We're getting new trains, so what if the stations are crumbling?

The MBTA pension fund just released results from last year. The fund had a 15% + return and still fell $140 million further behind on liability. There are more retirees than workers on the plan.

The only way to get out of this is to have the inevitable strike, fire all of the current workforce, and start from a clean slate. Even then, that probably won't work.

Nobody uses it and they destroyed it.

And as someone actually from Boston and who's used the MBTA on a daily basis for decades, i know what they promised. They also only charge $80 a month because it a minority majority neighborhood. Unlike say Roslindale Village.

All politicians make promises they never keep including your savor Lord Obama!

Despite the push fo the neighborhoods and some front-facing federal people (who know better) that line will never be a subway.

The only reasons some of the bridges were replaced was because they did not meet modern standards for possible electrification in the future and also to allow certain military vehicles and double-stack containers to pass under comfortably. It is the only rail line with access to the Port of Boston were it necessary to get military vehicles there in time of national emergency. Other rail lines go under buildings and the clearance is not great enough. This is already an old and dropped topic on various rail discussion forums.

I believe it was discussed here that CSX which owned the tracks also has an option to re-activate its right of way, (now a test track for the Red Line) , when and if the Port looks toward increasing freight and goods deliveries in Boston, which in fact is under consideration. If so any change to the rail line that interrupts its contractual rights will allow them to veto. Since hazmat cannot go under the Pru tunnel or back Bay tunnel and some freight will not fit (double stacks) Fairmount is the only viable access.

Federal law prohibits "subway" and "heavy" rail trains from using the same tracks, so the line will continue to be "Heavy" rail trains like you see there now. The question is whether the frequency and cost can be met. The MBTA had a plan to rebuild a few of the retired train sets to allow the locomotives to start and stop quicker like a subway service but that was set aside because they had to pull a few out of mothballs to fix up to run the current service they have.

As to Diesel-multi units (DMU or self-propelled motorized coaches like in Europe) that is not happening quickly due to cost, and no company currently manufacturing them here. They would have to ramp up an assembly plant first. As it is, new tariffs and recently passed legislation will make it harder for a foreign company to build here and even the current order of subway trains from China is in serious question. To emphasize this... Hyundai-Rotem just closed its plant where the current new rolling stock of MBTA bilevel commuter rail coaches were built. So that manufacturer no longer has a place to supplement MBTA repairs if anything goes wrong, and the T's repair facility is not big enough or equipped for serious repairs. It has to be contracted out.

For the MBTA to make Fairmount work, the train has to go further than Hyde Park, but plans to extend the trains to Foxboro or Canton have been opposed by the local development group because the train is presently defined as operating in an under-served community and minority community which makes development funds available for urban improvements. If the train goes elsewhere that designation is lost and could have an impact on available federal development dollars. This part needs to be looked at carefully.

So there are many different interests pulling in different directions here. There is no off-the-shelf solution

has been the only Democrat in the Governor's seat for over 30 years. Weirdly enough he was the one who got the new cars for Red and Orange lines moving ahead, the fire under the ass of the GLX lit, and the plans to subway-ize the Fairmount line. Please, illuminate us as to what Weld, Romney, Celluci, Swift, and Baker have done for the T, aside from slashing its budget and saddling it with debt from other transit departments.

He has spent more money on ads claiming he has fixed the T than on the actual T

the government center roof was already stained by water damage two weeks after it reopened. it the ceiling was peeling paint and the cement was being compromised not long after that.

the renovations they did there were, outside of the headhouse and installing elevators, putting lipstick on a pig. they did not address any of the water issues which ultimately cause electrical problems which disrupt service. i realize the system is old, but they had completely opened up the ground to do the renovations, they could have done some waterproofing at that point.

His mother is terrified.

Isn't that the same thing?