MBTA GLX! May 2021 Green Line Extension Construction Update!

hey it's john welcome back to my channel and today i've got a video for you about the green line extension in boston massachusetts the green line extension or glx will add two branches onto the northern end of the green line which currently has four branches on the southern end of the line the union square branch will only include one station and the medford branch will add five stations to the system the four southern branches on the green line funnel into the tremont street subway which is made up in part by sections of the tunnel built in 1897 making it the oldest subway in north america due to the age of the green line which was officially codified as a single transit line during the 1967 system-wide rebranding scheme many interesting quirks can be seen in both the underground and surface level portions of the line for instance several stations have turnaround loops including park street and government center in the tremont street subway additionally the d riverside branch operates over the former boston and albany highland branch which closed in 1958 the line was converted to rum light rail trains in 1959 rather than converting it to a proposed third rail metro line because of the low cost of connecting it to the existing beacon street subway just west of the kenmore station this branch is fully grade separated and allows for the highest operating speeds of the four existing branches fortunately as we'll soon see the two northern branches of the greenland extension are similarly being built in the rights of way of existing commuter rail lines and will be equally grade separated which is a trend that seriously needs to catch on with other light rail systems in this country the other three southern branches of the green line are relics of a once massive streetcar network that connected boston and the surrounding suburbs the b boston college branch runs on a protected right-of-way in and along commonwealth avenue and the c cleveland circle line runs in the median of beacon street only the e heath street branch retains the original mixed traffic street running that gave street cars their name in advance of the green line extension opening the mbta is completing several projects across the green line to improve service track and intersection replacements are being performed across the b c and e branches and track and signal replacements are being performed on the d branch station consolidations are also being performed on the b boston college branch this project will consolidate four stations near boston university into two new accessible stations to both improve customer experience and speed up service work has just begun on the second month-long window from may 17th through june 13th which will see green line service suspended allowing for 24-hour construction on the site oh and if you're wondering why there's no a branch we don't like to talk about it in may of 2020 to facilitate both the reconstruction of leachmere station and the refurbishment of the adjacent viaduct the northern terminus of the e-branch was moved from leachmere to north station with the opening of the green line extension which is planned for late 2021 the new service pattern will see e-branch trains running from heath street to medford tufts d riverside trains will be extended along the short one station union square branch c cleveland circle trains currently terminate at north station but the line will be shortened to government center with the opening of the glx lastly the b boston college branch which currently terminates at park street will be extended and will also terminate at government center although the service on the green line was reduced during the pandemic the mbta has agreed to fund pre-pandemic service levels across the system beginning july 1st this does not mean full service will begin on july 1st because although the t hasn't furloughed staff due to the pandemic they also haven't hired new staff to replace those that retired the mbta is targeting the fall of 2021 for the return of full service across their transit network in time for the planned completion of the green line extension the rolling stock used on the line consists of three different generations of light rail vehicles the oldest and by far the best looking cars are known as the type 7 lrvs manufactured by kinky sherio between 1986 and 1988. 100 cars were produced in the first order with another 20 cars being delivered in 1997. the first low floor cars were known as type 8s and were manufactured by ensaldo breda beginning in 1998. this order included another 100 cars and although they are now used across the green line they were plagued by several problems upon delivery the newest cars on the line are the type 9s manufactured by caaf usa between 2017 and 2020. there are only 24 type 9s but the mbta will be acquiring more new cars in the future designated as the type 10s these cars will replace both the type 7s and type 8s allowing for a fully low floor fleet when the 165 type 10s are fully delivered the t will begin using the type 9 cars on the matapan high speed line replacing the pcc street cars that were produced in 1945 and 1946 so with all that out of the way let's get into the tour [Music] we'll start by looking at boston's west end above charles river dam road just west of the tunnel portal leading to north station you can see the science park station which like leachmere has been closed for over a year and replaced with a free shuttle bus as we turn to the west you can see the leonard p zakim bunker hill memorial bridge which carries interstate 93 and us-1 over the charles river the leachmare viaduct that spans the river was built in 1912 and originally connected to the causeway street viaduct which was replaced by the north station tunnel in 2004 the viaduct is in the process of being rehabilitated ahead of the opening of the greenland extension west of this bridge over charlestown avenue you can see an entirely new viaduct has been built at this intersection with cambridge street you can see where the old leachmere station was located the old station featured a turnaround loop and adjacent bus shed [Music] as you can see the site has remained largely unchanged since its construction a century ago the new leachmere station will be located on the new viaduct and like all new stations on the extension will be fully accessible while the historic structures of the former leachmere station are fascinating to look at the new modern station will be much better equipped to serve riders continuing west from leachmere we see lots of new apartment buildings in advance of the flying junction that will separate the two future [Music] branches [Music] just before we look at the junction in detail let's take a look at mbta's somerville commuter rail yard north of the commuter rail yard you can see the future green line maintenance facility [Music] here at the junction we'll use some beautiful high quality animations to show the different elements of this interchange on the left we can see the extension of the somerville community pedestrian and bike path that will connect up with the existing path on the fitchburg cutoff later in this video next we see the two tracks that diverge to head up the one mile or 1.6 kilometer long union square branch where d riverside trains will run e he street trains will continue straight on the 3 mile or 4.9 kilometer medford branch towards the medford tufts station finally we can see the preservation of a future branch heading northeast that has been built into this junction i haven't found where this branch might go so i'm sure someone can let me know in the comments now we'll continue down the union square branch [Music] as we have a better look at this junction let's again take a quick look at the various routes the pedestrian bridge over the fitchburg commuter rail tracks and the union square branch will certainly be a popular spot with rail fans and due to its narrow width will likely be quite congested again we see the two union square tracks highlighted here the medford branch tracks connecting both branches to the new service facility and the future branch heading east progress is further along on the union square branch as it is scheduled to open first in september of 2021. the tracks have been laid and the catenary poles have been erected and appear to be ready for installation of wiring [Music] as we pass over mcgrath highway we can see a track branch off to the left this track is rarely used but it continues southwest passing through the mit campus until it runs into the framingham worcester line just west of the lansdowne station [Music] turning back towards the main line will continue west towards the union square station as i said earlier this branch will be served by d riverside trains beginning in september of 2021. due to rising costs the design of the union square station has changed an elevator in stairs was originally planned to connect the station to the prospect street overpass the plan is now for an elevator to be constructed by a private developer who will be building transit oriented development on the land adjacent to the station which has served as a construction staging area as you can see if this branch is to be extended in the future several bridges will have to be rebuilt and the fitchburg line tracks will have to be realigned as they have been from the junction to this point [Music] [Music] here at the station we can see initial wiring has been installed in the catenary poles and the platform appears to be complete creating new high-density housing in former industrial areas is obviously one of the main goals of oriented development but this site is a particularly special one given its proximity to downtown somerville and the short train ride to downtown boston seemingly to coincide with the opening of the greenland extension the city of somerville is completing a major street beautification project along somerville avenue [Music] now we'll travel back to the junction with the medford branch and take a tour of that line the path we'll be following from here until the east somerville station is the former right-of-way of the tracks that connected the community rail maintenance facility to the lowell commuter rail line which the medford branch parallels commuter trains can now only access the maintenance facility from the east i would imagine this industrial area to the left of the tracks is destined to be redeveloped into housing at some point there's no denying that expansion of transit lines in this country exacerbates gentrification which is why it's important for cities to mandate affordable housing which even in boston is a relative term a 2014 study by the metropolitan area planning council of massachusetts projected that rents around the greenland extension may rise as much as 67 percent upon completion neighborhood groups in both medford and somerville have lobbied the cities to ensure that affordable housing will be constructed alongside market rate transit-oriented development let's just hope it's not as easy for developers to back out of these obligations as it is in san francisco anyways as we approach the east somerville station we can see that the catenary poles have been installed across the three mile length of this line although the track laying process isn't as far along as the union square branch due to this station's relatively isolated location i don't know how well utilized it will be until the surrounding area is redeveloped unless one of these neighboring properties is going to be demolished before the line opens it appears that access to the station will be achieved by using the adjacent community path which is not ideal as it will likely be very congested due to rising costs of the green line extension project the original plan was scrapped in december of 2015 by that point the mbta already had a general contractor project manager and an engineering company under contract the plan was then scaled back the station west of the current medford tufts terminus was cut and elements of the project such as the station design and the somerville community path were redesigned in 2016 the revised plan was resubmitted to the federal transit administration which approved the project in april of 2017. the revised plan opted to construct the community path no further than washington street where the east somerville station is located the joint venture of glx constructors that was chosen in november of 2017 however was able to further reduce construction costs through design-build engineering to allow for the path to be extended all the way to the fitchburg cut off the white bridge in the distance is mcgrath highway which we crossed along the union square branch the city of somerville has been petitioning the state to remove the elevated portion of the highway just east of here and redevelop the road as a more pedestrian and bike friendly boulevard as the highway was built before interstate 93 was constructed the plans appear to be gaining traction but either way the state is in the process of implementing a road diet as the highway is resurfaced this year [Music] in order to fit the green line tracks in the right-of-way of the lowell commuter rail line several bridges have had to be rebuilt and retaining walls have had to be constructed this bridge which carries medford street over the tracks is being finished as is the gilman square station just west of it located next to somerville high school you can see that an elevator is being installed to connect to street level north of the station a future mixed-use development that will include residential and commercial property will be developed [Music] west of this station we can finally see some tracks installed on this branch [Music] just east of the future magoon square station we reach the former fitchburg cutoff at this point the somerville community path will diverge from the tracks and link up to the existing path [Music] around magoon square station you can see that new residential development has already been built [Music] here's a crossover that's being installed as the greenland was largely built before the development of modern light rail systems no automatic train protection exists on the line modern light rail systems use induction loops attached to the tracks at signals to prevent authority violations this is why the rail safety improvement act of 2008 did not mandate the implementation of positive train control for light rail systems but it will be interesting to see if the mbta will ever implement a similar atp system on the sections of the green line that are signaled [Music] here at the ball square station we see yet another prime site for transit-oriented redevelopment at this point we are just inside the city limits of medford massachusetts that green building next to the station is an enclosed electrical substation and a building will likely be built between it and boston avenue [Music] west of ball square we see more tracks installed than ballasted these two rail systems are able to operate so close to each other unlike other cities such as denver which had to build out a heavy rail commuter system to be allowed to operate along freight rail corridors because the mbta owns the lowell and fitchburg lines electrification of the mbta commuter rail system has been sought for a long time and hopefully the close clearances on this line do not preclude that from one day becoming a reality [Music] [Music] [Music] as we approach tufts university we reach the end of the medford branch as you can see here the platform for the medford tufts station was in the process of being poured because the tracks are well below street level another elevator will be installed at this station [Music] located next to the beautiful tufts campus this station will certainly be well patronized by students and may even one day lead to another green line rivalry the original plant for the greenland extension would have extended the line up to route 16 which follows the east bank of the mystic river the extension north of tufts however was scrapped as a cost-saving measure as we travel west of the end of the green line you get a good sense of what the section of the low commuter rail line looked like before the green line is built retaining walls will have to be built and the commuter rail tracks will have to be realigned to make space for the green line if it will ever be extended in the future [Music] well that about wraps up the tour but before we go here's an outbound low commuter train it will certainly be neat seeing light rail and commuter trains operating on the same quarter in the near future the mbta lawmakers cities and transit advocates have had to work incredibly hard for decades to bring this extension to fruition and it's wonderful to see it so close to opening this line has been sought and needed for a long time but it hasn't been an easy journey getting to this point so thank you so much for watching my video i really hope you enjoyed it given the nature of boston filming all the drawn footage was fairly difficult but i'm glad i was able to do it if you liked this video i would really appreciate a like or even a share i have other videos that i've already filmed and just have to edit on other transit construction projects like the maryland purple line and the gold line in charlotte so if you want to see those videos please subscribe to my channel and i will see you all soon [Music] you

Channel: The Four Foot

Views: 52,473

Rating: 4.9416666 out of 5

Keywords: MBTA, The T, GLX, Green Line, Extension, Construction, Light Rail, LRT, LRV, Type 7, Type 8, Type 9, Type 10, New Cars, Lechmere, Somerville, Medford, Union Square, Gilman Square, Magoun Square, Ball Square, Tufts, Medford/Tufts, College ave, LA, Metro, LACMTA, LAX, Expo Line, tren ligero, métro léger, 경전철, Stadtbahn, Konstruktion, Measure R, 구성, construcción, Blue line, Gold line, B line, D line, E line, a line, L line, subway, tunnel, 보라색 선, D 라인, भारतीय ट्रेनें, Indian trains

Id: USF0yOiQolw

Length: 23min 7sec (1387 seconds)

Published: Sat May 22 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Rosabelle334]

"treh-mont"

[u/Steltek]

LOL, my enthusiasm for the bike path bridge near Lechmere is cooled by the idea of having to pedal 4 stories uphill and then having to weave around a bunch of train nerds gawking at a commuter rail maintenance building.

Ehh, at least the bike path wasn't cut entirely, right?

[u/f0rtytw0]

Worth a watch to see how far along things are from a birds eye view.

Also its pronounced Zakim =P

[u/lucas_the_human]

Awesome video dude thank you!

Also, I never realized how cool the Mattapan cars/line were.

[u/jesse-bob]

Well done! That was a really neat perspective of my neighborhood (Gilman) that I've never seen. Thanks for creating this!

[u/zumera]

This is great. I live off Washington Street in East Somerville, but it's tough to get a good idea of how things are progressing from the street.

[u/protectedPatty]

Great production quality!

[u/Suspicious_Earth]

Does anyone have any idea where the potential future extension northeast of Lechmere would go? I’m looking into it with no results, and I’m having difficulty conceiving where it would realistically go??

[u/SLEEyawnPY]

Wow the bridge across from the MoS looks great, that piece was beat to shit back in the day with big chunks missing and rusty rebar sticking out everywhere after 50 years of acid rain