boston and change trains twice (and if I needed to change at Lawrence, I'd be changing trains at one station).

There's also what I can switch to on the rest of the loop. There's a dusty proposal to connect Boston to Montreal with highspeed rail (which would also create highspeed service to places like Manchester, White River Junction, Burlington...). A MetroWest Loop could connect those of us on the MBTA southside (Worcester, Providence...) to that. We could have western highspeed to Niagara Falls and Toronto via Worcester so people on the northside could reach that... Trains from the north could leave the loop at Worcester and head to New York via Hartford. People from the northside currently have to do that Orange Line switch to get to NY. There's a lot of things that a MetroWest Loop makes possible.

[prudence]

Massachusetts also needs to realize that there is life beyond 495, and a commuter rail option connecting Springfield to Hartford (and thus NYC) would be very valuable to Western Mass. Connecticut is bringing the commuter rail right up to the border, Mass just needs to pony up the dough. I read somewhere that the Pioneer Valley in Western Mass has the highest number of colleges in New England, second only to metro Boston. That corridor needs to be exploited.