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Watchfull_Hosemaster t1_iqu8kgf wrote

I'm not holding my breath for that East-West rail. It will need to be a high speed rail line to make it effective for commuting from Western Mass and I don't see that happening any time soon.

I almost moved to the Springfield area five years ago after being in Boston for a long time but chose Worcester instead. Back then housing costs were roughly the same for Worcester and the Springfield area for starter homes. Since then, there seems to be a much wider gap.

The state seems to think that this rail line will somehow open Eastern Mass up to commuters from west of Worcester, but I think this is just another instance of Beacon Hill being so oblivious to the needs of Western Mass. If you're living out there, you're far more likely to take a job in that area or in the Hartford, CT area. That area is more closely tied to CT than it is to Boston.

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A_Man_Who_Writes t1_iqvgb93 wrote

I agree. It takes up to 1.5 hours commuter railing from Leominster to Boston. I can only imagine how long it would take from Springfield. 3 hours?

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SufficientZucchini21 t1_iqxbty4 wrote

It boggles my mind that they can’t do express routes. Maddening.

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legalpretzel t1_iqy3vem wrote

Even if they could run from Springfield straight to Boston they would still have the ridiculously slow zones, like Framingham center, where the speed limit is a major factor in route time. It will never be as efficient as true high speed rail, which is unlikely to ever happen given that the existing rail can’t be moved away from those high density zones. At a minimum they would need to implement solutions like they did with the Acela grade level crossings and install more fencing along many miles of track.

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nofog2234 OP t1_iqu90kw wrote

Even springfield has begun to appreciate though i don't fully understand it. Even worcester-boston can be quite the commute

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Watchfull_Hosemaster t1_iqu9ze3 wrote

Yeah, the entire state has seen quite a bit of appreciation in the past five years. Even out there. I have most of my family in that area and it's tough for the younger generation to find anything reasonably affordable without breaking the bank.

I wouldn't expect a huge influx of people into Springfield or Palmer (where the two major stops would be) for commuting opportunities into Boston unless it can get them there in a half hour or less. There will be some but not many.

I have seen something else happening though - a lot of Boston based companies have opened up office space in Worcester, which allows them to tap into people that live in the Springfield area. It seems that the companies are making themselves more accessible to more employees probably as a need - they are realizing that they don't pay enough for people to live in the Boston area.

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NativeMasshole t1_iqv9kka wrote

There was an option for HSR in the original proposal, but IIRC they rejected that option outright.

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Rosseaux t1_iqwb2w4 wrote

I suspect the east-west rail concept is being hyped to further raise real estate values. All the powers that be can't even keep the T running properly, I can't imagine how any agency will manage to reconstruct rail lines for high-speed service and then keep that service running reliably. At least within the next 10 years.

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Watchfull_Hosemaster t1_iqwpbt9 wrote

It took them like 30 years to add a few stops to a Green Line extension.

There is no political will at the state or federal level to build out a robust commuter train based infrastructure. I would love it if they did but it's just not a priority.

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