Christian MilNeil | StreetsBlogMASS

“The MBTA Fiscal and Control Management Board has endorsed an aspirational vision to electrify the MBTA commuter rail network to provide all-day, rapid-transit-style service throughout eastern Massachusetts, with an initial phase focused on upgrading Boston's Fairmount Line, the Boston-Providence line, and the Rockport line through Chelsea, Revere and Lynn.

The vote caps off a year-long effort to study upgrades to the commuter rail system in the the MBTA's ‘Rail Vision’ planning process, which evaluated six alternatives for upgrading the region's commuter rail system.

As SteetsblogMASS reported previously, those six alternatives ranged widely in cost and ambition, from a $1.7 billion option that would add new some trains to the existing system, to a $29 billion ‘full transformation’ option that would run new electric trains every 15 minutes all day and build a new regional rail tunnel to connect North and South Stations.”