The Indigo Line: Railroad Rapid Transit

Session: Retrofitting Transportation Infrastructure

April 15, 8:45 AM

Noah S. Berger
Transit Policy Analyst, MBTA Advisory Board (Boston, MA)

Also from this session:

Zipcar: Reshaping our Relationship with the Automobile

ABSTRACT: The Indigo Line is a proposed repackaged commuter rail line put forth by a coalition between the MBTA Advisory Board, along with the City of Boston, and local neighborhood groups to better serve Boston's inner city.  The existing rail line currently runs through, but does not stop at, several dense, urban neighborhoods of Boston.  As spelled out in the proposal, the Indigo Line would operate as a rapid transit/commuter rail hybrid, affording the transit authority an opportunity to more efficiently and effectively utilize existing infrastructure while providing superior transit access to under-served neighborhoods.

INTRODUCTION: MOOD INDIGO

In May of 2000, Andrae Wilson expressed his commuting frustrations to the Bay State Banner, Boston's African-American newspaper.  He can see the Fairmount commuter rail line rumble past the windows of his home in the Four Corners neighborhood of Dorchester in Boston.  He knows that it will reach its destination in South Station in just over ten minutes and that South Station is but a short walk from his job as a prep cook.  Yet he cannot ride the train, because it does not stop in Four Corners.  Instead he waits for the 23 bus, which he takes to Ashmont Station, where he changes to a Red Line subway train to South Station---total trip time, forty-five minutes to an hour.   "I have been wondering for a while," he told the Banner, "if they would build a stop here, because it would make sense." [1]   What Wilson characterized as just making sense is a proposal by a coalition between the MBTA Advisory Board, the City of Boston, local political leaders and neighborhood groups to repackaging the line as a rapid transit/commuter rail hybrid to be called the "Indigo Line."

Wilson's dissatisfaction with the current service is far from unique.  Lying in a gap between the Red and Orange rapid transit lines, the corridor traverses the largest section of the City of Boston that is unserved by a subway line.  As a result, GIS maps taken from recent census data on commute time by census tract show the line bisecting an inverted 'V' radiating out from Downtown Boston that has the longest commute times in the City. [2]   Yet despite an obvious demand for service in the corridor, the branch has the lowest ridership of any line in the commuter rail system.  Something is amiss.

In response to the Advisory Board's proposal, the MBTA, Boston's regional transit provider, initiated a study last June to evaluate the feasibility of implementing the first phases of the Indigo Line.  To date, there have been four animated public workshops on the proposal, as well as regular meetings of the project's steering committee. One indication of the Indigo Line's potential is the breadth of support it has received, and this diversity is reflected in the composition of the steering committee.  In addition to the Advisory Board, the steering committee is composed of representatives from the business community, the City of Boston, local neighborhood groups, as well as employees of the MBTA.  Remaining grounded by real fiscal constraints, the Indigo Line concept provides the MBTA with an opportunity to more efficiently and effectively utilize existing infrastructure while providing superior transit access to under-served neighborhoods.  A final recommendation is scheduled to be released by the MBTA in June of this year.

EXISTING CONDITIONS: A BAD FIT

The Fairmount Branch, also referred to as the Midlands or Dorchester Branch, is a unique line within the MBTA commuter rail network.  It travels only nine miles, all within the City of Boston. Between South Station and its Readville terminus, the route travels through densely settled neighborhoods in Dorchester, Mattapan and Hyde Park, all beyond walking distance from other MBTA rapid transit. Many of these neighborhoods have large minority populations and low to moderate per capita incomes. Residents abutting the line's right-of-way are highly dependent on public transit, and bus routes serving the corridor are some of the most crowded in the system. The line stops only at three intermediate stations, with an average distance of about two and a half miles between stations.  In the most thickly settled section of the route, in the vicinity of the Grove Hall and Four Corners neighborhoods, there is an almost three mile gap between stations.  The route passes, without stopping at a key regional employment and shopping center (South Bay Center) and medical complex (Boston Medical Center).  Trains run at 30 minute headways during rush hours and 60 minutes or longer at all other times.  Evening service is limited and there is no service on Saturdays or Sundays.  The inflexibility of the line has made the Fairmount Branch poorly suited to local travel other than 9-5 commuters who have easy access to current stations.

Exacerbating the problem, the stations at Uphams Corner and Morton Street are fairly primitive, consisting only of concrete platforms, with little if any amenities, such as sheltered waiting areas or seating.  As lighting within the stations and visibility from the street are poor, many riders have raised security concerns.  Marketing is non-existent---in fact, a recent Transit Oriented Development Study in Uphams Corner revealed that many long time residents are unaware that there is even a station in their neighborhood. [3]

While this level of service (LOS) is adequate and even desirable from a traditional commuter rail standpoint, the long headways and station spacings do not meet the needs of inner city residents, who require rapid transit service more akin to the region's subway lines.   For local service within Boston, service that requires a wait of up to one hour and stations that are not convenient to riders' origins or destinations is of limited use value.  As a result, most area residents chose either to use private automobiles or MBTA buses, further congesting the already crowded road and bus network.

In light of the poor fit between the Fairmount Branch's current LOS and the needs of the communities through which it runs, the Advisory Board proposal calls for the new Indigo Line to be integrated into the MBTA's rapid transit network (the Red, Green, Orange and Blue Lines).  While, at least in the short term, the Indigo Line would continue to use commuter rail equipment, it would enjoy rapid transit-like service patterns, including:

• Shorter Headways;
• Longer Service Hours--Span and Days of Service;
• New Attractive and Secure Stations at Key Commercial and Residential Nodes Along the Corridor; and
• Fare Integration with the Rest of the Rapid Transit System.

For a relatively small investment, given the cost of transit capital projects, the MBTA would get what for all intents and purposes is a new transit line in a dense, heavily traveled corridor. Unlike the rest of the commuter rail network, which is used predominantly by peak hour/peak direction commuters, carrying the highest marginal cost to the authority, the new Indigo Line will attract discretionary, off-peak trips in both directions.  It is a cost-effective way of meeting the region's growing transportation needs while utilizing an existing, currently underused capacity.

BACKGROUND: RAPID TRANSIT BEFORE IT WAS COOL

Interestingly, the Indigo Line concept of railroad rapid transit on this line dates back well over a hundred years.  An 1881 timetable for the New York and New England Railroad identifies local service in this corridor as "Rapid Transit Trains" [4] ---perhaps the first use of "rapid transit" to refer to an urban rail line. 

Regular passenger service on the Midlands Branch first began operations in 1855.  The line was closed within a year after the then Town of Dorchester (later annexed by Boston) filed an injunction against the operation due to the potential danger of the line's many grade crossings -- a condition that still exists today.  A year later, the railroad reopened a new and improved line with no grade crossings. [5]   The line continued to provide local passenger service, under several private operators, until 1944.  During the service's heyday, there were four tracks in the right of way (ROW) and eleven intermediate stations between South Station and Readville. 

Passenger service on the line was restored in 1979, when construction along the Southwest Corridor necessitated rerouting trains destined for South Station through Dorchester.  To facilitate revived passenger service, infrastructure along the ROW was heavily upgraded.  At this time, there were no stations between Fairmount in Hyde Park and South Station---as a result, abutting residents in Mattapan and Dorchester had to endure all of the negative consequences of the rail line without being able to enjoy the benefits of the service.

When the Southwest Corridor project was completed in 1987, most rail service was again reassigned to the Southwest Corridor.   However, local neighborhood groups, led by the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), pushed for and won continued service on the upgraded Dorchester track, with restored stations at Uphams Corner and Morton Street. [6]   However, the full benefit of these stations has yet to be realized, due to the aforementioned long headways, short service span and unattractive station environments.

FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES: FROM WHAT TO WHAT?

The Fairmount Branch enjoys key assets suggesting that targeted improvements of the line have the potential to yield considerable benefits for the MBTA, the neighborhoods served by the line, and the region:

• The track and ROW are already in place and in excellent condition, following complete renovation as part of Southwest Corridor construction;
• The line is double tracked from beginning to end, has no grade crossings, and does not share track with any other commuter line outside of South Station;
• The corridor is thickly settled with residents willing and eager to use public transit;
• In an era when federal funding for transit projects comes contingent upon a demonstration of attention to environmental justice, the environmental justice benefits of investing in this low and moderate income, heavily minority corridor are unassailable.

To give the line a distinct identity, apart from the rest of the commuter rail network, it should be noted by its own color moniker: the Indigo Line.  As a mixture of blue and purple, the color indigo reflects the line's hybrid quality, as cross between rapid transit (the Blue Line is one of Boston's subway lines) and traditional commuter rail (Boston's commuter rail lines are depicted on maps and signs in purple).  The areas where investment in the Indigo Line should be targeted are identified below and may be implemented incrementally, so as to spread the cost out over a number of years:

Shorter Headways

The current 30 and 60 minute headways make for inflexible service that is neither practical nor convenient to most riders in this corridor.  In order to be useful to local, urban ridership, service frequencies on the Indigo Line will have to increase to a minimum of every fifteen minutes.  Ultimately, every ten minutes is preferable.  Fifteen minute headways will require doubling peak service.  The preliminary findings of the MBTA's feasibility study indicates that there are no engineering or operational reasons why the line could not operate at five minute headways. [7]

Longer Service Hours

The lack of service on weekends and after ten o'clock at night greatly limits the attractiveness of the Fairmount Branch, particularly for discretionary trips.  Span and days of service should be increased on the Indigo Line to a level commensurate with other rapid transit offered by the MBTA.

New Stations

The current station spacing on the Fairmount Branch does not take advantage of the high residential and commercial densities along the line.  New stations along the Indigo Line will serve both an existing need currently going unmet and spur new economic development around the stations.  The highest priority should be the reopening of the old Mount Bowdoin Station at Washington Street, in the vicinity of the Four Corners neighborhood.  The need for a station at this location has recently been exacerbated by two planned new housing developments, which will bring several hundred new rental units to the neighborhood.  To best accommodate present and future needs of the corridor and to provide stop spacing more in synch with MBTA rapid transit, additional stations should be opened on the Indigo Line at the following locations, listed in order of priority: between Southampton Street and Massachusetts Avenue, in the vicinity of Newmarket/South Bay Center; Talbot Avenue, in the vicinity of Codman Square; Blue Hill Avenue, in the vicinity of Mattapan Square; Columbia Road; and River Street.  Again, preliminary findings of the MBTA's feasibility study indicates that there are no engineering or operational reasons why additional stations could not be added.  As the ROW used to handle four tracks, there is ample space in most areas to construct stations. [8]

More Attractive, Secure Stations

One factor leading to the current stations not meeting their full potential is the lack of attractiveness of the facilities.  Stations are poorly identified from the outside and sparsely furnished on the inside.  Poor lighting and desolate conditions do not give people using the stations a feeling of security, which is all the more important in the neighborhoods served by the line.  Current stations need to be upgraded, with greater attention to passenger comfort and security.  Likewise, new Indigo Line stations should be built to provide a positive station environment, including lighting, signage, architecture and furniture.

New, More Appropriate Vehicle Technology

Current service on the line is provided by "push-pull" technology, whereby a diesel locomotive powers an entire train set.   While well suited to long haul regional rail, this technology does not allow for rapid acceleration or deceleration, as would best serve dense corridors with frequent stations.  A more appropriate vehicle technology for the Indigo Line may be new diesel multiple units or DMU's.  DMU's are a new generation of the old Budd cars that used to operate on Boston's commuter rail network until they were retired in 1989.  DMU's are widely used in Europe and Japan and are gaining popularity in North America.

Rather than relying on locomotives for propulsion, each DMU car has its own engine.  As a result, DMU train sets have greater acceleration and deceleration, are more fuel efficient, less noisy, and can more flexibly adjust to match demand by allowing for more rapid assembly and disassembly of cars into train sets of appropriate size. New DMU's look like a hybrid between light rail vehicles and traditional trains and can be low floor, thereby complying with ADA requirements without requiring a more expensive investment in high platform stations.

If DMU's prove in the end not to be feasible or practical, the Indigo Line can still operate with current vehicles, although it may make sense to run smaller train sets at higher frequencies, in order to maximize acceleration and deceleration.  In the long run, it may make sense to consider electrifying the line.

Efficient Fare Collection & Transfers

The manual, onboard fare collection system used on the commuter rail network is labor intensive and misses many fares per trip.  While arguably the most efficient fare collection system for traditional commuter rail, it is too inefficient for a high frequency, dense urban line.  The new Indigo Line presents an opportunity to introduce and demonstrate a "proof of payment" (POP) fare collection system, which has proved successful and efficient in Europe, Asia and in most new commuter rail and light rail systems in the United States and Canada.  POP requires passengers to purchase time sensitive tickets prior to boarding, which must be presented on request to roving fare checkers.  Successful implementation of POP on the Indigo Line can be used as a model for expansion of the fare collection method to the rest of the commuter rail network and the light rail Green Line, where current fare collection practices have been problematic and cumbersome.

Since the Indigo Line's South Station terminus will not be the final destination of many of the route's riders, free transfers should be available to and from the Red and future Silver Lines at South Station.  If new transfer technology, as mandated in the 1999 rewrite of the MBTA authorizing legislation, has not been put into place by the start of the upgraded service, then paper transfers should be used until the new technology is implemented.

Finally, the Fairmount Branch is currently hindered by a needlessly confusing fare structure, whereby travel to each station is a different cost ($1.00 to Uphams Corner, $1.50 to Morton Street, $2.50 to Fairmount, and $2.75 to Readville).  Indigo Line fares should be standardized with fares on the regular MBTA rapid transit lines, such that fares to and from every station on the line is $1.00.

THE INDIGO LINE CONCEPT: OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES

During a public meeting on the proposed Indigo Line, a resident of Four Corners asked the Study's Project Manager, the Deputy Director of the MBTA's Planning Department, why the Indigo Line was not included on MBTA maps.  "Well, it is on the commuter rail map," he answered to a roomful of blank stares.  "Oh," he added, after a long pause, "you mean put it on the subway map?. . . I suppose we could treat it as if it were a rapid transit line, even if we know it really isn't.

This exchange is the best illustration for what the Indigo Line proposal is all about.  In reality, most people--transit planners excluded--do not care what mode they travel on.  Whether the vehicle officially classifies as commuter rail, heavy rail, light rail, horse and buggy or electric blimp, is of little importance provided it gets people where they want to go when they want to get there in reasonable comfort and speed.  If Bus Rapid Transit is marketing itself with the slogan "Think light rail, use buses," [9] then the Indigo Line should be: "Think subway, use commuter rail."  If passengers receive an equivalent LOS to that enjoyed by subway riders, regardless of mode, then the Indigo Line has met its goals.

Taken in isolation, none of the proposed improvements are new ideas.  People have been discussing, arguing, fighting over the line since the day it opened.  There is nothing radical about wanting stations convenient to where people live, work, or shop, or about suggesting that trains run on more convenient schedules.  There is certainly nothing unique about requesting that stations be better maintained.  What is new, and what has given the recent Indigo Line proposal its luster is that it has repackaged the proposed improvements in a manner that gives the line an identity and a meaning that fits the communities through which it runs.  Identifying the line on MBTA maps and brochures with its unique color moniker, in the same fashion as the region's subway lines, achieves more than just brand identity---it becomes part of the rapid transit network.  While modally, it may be commuter rail, functionally, it needs to operate as if it were rapid transit.  And that is what present and future riders care about.

Finally, the pronounced environmental justice implications of repackaging the Fairmount Branch as the Indigo Line should not go unnoticed.  For many inner city residents, commuter rail is perceived as one of the luxuries afforded white, affluent suburbanites--as a result, it is felt that it is not for them.  There is some truth to this perception.  For residents of neighborhoods such as Four Corners, who have the burden of hosting a rail line without the benefit of service, the Fairmount Branch is a classic example of environmental injustice. If environmental justice calls for the equal sharing of transportation benefits and burdens, then they have all the burdens and none of the benefits.

For sound reasons based on the political expediency of expanding transit's constituency and base of support, many transit authorities, the MBTA included, have worked hard to lure the elusive middle class rider.  As a consequence, there is a certain bias that can occur within the transit industry---a bias that even extends into the internal lexicon.  The middle class rider is referred to as the "choice rider."  Officially, "choice" means that the rider has other transportation choices, usually a car; however, a second meaning of the word is also implied, whereby "choice" equals "preferred" and the choice rider becomes the desired rider.  Implementation of the Indigo Line opens commuter rail back up to inner city riders dependent on public transit, and helps reverse an inherent bias against inner city, transit dependent customers.  It will help lend visibility to the line in the neighborhoods through which it runs and tie it into a subway network that residents are already familiar with.

CONCLUSION: INDIGO VISION

If the changes suggested above are implemented, the character and use of the line will fundamentally change.  Sleek, attractive DMU trains of one to four cars will serve diverse, handsome, well-maintained, well-lit stations in Hyde Park, Mattapan and Dorchester every ten to fifteen minutes. The Indigo Line will operate in intermodal coordination with the entire transit network, connecting with the Red Line at South Station, commuter and intercity rail at both terminals, and local buses at the intermediate stations.  It will relieve overcrowded bus routes in the corridor, providing frequent, reliable, rapid transportation between dense, under-served residential neighborhoods, new industrial developments and downtown Boston.

While full implementation of the Indigo Line is ambitious and far-reaching, success in this corridor can be achieved incrementally.  During initial phases, only one to three of the new stations may open, while existing station environments are modestly improved.  Existing rolling stock can continue to operate prior to procurement of new DMU's.  While headways may not initially be cut to every fifteen minutes, they may be reduced to every twenty during peak hours and more limited weekend and night service may be added.  Ultimately, the greatest strength of the Indigo Line is that it is not all or nothing---while the rewards will undoubtedly be greatest after all of the recommended improvements are implemented, each investment will pay dividends immediately.

Ultimately, the successful introduction of the Indigo Line can serve as a model for better utilization of the commuter rail network in other urban settings in the region, such as Lynn, Chelsea, Cambridge, Somerville, Allston/Brighton, or Medford.  Likewise, other urban areas with mature railroad networks, such as Chicago, might consider using an Indigo Line model to repackaging existing lines that currently exclude some of the urban areas through which they run.

The MBTA have avoided using the word "Indigo Line" in describing what they term "improvements to the Fairmount Branch," arguing that they are afraid of raising expectations.  They have been leery of the recent publicity and press attention that the Indigo Line has achieved.  They should not be concerned.  The MBTA should consider the current Fairmount Branch infrastructure a gift.  After all, the cost of building a ROW from scratch through this type of dense urban fabric would be astronomical.  The Indigo Line concept presents the Authority with an opportunity to gain the value of a new rapid transit subway line at a small fraction of the cost.  Rather than worrying about raising expectations, the MBTA needs to strive to raise hopes.

Noah S. Berger serves as Transit Policy Analyst for the MBTA Advisory Board in Boston. 
177 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02111.
E-mail: noahb@alum.mit.edu