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A tree falls, D Line stalls
By adamg on Thu, 04/04/2019 - 8:49am
Removing the ground-seeking tree. Photo by MBTA.
The MBTA had to run shuttle buses between Kenmore and Reservoir after a tree fell on wires that run along the tracks this morning. At 8:43 a.m., the T reported the tree had been cleared, the wires had been fixed and regular trolley service had resumed.
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Comments
This is the reason for tree cutting on the Green Line extension
in Somerville. People complained a lot about it, but the T doesn't want to have to stop service after every windstorm on the new line.
In Somerville
Everything rooted anywhere near the track well or on the ridges above the track well were clear cut. Some of the trees killed for the GLX were nearly 50 yards from the actual tracks.
They were overgrown junk "trees"
Everything on that green line right of way was invasive or rotting. This area was never like that until the last 30 years or so and most of those trees were crap. What they need to do is replant with far more appropriate species and keep them trimmed!
This new "Junk Tree" talking point is wrong
The (ex) urban forest in Somerville and Medford was filled with great specimens. The CLF botched this part of the project. Advocates assumed the Green Line trains could run on the existing Commuter and Amtrak tracks. They assumed wrong. The GLX requires two new tracks exclusively for the Green Line trains, doubling the width of the corridor and taking down every tree on both sides of the two-track line. 1000+ good trees were cut down. Ironically, the GLX was originally pitched by the CLF as a clean air project.
There was never a proposal to share the commuter rail tracks
From the beginning, the project was what it is today: two Green Line tracks parallel to two commuter rail tracks.
100% wrong Ron. They were removed to make way for 2 new tracks
The land that the trees once sat on will be carted away. The GLX requires two brand new tracks. The Green Line trains cannot run on the same tracks as Commuter and Amtrak trains (FRA rules) The GLX is essentially a brand new two-track below grade corridor running through Somerville and Medford. Hence the very high cost.
But if no one heard it
Did it make a sound?
A better Q. Does this mean Pollack is ripping up the train line
According to Pollack, the Mattapan HS Line needs to be removed because overhead wiring does not work well in a cold + tree filled environment like Boston. I guess then the overhead wires for the Green Line, Blue Line, Silver Line, GLX, and Amtrak NEC are all coming down too, right? Fair is fair, right?
This affected the 1 bus (and
This affected the 1 bus (and only the 1 bus, for some reason, according to the MBTA). I waited for 50 minutes for a 1 bus train this morning with no notice and insufficient explanation from MBTA, and watched the app go from saying 1 minute away to 20 minutes away (not once but twice). The MBTA twitter actually told me that a bus had actually arrived and departed while I was waiting which was certainly not the case. Totally hopeless.