I got this great email from Eliot Gardner on how to improve the Green Line:

I submit that the single most urgent improvement to the MBTA rail mass transit system would be to convert the Green Line from light rail to ordinary heavy metro rolling stock. The reasons are obvious.

First, the current Green Line is the most overcrowded rail mass transit line in the country (rivaled – to my personal knowledge – only by the NYC Lexington Avenue subway line, the overcrowding of which is being mitigated by the construction of the Second Avenue subway line).

Second, conversion to a regular metro line would allow 4-car, 6-car, and even 8-car trains to service the vast crowds that everyday battle for mere inches of space aboard the present Green Line light rail rolling stock.

Third, personnel costs would decrease – since a 6-car regular metro train can be manned by only 1 or 2 persons (depending on whether the train driver also opens and closes the doors or a second person is employed as a dedicated doorman), instead of the ludicrous present system of having an operator in every car.

Fourth, service speed along the Green Line would be dramatically improved by decreasing in-station dwell time on the above-ground portions of the line by:
(a) having raised passenger platforms and level on-loading and off-loading of passengers onto and off of trains,
(b) having all doors open at every station, instead of the current stupidity of having only one door per car open at above-ground stations, and
(c) having all above-ground stations be pre-pay stations, eliminating the antiquated and slow on-car payment system currently in use.

It should be noted that there is ample precedent – even within the MBTA system – for converting a light rail line to a regular heavy metro line. The MBTA Blue Line was formerly a trolley line, until it was converted to heavy metro rolling stock in 1925. Finally, the conversion costs would be reasonably minimal. The principal costs would be:
(a) raising station platform heights to allow platform-level on-loading and off-loading of passengers,
(b) purchase of regular metro rolling stock (properly sized to fit the tunnels within the Kenmore-North Station portion of the line), and
(c) lengthening of station platforms to accommodate longer trains.

Again, there is ample precedent within the MBTA system for such a move – station platforms at some Red Line stations were lengthened when Red Line train size was increased from 4 cars to 6 cars less than 20 years ago. Converting the Green Line to a regular metro line would also dramatically improve safety, as it would allow for installation and use of an Automatic Train Control (ATC) system, instead of the current and bizarrely antiquated “see and be seen” safety system that has contributed to so many crashes (and fatalities) on the Green Line. There is no reason whatever that heavy metro rolling stock could not be used on the current in-median tracks on Commonwealth Avenue, Beacon Street, and Huntington Avenue – precedents for that type of usage can be found all over the world.

But if the “trolley mentality” of the MBTA management cannot be altered to accommodate 21st century needs, light rail trains could continue to run on Commonwealth Avenue, Beacon Street, and Huntington Avenue. Inbound light rail trains on Commonwealth Avenue and Beacon Street could terminate at Kenmore Square Station, use the Kenmore Station loop track to turn around and head outbound, and passengers could transfer from light rail to regular metro trains at Kenmore. Similarly, inbound light rail trains on Huntington Avenue could simply run through Copley, Arlington, and Boylston Stations without stopping (the track gauge is the same for both light rail and heavy metro on the MBTA system), use the south inner track at Park Street Station for off-loading passengers, loop around to an outbound direction by using the Park Street inner loop, and use the north inner track at Park Street Station for on-loading passengers.

Alternatively, for Huntington Avenue service, the station platforms at Copley Station could be lengthened to accommodate both light rail and regular heavy metro trains – one length of platform retaining its current height to service light rail trains coming in from Huntington Avenue, and the next length of platform being raised to service regular metro trains coming in from Riverside with level passenger loading and unloading. With a few stairs to allow people to move from one platform to another.

This is such an obvious and straightforward solution to the disaster that the Green Line currently constitutes that I am forced to ask why it has not already been adopted.

Eliot Gardner

Thanks Eloit!