[jefftk]

> Many transit agencies in the US, including the one in Boston, are planning electrified rail (as they're aware of the benefits as well) but are unable to construct it right now (and likely the next 10 years) due to funding and ownership issues.

Boston's MBTA owns its tracks (generally all the way to the state border), so ownership isn't the issue. Instead, it's been an issue of opposition to electrification. Ex: https://pedestrianobservations.com/2019/07/23/massachusetts-...

I'm not completely up-to-date on this, though -- has it gotten better in the last couple years?

[danhor]

The Wikipedia article implies a consensus on electrification and budgetary issues for Boston, but Alon Levy is a better source and I doubt anything major changed in that time frame (even if according to the wikipedia page first test runs are planned for 2023 on already electrified track). That's even worse, artificially pushing expected costs up for common sense things is ... something else.

Very glad germany has the opposite problem (Schönrechnen), where expected value is artificially kept high and expected costs low for politically wanted rail projects. It's also bad, but less so?

[jefftk]

Levy's most recent post gives an update: electrification on the Boston commuter rail lines is still under debate. https://pedestrianobservations.com/2022/04/12/quick-note-reg...